7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Oracle, Wiz, Cisco, ZK Research, More
One of our top stories features some big numbers around SASE.
July 28, 2023
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A recent Microsoft cyberattack that gave nation-state actors access to email accounts of high-ranking officials could be bigger and more dangerous than anticipated.
That’s according to researchers at Wiz, a cloud security provider.
Earlier this month, Microsoft reported a threat actor attributed to China, Storm-0558, gained access to email accounts in approximately 25 organizations. The affected organizations were primarily government agencies, but also included individuals who were likely consumers associated with those agencies. The perpetrators gained access to Outlook Web Access in Exchange Online (OWA) and Outlook.com.
“At this stage, it is hard to determine the full extent of the incident as there were millions of applications that were potentially vulnerable, both Microsoft apps and customer apps, and the majority of them lack the sufficient logs to determine if they were compromised of not,” said Shir Tamari, Wiz’s head of research.
What critical actions should owners perform to protect themselves? Find out more here.
The Wall Street Journal’s investigative reporting on decades-old underwater lead cables and their impact on public health has led to a standoff between telecom providers, regulators and activists.
The newspaper argued in a July 9 investigative report that sample testing at four dozen underwater-cable sites exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safety recommendation with their lead quantity. The Journal placed the blame on lead alloys that covered cables of the Bell System’s regional telephone network. The telecom monopoly built many of those lead-sheathed cables in the 1880s and 1960s before its breakup in 1982. That lead over the years has degraded and spread into water and soil, the Journal reported.
Brian Washburn covers communications and networking services for Omdia, which is also part of Informa Tech. He pointed to the responsibility of the U.S. government to assist with the problem.
“I believe industry association USTelecom is correct that the use of lead compounds in cable sheathing in the U.S. began to be phased out in the 1950s. The revelation that these cables still exist is largely a legacy more than a half-century old. The cables were installed at a time that the telephone companies were heavily regulated monopolies, tasked by government to provide critical communications and universal service. If government played a role in directing the buildout, it seems reasonable that government has a part to play with assessment and funding remediation. A possible next step might involve risk profiling known legacy cable deployments. Since these telecommunications cables are not accessible to the public, it may make sense to prioritize other types of pollution that present the highest risk to vulnerable populations,” Washburn said.
Find out what the financial implications of removal might be.
Secure access service edge (SASE) has experienced increasing adoption over the past two years with the rise of hybrid working models and the surge in cloud migration among enterprises.
This is Channel Futures’ second annual “CF20” focused on top SASE providers. Analysts share their views on what it takes to succeed with the technology. It includes a new list and fresh views on changes in the competitive landscape.
Frost & Sullivan’s Voice of Customer report 2023, which surveyed 2,360 CISOs and C-level leaders globally, showed 56% of the organizations have adopted SASE, and 38% of them plan on doing so by 2024.
Vivien Pua, senior industry analyst of cybersecurity at Frost & Sullivan, said with the arrival of hybrid workforces and an increasing reliance on cloud-based SaaS applications, her firm expects demand for SASE will continue to increase in the next five years as companies become more digitalized, which requires them to adopt SASE architecture for more agility. Moving forward, SASE providers will see an acceleration of the technology among most organizations that are looking to achieve consistency, flexibility and high performance for both their security and networking needs.
Learn more from the experts about industry adoption of SASE.
Oracle’s global channel leader has revealed a strategic change in partner strategy from “reactive” product sales to focusing on solutions and outcomes.
Doug Smith made waves when he began leading the transition upon joining the company two years ago.
“I came to Oracle because I saw a company that has some amazing products that are so relevant in today’s world. But one of the challenges – and opportunities – is that customers want solutions and outcomes, more so than products. The challenge for a lot of historically product-[led] companies like Oracle is, how do you make that transition? Because we’re now in a cloud services world, not in a licensed product world. That’s where the growth and the opportunity is. You have to meet customers where they are and where they want to be in terms of delivering solutions, which means you also have to have an understanding of IT solutions [that] are broader than just the technology products that are used.”
Smith described the shift in Oracle partner strategy as “a culture change that everybody in the industry is going through.”
