5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending June 9

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is Aruba Networks, which launched a number of networking and IoT products that target archrival Cisco.

Also making the list are distributor Synnex for its acquisition of Westcon-Comstor's Americas operations, Netskope for snagging $100 million in venture financing, Amazon Web Services for its new storage competency for partners, and Datto's expanded product lineup for MSP partners.

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.

Aruba Takes On Cisco With New Core Switch, IoT Products

Aruba Networks took aim at archrival Cisco this week on several fronts. Most prominent was the new Aruba 8400 Core Switch Series powered by the new ArubaOS-CX operating system – targeted squarely at displacing Cisco's popular Catalyst line of network switches. The move brings Aruba's mobile cloud-first software directly into the heart of corporate networks.

Aruba went on the offensive against Cisco on the Internet of Things front as well by debuting a location-based asset tracking system that's fully integrated into its wireless platform. That product and the new Aruba 8400 Core Switch Series were both launched this week at the HPE Discover 2017 conference in Las Vegas.

Also at the event, HPE unveiled the next generation of the company's ProLiant server line that incorporates the latest in storage and memory technology; bundling ClearOS Linux with ProLiant servers for the SOHO and SMB markets; and unveiling a new Partner Ready Digital Marketing program.

Synnex Strikes Deal To Buy Westcon-Comstor's Americas Business For Up To $800M

Synnex will purchase Westcon-Comstor's $2.18 billion North American and Latin America businesses for up to $800 million under a deal unveiled this week. Along with helping Synnex grow its operations across the two continents, the move gives the distributor an entry into the market for Cisco products – until now Synnex has been the only North American broadline distributor that did not carry Cisco.

The acquisition expands Synnex's ability to supply solution providers with security, networking and communications and collaboration products from Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, F5 Networks and FireEye.

Synnex also paid an additional $30 million for a 10 percent stake in Westcon International, Westcon-Comstor's $2.35 billion international business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The distributor also has an option to acquire an additional 10 percent interest in Westcon International.

Netskope Lands $100 Million In Funding, Plans More Channel Investment

Netskope, a cloud access security brokerage company, caught everyone's attention this week when it landed $100 million in Series E funding.

The financing news comes after a year of strong growth for Netskope, one of the few remaining independent CASB companies in the market. Company executives told CRN that the funding validates the need for technologies like Netskope's to address security concerns about cloud computing and the approach Netskope has taken in the cloud security market.

Also notable: Netskope plans to devote some of the funding to expanding its channel ecosystem, as well as accelerate product development.

AWS Introduces Storage Competency For Partners, Launches IoT Edge Computing Software

Amazon Web Services wins kudos for a couple of moves this week that will give the company's partners a boost.

Most directly beneficial for partners is a new competency for consulting partners who help enterprise customers store large amounts of data in the public cloud. The AWS badge accredits partners that have demonstrated "deep domain and consulting expertise" in primary storage, archiving, business continuity, and backup and recovery.

AWS also unveiled the general availability of its Greengrass software that's designed to enhance the edge computing capabilities for Internet of Things devices.

AWS said that partners who build Greengrass-capable devices can more easily develop and run IoT applications that span the edge devices and the AWS cloud.

Datto Expands Data Protection Technology Lineup For MSPs

Datto, holding its annual DattoCon partner conference this week, debuted and previewed a number of new technologies and services that will greatly benefit MSP partners – Datto's primary channel.

Most important was the significant expansion of Datto's MSP-focused backup and recovery technology, including the addition of flash storage-based appliances, better options for Office 365, and new networking capabilities such as quality-of-service control.

At DattoCon company executives also provided a look at upcoming offerings, including a virtual desktop infrastructure service that MSPs can provide to hundreds of thousands of small businesses they may not reach today, as well as a new managed power strip for remotely rebooting servers and desktops.