MFP Industry Notes

MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

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Unisys Achieves Amazon Web Services Managed Service Provider and Amazon Web Services ...

• Announced it has maintained its membership in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Service Provider (MSP) Partner Program for the third year in a row
• Recognized as a member in the AWS Well-Architected Partner Program for its cloud offerings
• Unisys is a global information technology company that builds high-performance, security-centric solutions for the most demanding businesses and governments

Green House Data and Zerto Fast-Track Digital Transformation with Hybrid Cloud Resilience and ...

• Announced a strategic alignment with Zerto to accelerate digital transformation initiatives centered around hybrid cloud resilience and multi-cloud application migration
• Zerto is a software solution that replaces legacy solutions with a single platform to enable disaster recovery, data protection, and workload mobility across hyperscale clouds, hosted services, and on-premise data centers
• Zerto helps customers accelerate IT transformation by reducing the risk and complexity of modernization and cloud adoption
• Green House Data is a managed service provider and consulting firm

CI Security Announces Strategic Agreement with Phoenix 2.0 to Provide Cybersecurity to ...

• CI Security ®, a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Professional Services provider
• announced a strategic agreement with Phoenix 2.0, a leading Managed IT Services, Managed Cybersecurity and Strategic Technology Consulting Provider
• The agreement enables Phoenix 2.0 to provide CI Security’s Critical Insight™ MDR solution to customers, including an outsourced Security Operations Center (SOC)
• Phoenix customers also now have access to a full suite of professional services to achieve compliance such as incident response, penetration testing, and risk assessments
• Phoenix 2.0, a full-service IT consulting and technology management firm

Involta Launches New Healthcare Technology Suite: Involta SecureHealth(SM)

• Involta, an hybrid IT, cloud computing and data center services company
• announces that the company has partnered with Alert Logic, the industry's first SaaS-enabled Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider, to develop Involta SecureHealth^SM.  Involta SecureHealth^SMis a suite of managed IT services

Red Hat looks to move SAP managed services on-premises in new partnership

• Red Hat is collaborating with SAP and IBM, its parent company, to help move SAP managed

services on-premises reported on Could Computer News

• By combining Gardener, an SAP managed Kubernetes service, and virtualisation capabilities on OpenShift, the companies hope to provide a more seamless ramp for on-premise deployments

Trend Micro Finds 72% of Remote Workers Have Gained Cybersecurity Awareness During

• Trend Micro’s Head in the Cloudsstudy is distilled from interviews with 13,200 remote workers across 27 countries

• 56% of employees admit to using a non-work application on a corporate device, and 66% of them have actually uploaded corporate data to that application
• 80% of respondents confess to using their work laptop for personal browsing, and only 36% of them fully restrict the sites they visit
• 39% of respondents say they often or always access corporate data from a personal device – almost certainly breaking corporate security policy
• 8% of respondents admit to watching / accessing porn on their work laptop, and 7% access the dark web
• A third of respondents (34%) agree that they do not give much thought to whether the apps they use are sanctioned by IT or not
• 29% think they can get away with using a non-work application, as the solutions provided by their company are ‘nonsense.’
• Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information

Air Force announces Information Technology & Cyberpower Conference 2020

• Annual conference promotes dialogue between the Air Force, industry and academia to generate strategies and processes to leverage capabilities and overcome challenges in an increasingly digital world
• This year’s theme is part of the ‘The Digital Enterprise We Need,’ campaign
• Cyber Acquisitions
  Cyber Operations
  • Cyber Policy & Strategy
  • Data and Artificial Intelligence
  • Cyber Doctrine
  • Joint All-Domain Command and Control and Advanced Battle Management System
  • Multi-Domain Effects

Axio Launches Partnership Program, Announces Strategic Partnership with Net Friends to ...

• Axiois a cyber risk management SaaS company
• announced the launch of the Axio360 Partnership Program
• program developed to empower security leaders to manage risk and create structure around uncertainty
• Net Friends provides managed IT services, IT security and strategy, and IT staffing to clients in North Carolina and across the USA

Contegix to Expand Public Sector Footprint as an Atlassian Verified Government Partner

• Contegix, a provider of managed IT solutions and managed application solutions
• Announced its status as an Atlassian Verified Government Partner
• Atlassian's only FedRAMP certified Platinum Partner, Contegix specializes in managing secure, compliant environments

Datto Inc.'s "Global State of the MSP Report," released earlier this month

• 75% of the MSPs polled identified cloud productivity servicessuch as Microsoft 365 and Google G Suite as the leading managed service they provide
• Future plans also call for cloud: MSPs cited cloud-based infrastructure design and management as the top service they plan to offer within the next year
• In the 2019 Datto survey, 44% of MSP respondents said they generated more than half of their revenue from recurring services
• 2020, that portion has gone up to 53%
• Reported on searchIT channel

RigNet Announces Major Cybersecurity Enhancements

• RigNet a provider of ultra-secure, intelligent networking solutions
• Announced today that Cyphre has enhanced its technology portfolio to quintuple speeds and improve support for harsh environment edge applications
• Cyphre platform delivers military-grade cybersecurity to protect against cache-memory side channel attacks caused by widespread vulnerabilities in computer firmware

LogicalDOC Launches New Feature – DocuSign Integration Tool with Document Management in ...

