Five Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Sept. 5, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel including Cato Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Celona, Varonis and Net at Work.

The Week Ending Sept. 5

Topping this week’s Five Companies that Came to Win list is Cato Networks for a strategic acquisition that will help it expand into the fast-growing AI security space.

Also making this week’s list is Hewlett Packard Enterprise for its moves to provide incentives to both the Aruba and Juniper Networks sales teams to sell both networking portfolios—a bid to avoid sales conflict and drive sales momentum in the wake of HPE’s recently completed acquisition of Juniper Networks.

Private wireless provider Celona makes this week’s list for introducing significant channel program changes to better support MSPs building sustainable, repeatable private 5G practices. Varonis is here for its own savvy acquisition in the email security space.

And solution provider Net at Work makes the list for its latest acquisition that expands the company’s service offerings around Acumatica applications.

Cato Networks Expands Into AI Security With First-Ever Startup Acquisition

Cato Networks announced its first-ever merger and acquisition deal this week with its acquisition of Aim Security, a move that will enable the SASE vendor to expand into the fast-growing AI security segment.

A top provider in the crucial SASE (secure access service edge) market, Cato Networks is now also seeking to become a player in the red-hot area of securing AI adoption. Terms of the deal for Aim Security — which is based in Tel Aviv, Israel, as is Cato — were not disclosed.

Founded in 2022, startup Aim Security offers capabilities for securing the usage of both public and private AI applications, including AI agents. The startup has also offered AI security posture management (AI-SPM), which provides improved visibility into AI models and applications with the goal of discovering vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.

Cato said it plans to have Aim Security’s capabilities integrated into its Cato SASE Cloud Platform as of early 2026.

HPE Is Incentivizing HPE-Juniper Sales Forces To Sell Both Networking Portfolios

Hewlett Packard Enterprise wins applause this week for providing incentives to both the Aruba and Juniper Networks sales teams to sell both networking portfolios in a bid to drive sales momentum in the wake of HPE’s recently completed $13.4 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks.

The big HPE investment to compensate both the HPE and Juniper sales teams to sell the entire product line is aimed at eliminating sales conflict or infighting as HPE moves to integrate the sales teams by the end of 2025. The investment ensures HPE and Juniper sales reps will get compensated to mount a united networking sales offensive in front of customers.

“We are already incentivizing both sales forces to sell both [vendors’] products,” said HPE CEO Antonio Neri in a conference call with Wall Street analysts, marking the first time HPE has reported combined HPE-Juniper results. “And I can tell you the channel community is super excited to be able to sell both products because the combination of both products allows them to cover every vertical, every use case, in every geography.”

Neri said in the campus and branch networking segment, HPE and Juniper are going to “thoughtfully integrate” the Juniper platform and the Aruba Networking Central platform.

HPE is also working on integrating its HPE Private Cloud portfolio with the software-defined networking component from Juniper, Neri said, and the company is also driving integration its networking switches with its storage and server business.

Celona Modernizes Channel Program To ‘Co-Invest’ In Partners Capturing Private 5G Opportunities

Private wireless provider Celona makes this week’s list for making significant channel program changes that aim to better support MSPs building sustainable, repeatable private 5G practices.

The newly revamped Celona Frequency Program replaces the previous “vanilla” structure with the inclusion of a new tiered system for incentivizing early-stage partners around private 5G and rewarding partners that upskill and form longer-term commitments with the company, Andy Hawk, Celona’s senior director, channel sales, North America, told CRN.

“We wanted to create a program that was a little more progressive, that co-invested as our partners invested in the partner program to bring more value across the entire ecosystem,” Hawk (pictured) said. “In order for us to continue to scale, we have to untap the potential of our partners and really enable them in a way like we’ve never done before. It’s the only way we’re going to grow globally.”

The company, which goes to market entirely through the channel, has more than 200 partners today.

The restructured program aims to give partners a familiar structure similar to some of the most successful partner programs available today and which partners could feel good about investing in because the value to them would continue to increase, Hawk said.

The newly revamped Frequency program includes four tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Global. Celona is also introducing two new specialization badges, Security and Managed Services, designed for Celona’s security specialists and MSP specialists, respectively.

Varonis Acquires ‘AI-Native’ Email Security Vendor SlashNext

Returning to the topic of strategic acquisitions in the cybersecurity space, Varonis this week said it’s aiming to enter the email security segment with the acquisition of SlashNext, a specialist in utilizing AI for detecting advanced email-based attacks.

The total value of the deal for SlashNext, which includes performance-based retention awards, could reach as high as $150 million, Varonis said in a statement. SlashNext has about 100 employees, Varonis told CRN.

A major player in data security, Varonis has previously offered security capabilities related to email as part of its data security posture management (DSPM) tool. Those capabilities have included discovery and classification of sensitive data within emails.

Now the company is seeking to join the ranks of major email security vendors with the acquisition of SlashNext, which has specialized in utilizing AI and machine learning for protecting email inboxes since its founding in 2015.

In a news release announcing the acquisition, Varonis said SlashNext offers the “industry’s best” rate for detecting advanced phishing attacks, including a “100 percent” detection rate for attacks involving business email compromise and QR code scams.

Net At Work Expands Acumatica Service Offerings With Latest Acquisition

Solution provider Net at Work continues to expand its Acumatica software consulting operations, this week acquiring the Acumatica practice of Advanced Solutions & Consulting (ASC).

The move is Net at Work’s second acquisition in less than a month and the latest in a string of acquisitions over the last two years the New York-based technology advisor and solution provider has made to expand its service offerings around Acumatica’s ERP applications.

With this latest acquisition Net at Work is buying ASC’s Acumatica practice, including proprietary value-add software technology ASC developed to enhance Acumatica functionality, according to a Net at Work statement. That technology will be made available across Net at Work’s Acumatica client base and its partner network.

Net at Work will also assume working with ASC’s Acumatica clients.

Just last month Net at Work expanded its Sage and Acumatica practices with the acquisition of fellow New York IT services provider AppSolute Consulting Group.