Increased adoption of cloud computing, virtualization and other big IT shifts are rewriting the relationship between technology vendors and their channel partners. These shifts are having big affects further downstream, too, changing how resellers and managed service providers (MSPs) offer value to their own customers. Andrew Hamilton, director of engineering and professional services at Unitiv, a leading enterprise IT systems provider, discusses how his company serves its customers’ data protection needs amidst the changes.

The following is a guest post by John Grady, senior manager of product marketing at XO Communications:

Before that glossy magazine hits the shelf, a lot of work takes place behind the scenes. Freelance writers are hired, stories are edited, photos are chosen and sorted — and all of these elements are compiled using editing software. Losing the final version of a feature story, or misplacing a commissioned photo, adds further time and effort, so it's essential that publishers back up everything to keep the production schedule on track.

Security experts recently discovered a new software vulnerability that could affect millions of devices and servers across the globe. It’s called Shellshock, and experts are still trying to determine just how big of a threat it is. The consensus, however, is that it poses even more risk than the Heartbleed bug discovered earlier this year.