• LogicalDOC released a new feature where DocuSignis integrated with the Document Management System
• This feature would allow the user to prepare envelopes of contracts in LogicalDOC and distribute them
• Users will be able to modify signature places in LogicalDOC, not only manage signature but also different types of fields, merge multiple files in a single envelope
• LogicalDOC is a global software company based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA

eSentire Announces Record Growth While Full Conversion to a Distributed Workforce Accelerates Digital Transformation, Rapidly Displacing Legacy Cybersecurity Approaches

• eSentire, Inc., category creator and world’s largest Managed Detection and Response (MDR)company
• Announces its ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, sustained by its industry-defining, cloud-native Atlas platform

Airlock Digital to use $1.3 million AustCyber funding to address WFH cybersecurity risks and boost ..

• Australian cybersecurity pioneer Airlock Digitalis using combined funding of $1.3 million through AustCyber
• addressing work-from-home risks and growing Australia’s cyber security ecosystem through MSPs and MSSPs
• Application whitelisting mitigates cyber attacks – which have increased during the coronavirus crisis – by blocking malware, ransomware and other unrecognized software
• Airlock Digital was founded in 2013 with one goal, assist organizations to implement and maintain application whitelisting, simply and securely, in dynamic computing environments

Dalechek Announces New Managed Services Programs

• Dalechek offers fully monitored and supported managed services programs (MSP) including SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Azure, Microsoft 365
• New benefits to Dalechek

Techvera Acquires Cima Solutions Group's Managed IT Service Division to Continue Rapid Growth

• Announced it has acquired the managed IT service division of Lewisville’s Cima Solutions Group, effective July 1, 2020
• Techvera is the premier name in IT support in North Texas, on a mission to transform technology into the ultimate business asset
• Cima Solutions Group is an IT value added provider delivering reliable and efficient IT solutions

Comodo and CyberSecOp Announce Strategic Partnership after Award-Winning MSSP Dropped ...

• Comodo and CyberSecOp today announced their strategic partnership
• CyberSecOp, an award-winning, independent security consultancy firm providing a range of information security consulting services, has partnered with Comodo to expand its security services
• CyberSecOp chose Comodo because it offers the world's only complete, next-gen SOC-as-a platform offering

