Big Yellow’s acquisition of LiveOffice for cloud-based archiving adds another significant piece to its eDiscovery and data governance portfolio. Symantec’s development of this area reflects the increasing need for greater integrated controls in data integrity and management, which is an emerging opportunity for the channel in the cloud era.

A Gartner survey of IT managers revealed a surprisingly high number admitting to not being PCI-compliant – despite the fact that many tech security providers target their products and services to support PCI-related compliance initiatives.

The city of Los Angeles is getting a bargain in its adoption of Google Apps, after Google and CSC agreed to reduce rates and pay for legacy systems to ensure compliance with federal regulations. The experience shows the need for due diligence in cloud adoption and how compliance can derail even the best-intended systems.

Rather than just targeting health care providers with its governance and regulatory compliance tool, eGastalt is leveraging the compliance requirements of business associations to spur geometric adoption of its products and channel opportunities. Call it the “Fabarge” strategy.

The compromise of SecurID token data by hackers is a reminder that all businesses are subject to intellectual property attacks and thefts. Solution providers should use this as an opportunity to talk with customers about their risk exposure and defensive posture.

Here’s a look at some of the stories and trends that hit our radar screen that are relevant to the channel. My favorite: Microsoft tying up with Nokia in smartphones.

Compliance is once again a favorite selling tool for IT vendors and resellers alike. The message usually goes, “If you don’t buy our product, you will suffer the pains of security breaches and government fines.” On paper, that much is truly black and white. In reality, though, regulatory enforcement is very gray, as seen in the enforcement actions by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.

Let’s face it, regulatory compliance is the bane of business today. Government regulations and industry standards are difficult to comprehend and expensive to meet expectations, especially on an ongoing basis. Siloed business structures make compliance a fleeting exercise. And, clouding all this is the fact that every vendor with a piece of code or black box has “the solution” to compliance woes. It’s time to look at compliance through a comprehensive lens.

Between government stimulus funds for electronic recordkeeping and regulatory requirements for data security, health care is the hot market for technology vendors and solution providers. Compliance is often seen as the means for compelling security adoption amongst health care providers, but in talking with solution providers about this gold rush opportunity, Channelnomics has discovered compliance – and its effectiveness as a selling tool – is in the eyes of the beholder.

Army private Bradley Manning may become the patron saint of data loss prevention (DLP). Thanks to his supplying WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of sensitive and classified government documents, Manning has done more to raise the level of awareness of insider security threats and the risk posed by unchecked portable media.