Five Companies That Came To Win This Week

Oracle Buys Big Data Vendor DataRaker

Oracle beefed up its big data analytics lineup by acquiring DataRaker, a Sausalito, Calif.-based vendor of apps that electric, gas and water utilities use to collect and analyze the mountain of data generated by smart meters, sensors and other devices. DataRaker's customers include several major U.S. utilities, and its technology is used in some 17 million smart meters around the country. Oracle plans to add DataRaker to its Utilities application portfolio.

Apple Adds Renowned Windows Researcher To Security Team

Apple hired a respected Windows security researcher to help protect its products from future threats. Kristin Paget, formerly known as Chris Paget, is now a member of Apple's security team, according to a report from Wired Enterprise. Paget was one of the handful of hackers Microsoft hired to kick the tires on Windows Vista prior to its launch. Though Vista is still regarded as a giant leap forward in security compared to Windows XP, Paget still found plenty of vulnerabilities that would have otherwise slipped through to the final release, according to the Wired Enterprise report.

Juniper Snaps Up SDN Startup Contrail Systems

Juniper, in the midst of a major corporate restructuring, found time to acquire Contrail Systems, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software-defined networking startup, in a $176 million cash and stock deal. Contrail's executive team includes CEO Ankur Singla, former CTO and engineering vice president at Aruba Networks, and CTO Kireeti Kompella, former CTO and chief architect for Junos at Juniper. The startup was reportedly about to exit stealth mode and scored $10 million in a July Series A round led by Khosla Ventures.

Bromium Adds Malware Forensics, Analytics In vSentry Update

Bromium, a startup that burst onto the IT scene in June with a humble promise to revolutionize the antimalware market, added real-time malware forensics and attack analytics in its first update to its flagship vSentry product. In vSentry 1.1, unveiled Tuesday, Bromium is adding a new feature called LAVA (Live Attack Visualization and Analysis), which tracks malicious activity taking place on networks and responds to it automatically, without human interaction.

Flash Storage Startup Whiptail Snags $31 Million VC Round

Storage startup Whiptail, which specializes in all-flash-based storage arrays, closed a $31 million Series C round of venture capital. That brings Whiptail's total VC funding to date to $46 million.

CEO Dan Crain told CRN Whiptail is currently almost cash-flow positive from an operations perspective. With the latest VC infusion, the startup believes it can become profitable.

"We're old school," Crain told CRN. "We run this like a real business. We don't spend capriciously. We invest in R&D, in our people and in our customers. We're focused on making this a valuable company for customers to work with."