5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending Aug. 26

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is Verizon, which blew away the competition in the latest RootMetrics analysis of wireless service performance.

Also making the list is D&H Distributing for expanding the amount of credit it provides to some of its reseller partners, security startup Siemplify for launching its first channel program, big data software developer Informatica for unveiling plans to step up its own channel efforts, and former CompuCom CEO Jim Dixon for his induction into the IT Hall of Fame.

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 5 Companies That Had A Rough Week roundup.

Verizon Blows Away The Competition In RootMetrics Survey

Verizon scored a significant win this week when the telecom giant came out on top in every network performance category in independent mobile analytics firm RootMetrics' latest report for the sixth consecutive testing period.

The results of the RootMetrics National RootScore report indicate that Verizon's U.S.-based consumers and business customers have the best wireless network experience across most urban and rural U.S. locations.

RootMetrics uses off-the-shelf smartphones purchased from the major carriers: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint to test each carrier's network performance in six categories: reliability, speed, data, call, text and overall network performance. The services were tested in 125 cities, as well as in small towns and on country roads across the U.S.

Verizon landed in the top spot in all six categories and won first place for network performance in 48 of the 50 states.

D&H Invests $23M To Extend Credit Lines For Reseller Partners

D&H Distributing is going the extra mile for its channel partners, announcing a plan to spend nearly $23 million to extend the available credit lines for nearly 850 resellers.

D&H said the move is targeted toward solution providers who are moving upmarket by increasing the range of services they provide. That generally leads to an increase in product sales. And the distributor wants to help fuel that growth.

With solution and service providers increasingly relying on recurring revenue streams, some smaller resellers don't always have the up-front cash needed to acquire all the IT products they need to serve their customers. Several solution providers told CRN how they sometimes had to be creative, such as spreading out IT purchases, when they bumped up against their credit limits.

D&H wins kudos for recognizing that some of its fastest-growing reseller partners could use a little more financial assistance.

Security Startup Siemplify Launches First Partner Program

Security technology startup Siemplify is diving into the channel, announcing this week the launch of its first partner program to help solution providers build better security operations center practices.

New York-based Siemplify develops the ThreatNexus end-to-end platform that security teams in security operations centers use for threat management and incident response tasks.

While Siemplify has already worked with a few partners on an ad hoc basis, the company is creating a formal partner program with protected margins, deal registration, engineering assistance, and marketing activities and resources.

Siemplify has five partners already signed up and is in talks with 20 more to join. The company is targeting strategic and regional VARs, systems integrators and managed security service providers.

Informatica Hires IBM Exec For Expanded Channel Efforts

You don't have to be a startup like Siemplify to launch a channel initiative. Informatica, one of the most established big data technology vendors, this week said it has hired Rodney Foreman (pictured), a 20-year IBM veteran who ran a number of Big Blue's channel sales operations over the years, to manage Informatica's channel.

Informatica CEO Anil Chakravarthy said the company, which has traditionally focused on direct sales for its data integration software, needs at least 40 percent of its business going through the channel to achieve its growth targets.

Foreman, who last held the position of vice president of cloud channel sales, told CRN that Informatica generally has not invested in channel programs, incentives and marketing – a situation he vows to change.

Former CompuCom CEO Jim Dixon Named To IT Hall Of Fame

Jim Dixon, who served some 17 years in total as CEO of solution provider CompuCom and once saved the Plano, Texas-based company from possible failure, was honored this week when he was inducted into the IT Hall of Fame.

Dixon's induction ceremony took place at the XChange 2016 conference in San Antonio, hosted by CRN parent The Channel Company. The IT Hall of Fame was founded by CRN in 1997 and has been administered by CompTIA since 2010.

Dixon served as CEO of CompuCom from 1988 to 1996 and again from 2004 to 2013. During that time the company evolved from selling PCs in retail stores to become a $2.2 billion solutions provider giant that gets more than half its revenue from IT outsourcing and services.

When Dixon came out of retirement in 2004 to lead CompuCom for the second time, the company's revenue was dropping and its survival was uncertain given the competitive, quickly evolving IT market.