5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending June 10

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is security technology developer Cylance, for landing an impressive $100 million in financing and its plans to put some of that money toward expanded channel efforts.

Also making the list were Hewlett Packard Enterprise, for its new Edgeline systems targeting Internet of Things applications; Carousel, for its acquisition of Atrion, which expands its Cisco practice; Fortinet, for its acquisition of AccelOps, boosting its SIEM offerings; and Tufin, for its growing channel program ambitions.

Not everyone in the IT industry was making smart moves this week, of course. For a rundown of companies that were unfortunate, unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions, check out this week's Five Companies That Had A Rough Week roundup.

Cylance Lands $100M, Plans Expanded Efforts With Partners

There may be a lot of venture capital money flowing into IT security startups these days. But six-digit investments still make people sit up and take notice.

Cylance, whose endpoint security software uses artificial intelligence, algorithmic science and machine learning to detect suspect behavior, said this week that it had raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Insight Venture Partners. That brings the startup's total financing to $177 million.

Cylance, which pursues a 100 percent channel go-to-market strategy, plans to use the financing to expand its channel sales and marketing initiatives. That means expanding partner resources in the U.S., including channel sales engineers, channel sales representatives, channel operations, market development funds and more. The company also expects to recruit additional partners.

HPE Unveils Converged IoT Systems, Touts Channel Focus

Hewlett Packard Enterprise this week launched a pair of Intel Xeon-based converged systems, the Edgeline EL1000 and EL4000, for Internet of Things data capture and control applications at the edge of corporate networks. HPE debuted the products at its annual Discover Conference, where the company's technological prowess was on full display.

HPE's channel acumen was also evident during the conference. The company invited several hundred Dell and EMC partners to the conference with an eye toward recruiting them amid the uncertainty of Dell's pending acquisition of EMC.

And CEO Meg Whitman, in an interview with CRN, also touted the fact that with the planned spinoff of its Enterprise Services business with systems integrator CSC, HPE will be a 100 percent channel-focused company.

Carousel Acquisition To Turbocharge Cisco Practice

Carousel Industries struck a deal this week to acquire fellow Rhode Island solution provider Atrion in a move to help it rapidly scale its nascent Cisco practice and become more of a one-stop shop for customers.

Carousel, based in Exeter, R.I., and No. 64 on the CRN 2016 Solution Provider 500, became authorized to service Cisco products as of only March 1 even though about three-fourths of its customers have Cisco equipment.

Atrion, based in Warwick, R.I., and No. 196 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, derives about 50 percent of its sales from Cisco and has a robust product and managed services practice around the networking gear vendor.

Fortinet Moves Into SIEM Arena With AccelOps Acquisition

Speaking of acquisitions, security technology vendor Fortinet is making its first significant foray into the security information and event management arena with its $28 million acquisition of AccelOps, revealed this week.

AccelOps develops a next-generation SIEM system that incorporates event management with response automation, external threat intelligence streams and analytical capabilities around intelligence and behavioral data.

Fortinet plans to relaunch the AccelOps software as FortiSIEM and integrate it into the company's new Security Fabric strategy, launched in April, that integrates all of Fortinet's products together into a single architecture.

Security Automation Company Tufin Boosts Channel Partner Incentives

Channel program expansions always get kudos from CRN and network security firm Tufin wins applause this week for boosting the incentives it offers partners through its channel program.

The Israel-based company, with U.S. offices in Morristown, N.J., has about 80 partners in North America and is largely focused on channel sales to grow its customer base, the company told CRN.

This week the company said it's sweetening its channel program incentives with higher margins for partners that have invested in Tufin's certifications. It's also making it easier for solution providers to obtain certifications through online training. The vendor is also providing expanded access to a dedicated channel manager for partners.