To learn about these changes, read more from Christine Horton’s interview.
Informa Tech, owner of the Channel Futures and Channel Partners Conference & Expo media and event brands, announced this week its intent to acquire Canalys, the tech industry’s largest provider of global channel research and consulting services. Informa, which expects the purchase to close in the third quarter, did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
“Informa Tech’s announcement that it has signed an agreement to acquire Canalys is a landmark day for the future of channel research and events. Our dedication to delivering deep, actionable insights across the channel and mobility sectors is unwavering. We are particularly excited to join forces for our EMEA and APAC Canalys Forums, as well as our inaugural Palm Springs, U.S., event in November, where we will bring the most senior and prestigious members of the channel community together,” said Rita Chaher, COO, Canalys. “Informa Tech and Canalys collectively are in an even stronger position to fulfill this mission on a truly global scale by helping to broaden the reach of Omdia’s research into the channel space.”
Discover why the deal will result in a one-stop shop for technology and communication providers.
Cisco officials confirmed to Channel Futures that layoffs took place last week, although they noted the cuts tie back to the restructuring plan the vendor announced almost a year ago. Official sources have not confirmed the scale or scope of the layoffs, and the number of employees impacted would appear to fall below the thresholds for a mandated SEC filing.
Notably, Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), data center and collaboration/Webex units have seen an impact. Posters on Blind and TheLayoff.com reported plans by Cisco to “dissolve” its Customer Experience Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, and move jobs to Cisco’s San Jose Customer Experience Center. Other units listed on Blind include Cisco Security Business Group and Cisco Servers. A director in Cisco’s Security Business Group wrote on LinkedIn that she and 10 teammates are losing their jobs.
ZK Research principal analyst Zeus Kerravala said this year’s layoffs both resemble and differ from previous moves Cisco has made over the years.
“Cisco acquires companies every year, and then when the fiscal year comes to a close, they typically do some rationalization of staff,” Kerravala told Channel Futures. “What’s slightly different this year is the company has laid off a broader set of people, not to reduce headcount, but to reallocate.”
Learn more here what Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins said about the layoffs.
A new Viasat satellite launched in April with high hopes it would provide substantially more internet connectivity to the United States. However, as was discovered earlier this month, the mission to unfurl the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite’s large mesh antenna went awry, materially impacting the performance of the satellite, according to Viasat officials.
Channel Futures sat down with Tessley Smith, Viasat’s channel leader, prior to the discovery that the satellite could not perform as intended, to discuss the company’s channel program and its future. That interview can be found here.
A new Viasat satellite launched in April with high hopes it would provide substantially more internet connectivity to the United States. However, as was discovered earlier this month, the mission to unfurl the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite’s large mesh antenna went awry, materially impacting the performance of the satellite, according to Viasat officials.
Channel Futures sat down with Tessley Smith, Viasat’s channel leader, prior to the discovery that the satellite could not perform as intended, to discuss the company’s channel program and its future. That interview can be found here.
It’s Friday and that means another edition of Channel People Making Waves. This week the most-read stories included individuals at Oracle, Wiz, ZK Research, Canalys and more.
A few analysts topped our list, including Zeus Kerravala, principal at ZK Research. He brought some perspective regarding Cisco’s recent layoffs, letting readers know that the company frequently conducts “rationalization of staff” when the fiscal year comes to a close. This is a result of the numerous acquisitions Cisco makes.
Speaking of acquisitions, Informa Tech, owner of the Channel Futures and Channel Partners Conference & Expo media and events brands, is in the process of buying Canalys. As many in the channel already know, Canalys is the tech industry’s largest provider of global channel research and consulting services. As one Canalys executive put it, this is “a landmark day for the future of channel research and events.” See the slideshow above to read the Channel Futures’ article about the deal.
Finally, Channel Futures editor James Anderson takes a deep dive into a recent Wall Street Journal investigation about decades-old underwater lead cables and their impact on public health. The analyst cited in Anderson’s piece believes that if the government played a role in directing the buildout of these cables, it is “reasonable” that the government would play a part in assessing and funding remediation.
And that’s about it for this week’s Channel People Making Waves. Feel free to check out our previous edition that you can find here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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