VMware plans to make half of its management team women to ensure gender parity within the company over the next 10 years. "We want to hire one woman for every one male that we hire, and really see a more diverse workforce with underrepresented minorities and women," Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Poonen said.

The Channel Co. is looking to strengthen its portfolio by acquiring cloud marketing firm Audienz. Channel CEO Blaine Raddon says, "Audienz's knowledge of cloud marketplaces and the [independent software vendor] market is going to be a demand generation game-changer for our customers."

Microsoft is testing a new Windows taskbar widget to provide access to dynamic content, including news and weather. The company said this optional add-on will be ad-free once formally released.

The US Justice Department has been added to the list of government agencies targeted by the Solar Winds hack. While the breach is considered a major incident, there is currently no evidence that classified information was compromised.

Sanjay Poonen of VMware told attendees at the company's annual conference that "security is a team sport, and it takes a village," and it needs to be explained to employees in simpler terms. Jimmy Sanders, chief of security at Netflix DVD, said his company tries to give "employees power and freedom to do what's right but hold them responsible."