5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending April 24

This week's roundup of companies that came to win include significant new funding for a leading Microsoft channel partner, HP's strategic security technology alliance with FireEye, Dell's latest channel incentives for enterprise sales, a savvy BlackBerry acquisition and a key channel executive hire by a flash storage startup.

Microsoft Super Partner Gets $35 Million In Private Equity To Fuel Growth

New Signature, the Washington D.C.-based systems integrator that Microsoft named its Partner of the Year in 2014, is looking to triple in size in the next two years after getting $35 million in private equity financing this week.

The company will use the money to expand its physical footprint beyond the Northeast and expand its technical capabilities around Microsoft's cloud offerings, including Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online.

"It's a lot of money," Chris Hertz, co-founder of New Signature, told CRN. "It's going to take us a long way."

HP Teams With FireEye For Fortune 1000 Security Offensive

Hewlett-Packard struck a strategic alliance with security technology developer FireEye under which the two companies are co-branding and co-selling a wide range of security services based on FireEye's advanced cybersecurity and malware protection technologies.

HP's services organization will utilize the FireEye technology in a comprehensive suite of security services that HP will use to target its top 1,000 strategic accounts and compete against rivals like IBM and Cisco. Despite the initial focus on enterprise customers, executives at both companies said channel partners and their SMB customers could ultimately benefit from the alliance.

Dell Sweetens Incentives For TechSelect Partners

Dell channel execs offered partners attending Tech Data's TechSelect conference this week some serious incentives to expand their sales of the vendor's enterprise-class products.

The incentives, introduced by Frank Vitagliano (pictured), Dell's worldwide channel strategy and programs vice president, include a 4 percent rebate on select enterprise products. The executive said the rebate recognizes the joint opportunity between Dell and TechSelect members.

The new rebate comes on top of other recent incentives Dell has offered as part of a recent channel offensive. Those include a 4 percent back-end rebate for new account sales, a new account sales rep spiff of $250 per new customer acquisition, and new AdvantEdge incentives including $1,000 on security sales, $400 on storage sales, $200 on server sales and $20 on PC sales.

BlackBerry Acquisition Boosts Enterprise Mobility Management Strategy

BlackBerry continues to make some savvy moves under CEO John Chen (pictured) as the mobile communications company works to turn itself around. This week the company struck a deal to acquire WatchDox, a developer of file security and secure document gateway technology, in a move that will expand its software portfolio for the enterprise market.

A key part of Chen's plans to return BlackBerry to profitability and growth is to leverage the company's mobile management and security technologies. BlackBerry partners told CRN that WatchDox and its file-sync-and-share security tools are a valuable addition to the company's Enterprise Mobility Management product lineup and BES12 scalable security architecture.

Infinio Snags A Top Channel Exec From Dell

Flash storage startup Infinio disclosed this week that it has hired Bob Skelley, one of Dell's top channel managers, to be the Cambridge, Mass.-based company's new vice president of global channels. Until last week Skelley was Dell's executive director of North American channel sales.

Skelley told CRN that the opportunity to work with a relative newcomer to the channel was too good an opportunity to pass up. He will be charged with building a channel program and channel management team at Infinio.