Cybersecurity Update

• Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc. of Kirksville, Missouri notified 6,033 patients that their PHI was exposed after two boxes of paper medical records were found in a storage facility
• Domestic violence app supported by Dr. Phil suffers data breach
• Aspire News, an app designed to assist domestic violence victims, has suffered a data breach with recordings from victims found on unsecured cloud storage.o included more than 4,000 voice recordings along with victim details, home
  addresses, the nature of their emergency and their location when making the
  report
  o app was designed by When Georgia Smiled, a nonprofit founded by TV
  personalities Robin McGraw and Dr. Phil
• Gateway Health of Pennsylvania notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack
• Sunrise Treatment Center of Cincinnati, Ohio notified 3,660 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack
• Hundreds of thousands of sensitive files from hundreds of police departments across the country have been exposed after stolen by Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) and posted on a “BlueLeaks” site
• Mid-Michigan College notified 16,000 students that their info may have been exposed after email phishing attack
• San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System is being sued after personal data for customers was exposed after security breach
• Deloitte Consulting is being sued as a result of breach that exposed info of people who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in state of Ohio
• ConnectWise, headquartered in Tampa, FL, notified dealer resellers across the country who partner with the managed IT firm, that it was hit by ransomware
• Tallapoosa County Government of Alabama notified an unknown number of citizens that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack
• American Medical Technologies of Irvine, CA notified 47,767 patients that their PHI was exposed during recent cybersecurity incident
• Microsoft announced it is acquiring CyberX Security to add IoT (Internet of things) security products to its offering
• SecurityWeek magazine is reported that a hacker named ‘Fxmsp” has started selling access to 135 different companies on the Dark Web
• CHI St. Luke’ Health Memorial Lufkin Medical Center of Texas notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing incident
• DeKalb Medical Center of Atlanta, GA reports that its former Director of Security, Russell Richardson, pled guilty to using hospital funds to acquire guns, which he then sold for profit
• Florida Orthopaedic Institute notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed during recent breach
• Frost & Sullivan Consulting Inc. of Mountain View, CA notified an unknown number of customers that their info was stolen and now for sale on Dark Web
• ZDNet magazine is reporting that a hacking group named “The Evil Corp” aka “Dridex Gang” is now attacking organizations in the U.S. with the “WastedLocker” ransomware.
• Symantec is warning healthcare vertical that hackers, using Sodinokibi/REvil malware, are now targeting them looking for PoS (point of sale) software or hardware to steal patient payment information
• Landmark Hospital of Athens, GA announced it has suspended 3 employees who are suspected of illegally accessing and stealing PHI
• Kroger Corp., which owns hundreds of grocery stores across the U.S., notified 10,974 customers that their personal info was exposed after its Home Chef home delivery app was hacked
• Choice Health Management Services of North Carolina notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack.
• Clay County Health Center of Liberty, MO notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after it has issue with COVID-19 dashboard.
• GRIMM Security reports that 79 different models of Netgear routers have a security vulnerability that does not yet have a patch.
• Armorblox Security is warning customers of Wells Fargo and Bank of America that they are targeting them with new forms of email phishing scams.
  Audit Analytics published results of research:
  o Average total cost of a breach at a public company is $116 million
  o 34% of the time malware is used to steal information
  o 43% of the companies that suffered a breach kept the type of attack to
  themselves
• ESET Security warned the healthcare industry of the CryCryptor ransomware that can infect COVID-19 Tracing Apps on Android devices.
• US Department of Homeland Security is warning of a new strain of ransomware named “Nefilim” that is attacking companies that use Citrix remote access technology.
• Obinwanne Okeke of Nigeria pleaded guilty to stealing $11 million from Caterpillar Corp. using email phishing attacks.
• Microsoft is warning customer that use Exchange email servers to update their security as they have detected a massive spike in hacking attempts.
• Akamai Security reported that it just mitigated the largest-ever packet-per-second DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack every recorded.
• A recent report from Kaspersky Lab outlines how hackers are using Google Analytics to steal credit cards, passwords, IP addresses, and more from unknowing users.
• Black Hat published results of survey of IT security professionals:
  o 94% = believe pandemic has increased cyberthreats

Just want I needed today was some blockbuster news about Xerox, Fuji Film, Fugi Xerox and HP.  Don't these people know I have a quota to reach by the end of the year!

If you've been hiding all day and not staying in touch with industry events, today was one of those days that has everyone talking.

Early this AM a press release comes out that states Xerox and Fuji Film has reached a settlement in their law suit.  That's the one where Fuji Film sued Xerox because Xerox backed out of the sale. 

Xerox has agreed to see it 25% stake in Fuji Xerox to Fuji Film (a joint venture developed many years ago) for something like $2.2 billion dollars. Keep in mind that Fuji Film filed a lawsuit for 2 billion or so in damages when Xerox backed out of the sale.  Fuji Xerox is now 100% owned by Fuji Film and Xerox has an agreement in place where they can still purchase office MFP's (A4 & A3) for "x" amount of time.  In addition Fuji Film drops the lawsuit against Xerox. Xerox also agreed to sell Xerox its stake in another smaller joint venture with Fuji Xerox to Fujifilm.

Big Takeaway

The biggest takeaway I read was the one where Fujifilm Chief Executive Shigetaka Komori stated “We can now expand our sales territory...and launch new products,” because Fuji Xerox will now be able to sell copiers not just to Xerox, but also to other brands in the United States and Europe".

For me this is HUGE!  Somewhere down the road Xerox will have to compete with their own devices. I'm an old hand at that game been fighting it for years with Ricoh Direct and all of the dealers that sell Ricoh in New Jersey. 

Thoughts

One of my first thoughts is that other manufacturers can now purchase these MFP's from Fuji Xerox.  Thus if one of the copier manufacturer has a poor showing in color A4, they can OEM those devices from Fuji Xerox. The same will hold true for A3 color, A4 black and A3 balck MFP's. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that some traditional copier manufacturers have already made the call to Fuji Xerox to fill gaps in their MFP line.

My second thought is that a Mega Dealer approaches Fuji Xerox and cuts a sole source deal here in the US.  Branding for the MFP's would or should have the Mega Dealer logo and brand. Think about that one for a moment...... are you done thinking yet?  Let's maybe think about Flex, Dex or maybe Marco, imagine the ramification of one of the major copier manufacturers losing one of those accounts. 

