
Oracle alliance with Microsoft complicates cloud computing relationships
Cloud computing makes for strange bedfellows, but now that Oracle and Microsoft have agreed to work together to integrate Oracle Cloud services with the Microsoft Azure cloud, almost anything seems possible. The agreement between the two companies represents something of...

LF Edge launches frameworks for building edge solutions
The Linux Foundation wants to make it simpler for managed service providers (MSPs) to construct their own edge computing solutions using open source software. The LF Edge arm of the Linux Foundation announced the availability of a set of frameworks...

Survey finds MSPs are more appreciated in the age of the cloud
A global survey published this week by Accenture finds that in the age of the cloud more customers are willing to rely on managed service providers (MSPs). The survey of 200 senior IT professionals from large businesses finds that 87...

Increased complexity pushes internal IT teams closer to the breaking point
The decision to rely on a managed service provider (MSP) often comes down to the IT skills, or lack thereof, any organization has at hand. The more complex the IT environment, the thinner the level of expertise that can be...

Survey finds large appetite for SD-WAN change among IT executives
Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WANs) remains one of the fastest growing sectors in IT. In fact, a new survey of 400 IT executives published by Cato Networks, an SD-WAN service delivered via the cloud, indicates that 44 percent of respondents...

Need for zero-trust IT environments bodes well for MSPs
As part of a concerted effort to improve their overall cybersecurity posture, most organizations are now moving towards building a true zero-trust IT environment. After years of pursuing a hodgepodge approach to IT, organizations are starting to realize that a...

Worldwide popularity of GDPR on the rise
The first anniversary of a move by the European Union to impose a General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) arrives at the end of this week. GDPR was enacted to protect the digital rights of anyone doing business with a company...

Time to appreciate the thin line of cybersecurity defense maintained by MSPs
One of the toughest, and often thankless, roles in all of IT is that of the managed security services provider (MSSP). Most MSSPs know cyberattacks tend to come in waves. Cybercriminals like to mix up their attack vectors to avoid...

Windows 10 migration crisis looms ahead
IT organizations, as well as the managed service providers (MSPs) that support them, are now in a race against time, as Microsoft prepares to end free support for Windows 7. Microsoft expects to stop delivering security updates for Windows 7...

Rising tide of data privacy concerns bodes well for MSPs
Data protection is increasingly becoming a board level issue, as the average consumer becomes more cognizant of how the data that organizations collect is being used and abused. On an almost daily basis, a company or organization is being forced...