The ITAM Roundup: 1/7/24
Scared, Angry And Terminated, VMware Partners Unload On Broadcom
The Broadcom drama continues... VMware partners are expressing concerns and frustrations after receiving "termination notices" from Broadcom, following Broadcom's acquisition of VMware. The partners have questions about their status within Broadcom's partner program and how it will affect their business. Some partners are considering alternatives like Nutanix and SoftIron, and there is uncertainty about the criteria Broadcom will use to determine which partners can continue selling VMware.
Microsoft and Oracle Launch Oracle Database@Azure
Microsoft and Oracle have announced the general availability of Oracle Database@Azure, allowing Azure customers to deploy and use Oracle Database@Azure through the Azure portal and APIs. This offering, which combines Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) with Microsoft Azure data centers, is initially available in the Azure East United States region, with plans for expansion to other regions in 2024. Azure customers can purchase Oracle Database@Azure from the Azure Marketplace, benefiting from existing Azure and Oracle commitments, program benefits, and licenses, making it easier to migrate Oracle database workloads to Azure.
Steef-Jan Wiggers
Are Red Hat, VMware selling multi-cloud snake oil?
Panelists at the Silverlinings Cloud Executive Summit expressed skepticism about the push for multi-cloud deployments, suggesting that most enterprises don't actually need to go this route. They emphasized that the decision to go multi-cloud should be tied to specific business outcomes rather than being done just for the sake of it. While companies like Red Hat and VMware offer multi-cloud solutions, the panelists argued that most users don't really need more than one cloud, and adding more clouds can introduce complexity and reduce the value-added differentiators each cloud offers.
Microsoft provides a frontline-worker price break
Microsoft has introduced new SKUs for its Defender and Entra (formerly Azure Active Directory) families, targeting frontline workers. These SKUs include offerings like Microsoft Defender for Identity F1, Defender for Endpoint F2, and more. These new frontline security SKUs are priced at approximately two-thirds the cost of the P1/P2 SKUs, making them more cost-effective for organizations with frontline workers.
Mary Jo Foley
New Microsoft 365 licenses: A game changer for business leaders
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a powerful AI tool aimed at streamlining business processes and boosting productivity. It has received positive reviews from users, with its AI technology helping users work smarter by providing tools for optimizing workflows and finding information efficiently. However, companies should evaluate the associated costs and ensure they meet technical and licensing requirements before implementing Copilot, with pricing options starting at $30 per month per user.
Phil Perfetti
Tackling Tail Spend in SaaS: Managing Unseen Costs
Effective management of tail spend is essential for controlling unauthorized spending and improving a company's financial performance. Tail spend refers to low-value indirect costs that often escape budgetary oversight.
In the context of SaaS, tail spend can be caused by factors such as ad-hoc purchases, lack of centralized procurement, shadow IT, subscription sprawl, and changing business needs. To manage SaaS tail spend effectively, organizations should identify hidden spend, streamline internal processes, organize data, establish strategic supplier alliances, optimize spend through automation, monitor software usage, and leverage SaaS buying capabilities.
Tathagata Chakrabarti
Using the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to Manage Conditional Access Policies
This article explains the need to update scripts based on these modules to use Graph API requests or the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to manage CA policies. It also provides insights into connecting to the Graph, fetching details of existing conditional access policies, and creating new conditional access policies using PowerShell.
Tony Redmond
Switching Licenses for Entra ID User Accounts with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK
This article discusses how to automate the process of switching Microsoft 365 licenses for Entra ID user accounts while preserving service continuity using PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. The need for automation arises when there are hundreds of licenses to switch, making manual processes impractical. The article provides insights into managing service plans within licenses and offers a script that can be used to switch licenses by removing an old license and replacing it with a new one while ensuring that the same functionality is maintained.
Tony Redmond
Ivanti warns of critical vulnerability in its popular line of endpoint protection software
Ivanti has issued a warning about a critical vulnerability in its endpoint protection software, Ivanti Endpoint Protection Manager (EPM). The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-39336, has a severity rating of 9.6 out of 10 and is a SQL injection flaw present in all supported versions of the software. If exploited, it could allow unauthenticated attackers with access to the internal network to execute arbitrary SQL queries, potentially leading to remote code execution on affected machines. Ivanti has released a patch to address this issue, and while there's no known evidence of active exploitation, users are advised to install the patch or take necessary mitigation measures promptly.
Dan Goodin
