Looking to challenge conventional Secure Web Gateways and Web filtering vendors, Zscaler unveiled a new channel program build around the delivery of Web content security via the cloud. The intent is making Zscaler and its partner ecosystem the equivalent of Salesforce.com of cloud security providers.

Solution providers give Ingram Micro top marks in cloud partnerships among distributors by a wide margin. However, the distribution preference reveals a big gap in distribution cloud cover.

CA’s newest cloud “accelerator” solution holds infrastructure-as-a-service opportunities for solution providers. GreenPages Technology Solutions is CA’s first U.S. partner out of the gate with it.

Hewlett-Packard figuratively limped into Las Vegas for its Global Partner Conference, still suffering from the hangover of the 2011 management debacle. CEO Meg Whitman, her management team and a raft of new products and channel initiatives have lifted the dark cloud hanging over the vaunted vendor.

Parallels unleashed a string of new software, services capabilities and technology partnerships this week with the aim of enabling service providers with ammunition to capture a growing $2.4 billion SMB cloud opportunity.

At the VMware Partner Exchange in Las Vegas, vendors across all technology segments are craning to showcase how their hardware and software support or enhance VMware’s virtualization tools. The goal is acceleration and expansion of channel programs and penetration of existing accounts.

In new exclusive research by the Cloud & Technology Transformation Alliance, Microsoft leads the pack of IT vendors when it comes to forming productive partnerships in cloud computing with solution providers.

At its Global Partner Conference, Hewlett-Packard is unveiling a host of new programs and initiatives designed to stimulate cloud product and service adoption. Referral incentives between resellers and service providers is a bold move to accelerate cloud adoption; and it has a real chance of succeeding.

In the wake of the Los Angeles Police Department’s aborted adoption of Google Apps, the FBI has issued a clear clarification on the cloud service security requirements of all law enforcement agencies. The standard will make it hard for solution providers to sell cloud to law enforcement.

As security breaches and the cost of data compromises reach new highs, solution providers are looking for new technologies to counter security risks. According to a SafeNet survey, that solution may be identity management and authentication.