Five Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending March 1, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel including ThreatLocker, ServiceNow, Nvidia, Fulcrum IT Partners and SAS.

The Week Ending March 1

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is ThreatLocker for unveiling its new MDR service for managed service providers, a move that partners applauded as evidence the company is “owning the endpoint.”

Also making this week’s list is ServiceNow for an acquisition and a new Alliance with Nvidia that boosts the process automation giant’s AI capabilities. Nvidia is itself on this week’s list for unveiling a pair of GPUs designed for AI tasks in mobile workstations. Fulcrum IT Partners wins applause for its new $1 million cybersecurity warranty. And big data company SAS is here for its new alliance with government IT reseller Carahsoft.

ThreatLocker Adds Detection And Response Service To Boost Support For MSPs

ThreatLocker wins kudos this week for introducing a new detection and response service in an effort to further augment the backing it provides to MSPs around cyber defense.

ThreatLocker’s new service, Cyber Hero Detection and Response, is a further recognition that many MSPs are looking for additional capabilities that can complement the vendor’s core prevention technologies, according to ThreatLocker Co-Founder and CEO Danny Jenkins.

The service will be delivered by the endpoint security vendor’s “Cyber Hero” team and will include monitoring of all logs and alerts related to customers’ IT systems. In the event ThreatLocker detects “something bad happening in your environment,” a Cyber Hero will reach out as soon as it’s spotted and assist with response activities, Jenkins said this week during the vendor’s Zero Trust World 2024 conference.

The new service builds on the debut of ThreatLocker’s first-ever capabilities for detection of malicious activity a year ago. The detection tool, Ops, moved out of beta into general availability several weeks ago, Jenkins said.

ThreatLocker’s new service is further recognition that many MSPs are looking for additional capabilities that can complement the vendor’s core prevention technologies, according to Jenkins.

MSPs attending Zero Trust World applauded the deeper expansion into threat detection and response by the company.

ServiceNow Boosts AI Charge With Nvidia Partnership, Artinet Tech Acquisition

ServiceNow is doubling down on AI and generative AI with the acquisition of Artinet’s NetACE network automation technology and the formation of a tighter partnership with AI superstar Nvidia with the launch of a new joint solution.

The bold moves by ServiceNow will accelerate its AI strategy with a specific focus on boosting sales and customer stickiness in the telecommunications market.

This week ServiceNow said it is partnering with Nividia to launch generative AI solutions for telcos, including Now Assist for Telecommunications Service Management (TSM). The company said TSM will help telcos boost agent productivity, speed time to resolution, and enhance customer experiences.

“GenAI is a game‑changer for telcos looking to boost productivity, improve customer experiences, and drive cost savings with its ability to learn and improve with each use,” said ServiceNow’s Rohit Batra, general manager and vice president for telecom, media and tech, in a statement. “Together, ServiceNow and Nvidia will help telcos realize unprecedented business value and impact, fast.”

Additionally, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of process automation software is buying Artinet’s NetACE network management and automation portfolio. Once integrated with the ServiceNow platform, Artinet’s NetACE technology will enable end-to-end network lifecycle management for telcos on a single “AI-first digital workflow platform,” Batra said.

Nvidia Reveals AI-Focused RTX 500, 1000 GPUs For Mobile Workstations

Speaking of moves in AI, chipmaker Nvidia made a big move in the AI PC arena this week, debuting a pair of low-end RTX Ada Generation GPUs designed to boost AI workflows for ultrathin laptops used by professionals and content creators.

The AI chip giant is pitching the RTX 500 and 1000 GPUs as a significant step above CPUs for AI performance in “highly portable” mobile workstations but not as powerful as higher-end GPUs like the RTX 2000, 3000 and 5000.

The RTX 500 and 1000 GPUs are built for more “demanding day-to-day AI workflows,” such as removing background noise in video editing software, blurring images with upscaling in photo editing software or even “using AI for higher-quality video conferencing and streaming experiences,” according to Nvidia.

It’s the latest move by Nvidia to promote its view of the AI PC category which differs from rivals like Intel and AMD due to the emphasis on using discrete GPUs to power key AI tasks rather than CPUs that come with an integrated GPU and neural processing unit.

Fulcrum IT Partners Offers Customers Up To $1M Cybersecurity Warranty

Fulcrum IT Partners, the billion-dollar solution provider behemoth, gets a round of applause this week for offering customers a 100-percent cash refund on services it provides that are impacted by specific cybersecurity incidents and up to $1 million as part of a new cybersecurity warranty program.

The warranty program, developed in conjunction with cyber resilience warranty provider Spectra, covers security incidents like ransomware and DDoS attacks.

The warranty – which pays off up to a $1 million under certain conditions - is available immediately in the United Kingdom as part of Fulcrum IT Partner’s Tieva managed services brand. It will be available starting in the second quarter in the U.S. and Canada.

“We see this warranty as a good way to give customers a financial backstop on the cybersecurity investments they make with Fulcrum IT Partners,” said Kyle Lanzinger, Fulcrum IT Partners U.S. and Canada president. “Customers are scared. They are getting attacked. They have no real financial way of protecting themselves. I don’t know of anyone that is doing this.”

Fulcrum, in fact, said it is the first MSP to bring the Spectra-backed warranty to customers, providing peace of mind for customers amidst an ever-increasing tide of cyberattacks.

SAS Continues Distribution Offensive With Expanded Carahsoft Alliance

SAS is extending its alliance with Carahsoft Technology in a move to expand and streamline channel sales of its data analytics, data management and AI products to U.S. government agencies.

Under a new agreement announced this week, Carahsoft will serve as a SAS Public Sector Distributor, making SAS software available to the federal government through Carahsoft’s own reseller partners and various contract vehicles and government schedules. The Carahsoft agreement marks the first time SAS has operated through a two-tier distribution model for U.S. government sales.

In September SAS, headquartered in Cary, N.C., said it was doubling down on its partner strategy and increasing the role of indirect channels to generate sales. That announcement included a global relationship with distributor TD Synnex for commercial sales and an initial deal with Carahsoft to serve as a fulfillment engine for sales to federal government agencies. (Earlier this month SAS selected Redington as its distributor in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey.)