I'm also thinking that sometime in the near future the Xerox name is going bye-bye also.

Threads

Here's some of the traction that we had on Linkedin this afternoon.

Xerox Wants HP

Did you see the last thread from Don Quick? 

Yea, while I was out on appointments I think the Wall Street Journal released news that Xerox was putting in an offer to buy HP!  I was like WTF!  Just a few minutes ago the Miami Herald reported that HP did receive an offer from Xerox.

Today was a good day for those that are holding HP and Xerox stock both were up on the market.

While I'm far from being any type of an accountant I did read one article that stated Xerox could pull off the financing for this purchase and that they had acquired financing.  Xerox has something like 928 million is cash, then the 2.2 billion from Fuji Film, however they have a debt service due in December of 528 million.  I'm guessing they would need 30 billion in financing.

I asked myself what would be the benefit to Xerox other than making their shareholders a boat load of cash.  Xerox gets Indigo technology, Samsung technology, HP technology, and the cash cow of the consumables. In addition they would not have to purchase MFP's from Fuji Film in the future.

I'm sure there are many other benefits if this sale happens. At this point I think that the sale is a bit iffy.  But we've seen crazier things happen in our industry over the years.

I don't think anyone saw this coming, and kudos to John Visentin and team if they can pull this off.

-=Good Selling=-

It's been awhile since I had some extra time to write about some of the latest and greatest MFP's from Ricoh.

Just this year Ricoh dropped the old naming convention of MP and replaced it with IM. The IM stands for Intelligent MFP. These new intelligent devices operate with the RICOH Smart Integration platform (RSI).

RSI Remote In

For those of us who have been in the industry for sometime, we can remember having to walk clients through settings on the user screen interface and or helping the client resolve and issue with the copier. I can still remember saying to the client, "Okay, I'm blind and you are my eyes" as I was speaking to them on the phone. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.  When it didn't meant that it was time to dispatch or tech or I would have to go on-site if it was a user issue.

All of that has now changed the awesome features of RSI.  RSI allows service engineers to connect remotely to the copier, control the operator panel and guide clients in real time!  That's a fantastic feature because the client can have the same type of support for copiers as they have with PC's. Let's remote in baby!

RSI Firmware

Another kick butt feature with RSI is that the copier can check for and download firmware updates Once the download is complete the copier will then start the update process with the latest firmware update.  You may ask what's the benefit to the client?  First there's no need for a tech to be on-site to update the copier(s) which incurs downtime.  Secondly, it facilitates a better client experience. 

Features I Like

Convenience Stapler:  I think I can make the statement that in my almost 40 years in the copier business I've never been able to offer a convenience stapler as an option. In fact I've never been able to offer a convenience stapler standard either other than buying an electric stapler and Velcro the stapler to the copier.

The convenience stapler is offered as an option and has the capability of stapling 20 sheets of paper. We can do a traditional top left hand corner staple or the ability to put two parallel staples at the left margin.  Pretty neat because it creates a document that will open like a book.

Paper Mismatch:  We've all experienced it and we've all hated the experience.  That's when you send legal size print job to the letter size paper tray.  The result is one big pain the butt! I can remember clearing the mis-feed, closing the covers and the same thing happens because the print job is still in the copier.  Thus there was another mis-feed. Eventually we learned to pull out the paper tray before we closed the covers to reset the copier.

Thus this new features will sense the mis-match, feed the sheet out of the copier and then alert the user to change the paper in the tray.

Google Cloud Print Ready: This means that the device is ready to be shared on the web using your Google account.   Once the device is registered on the cloud print platform, users are able to print from any internet connected device. Great feature for a company that has a mobile workforce.

Scanning:  Yay! Single Pass Document Feeder and it couldn't have happened at a better time. Why mention print speeds anymore, most don't care about print or copy speeds.  Especially copy speeds because no one copies anymore!  Letter size will scan at 40 images plus per minute at 200DPI and 80 images per minute at 200DPI.  Note that 200 DPI is fine for scanning text type documents, higher resolution is only needed with very small print or fine lines.  I've always wondered why the scan speed is referred to images and not pages. I'm thinking because one sheet of paper can hold two images one on the front and one on the back.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Built in LED cleaning:  For those not familiar with the term LED it stands for Light Emitting Diodes. For years Oki used LED print technology for their print devices rather than laser.  It's said the LED print technology offers better print resolution. For the life of me I don't see a difference,  however I will take the experts word.  Right, so every time a cover is opened on the MP 430f there's a built-in brush that will clean the LED. Something different and something most reps won't speak about.  Just the reason why you need to mention it.

-=Good Selling=-