5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending Feb. 17

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is a number of Cisco partners that are stepping up to help customers deal with the vexing problem of a faulty third-party component that threatens to shut down some of Cisco's most popular products.

Also making the list are Veeam, for committing $200 million to help partners move to the cloud; Aerohive, for hiring a sales executive who recently left a top rival; Hewlett Packard Enterprise, for staying on top of its security technology game with key product introductions at the RSA Conference; and Capgemini, for a pair of acquisitions that strengthen its hand in the digital agency and insurance IT spaces.

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.

Cisco Partners Helping Customers Navigate Replacement Of Faulty Products

In the wake of the news that some of Cisco's most popular products are at risk for failure because they contain a faulty third-party clock signal component, some Cisco partners are stepping up and saving their customers big bucks – potentially thousands of dollars – by providing free installation services for the replacement products Cisco is providing.

Cisco disclosed Feb. 2 that because of the faulty clock signal component, a number of Cisco's most popular products, including its Nexus switches, Adaptive Security Appliance firewalls, Integrated Services Routers and Meraki cloud-managed switches, may fail starting after just 18 months in use and not be recoverable. Cisco is providing replacements for products under warranty or those covered under a valid service contract, but is not covering the costs of services to rip and replace the suspect gear. In many cases, solution providers said they're providing those services, estimated to cost $800 to $1,000 per device, free of charge as a way of keeping faith with customers.

Others are taking advantage of Cisco’s offer to provide replacements for impacted products that are out of warranty or not otherwise eligible, so long as customers buy a new service contract now, which means that solution providers can show customers a path to get replacement products for roughly 20 percent to 25 percent of the cost of a new system.

Meanwhile Auvik Networks, a provider of remote monitoring and management software, also wins a high five for offering assistance to managed service providers to help identify customers whose equipment contains the faulty component.

Veeam Commits $200M To Push Partners Into The Cloud, Take On AWS

Veeam went on the cloud offensive this week, launching a massive recruitment program for cloud service partners and vowing to spend more than $200 million on the effort.

Veeam, a provider of backup, disaster recovery and virtualization management software, said the investments would help the company compete with cloud titans like Amazon Web Services.

At the heart of the program, called Cloud Connect 2.0, is a $1,000 credit for customers who take the cloud plunge with Veeam, its VARs and its cloud service providers.

While Veeam has some 45,000 channel partners, only a portion of them have shown a willingness to move aggressively into the cloud market. President and COO Peter McKay is hoping that the $200 million commitment, designed to guarantee financial stability for Veeam sales reps and channel partners, will convince more partners to take the cloud plunge.

Aerohive Hires Rival's Former Channel Sales Exec

Enterprise Wi-Fi company Aerohive made a savvy executive hire this week when it tapped Ron Gill (pictured), former America sales leader at rival Ruckus Wireless, to be its new vice president of Americas sales, the company disclosed this week.

Gill will be responsible for leading Aerohive's channel sales charge in the region. Aerohive CEO David Flynn said Gill brings a "deep understanding of the Wi-Fi market, channels and customers" to the company.

Gill led Ruckus' North America sales operations for eight years before leaving in November, around the time semiconductor maker Broadcom disclosed a deal to buy Brocade Communications, which acquired Ruckus in May 2016.

HPE Unleashes New Enterprise Data Security, IoT Solutions For Partners At RSA

Hewlett Packard Enterprise unveiled significant additions to its enterprise data security and Internet of Things security product portfolios this week, part of a push by the company to market more security solutions through the channel.

Data and IoT security are major issues for IT managers right now and with this week's announcement, HPE is staying in the forefront.

The new HPE SecureData for Hadoop and IoT, launched at this week's RSA Conference 2017, is key to securing the massive amount of data generated by the growing number of devices in the IoT era. Experts have warned that vulnerabilities in endpoint devices can provide attackers with a way to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

HPE also unveiled a beta of ArcSight Investigates, a search and investigation tool for security analysts that embeds HPE Vertica and is integrated with Hadoop.

The new products will give HPE's reseller and MSP partners a competitive edge when meeting demand for products for security threat investigation.

Capgemini Acquires Digital Consultancy, Insurance IT Services Firm

Capgemini boosted its North America service capabilities this week when it acquired Idean, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital strategy and design consulting firm; and TCube Solutions, a Columbia, S.C.-based provider of insurance industry IT services.

Digital services are in growing demand and the acquisition of Idean will expand Capgemini's digital design and strategy skills. Idean works with such clients as LG, Mercedes-Benz, Sony, Volkswagen, Airbus, IBM and Intel on digital user experience, customer experience and digital strategy.

TCube specializes in property and casualty insurance software and services, with offerings around integrated policy management, billing, claims operations, reinsurance management systems and data strategy.