5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Feb. 6, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel including Dell Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, 1Password, Zscaler and WD.

The Week Ending Feb. 6

Topping this week’s 5 Companies that Came to Win list is Dell Technologies for several big channel moves, including new incentives targeting its largest partners to drive storage and client growth.

Also making this week’s list are Palo Alto Networks and 1Password—both for unveiling revamped partner programs.

Zscaler is here for its strategic acquisition of a startup developer of browser security technology. And hard drive manufacturer WD showed off its storage technology prowess by unveiling its development road map for producing drives with capacities of over 100 TB.

Dell Ups Incentives To Drive Storage, Client Growth; Brings Back Titanium New Business Bonus

Dell Technologies is doubling down on a select group of its largest partners with new incentives to drive storage and client growth and is bringing back New Business Incentives and competitive swap rebates for Titanium partners.

Under the program, which went into effect this week, Dell is unveiling new storage and client growth initiatives with what it called a targeted set of its largest partners.

In addition, Dell is reintroducing Titanium partner eligibility for Storage and Client New Business Incentives and storage competitive swap rebates.

“There are some partners who really organize and get behind a growth program and they want to co-invest with Dell, and those are the partners that we want to reward with the growth program,” Dell Chief Partner Officer Denise Millard told CRN in an interview about the new storage and client incentives. “They are also the needle movers in terms of making a really big impact in terms of us demonstrating growth through the partner ecosystem.”

The program—previously open only to Titanium partners—requires Dell and the targeted partners to work out a “targeted growth plan,” said Millard. “There’s a set of KPIs between the two organizations that really govern how the program will get structured,” she said. “That is allowing us to kind of reimagine the way we are engaging with those partners to really be needle movers for driving storage and client growth.”

Dell partners told CRN that the new program will drive significant sales and profit growth for the channel.

Palo Alto Networks Revamps NextWave Channel Program

Returning to the subject of partner program updates, Palo Alto Networks wins applause for unveiling major improvements to its NextWave Partner Program aimed at massively boosting profitability and training for the channel.

The program enhancements come as the cybersecurity giant seeks to accelerate adoption of its broad platform with the help of solution and service providers.

In an exclusive interview with CRN, Palo Alto Networks channel chief Michael Khoury (pictured) said the launch of expanded incentives and enablement—which includes new AI-powered training—are part of a bid to deepen the company’s work with partners to drive its next phase of growth.

“We are providing them more capabilities and more support and more investment in learning and enablement. And we transformed the entire incentive and rebates model for our partners,” Khoury said.

Among the changes are improved incentives for partners, expanded self-service training resources, a new “AI Roleplay” tool, and new self-service configuration, pricing and quoting tools.

In addition to the new investments in the channel, Palo Alto Networks is introducing higher expectations for top partners around driving platform adoption, Khoury said.

1Password Launches Refreshed Channel Program To Drive Partner Enablement, Simplicity

And completing a trifecta of channel program upgrades this week, 1Password wins kudos for debuting a revamped channel program that seeks to boost partner enablement while simplifying engagement, as the identity security vendor looks to continue increasing its reliance on solution providers and MSPs.

The updated 1Password Partner Program features a “complete overhaul” to sales and technical certifications while condensing the program from four to two tiers in response to partner feedback, Channel Chief Larissa Crandall (pictured) told CRN exclusively.

The launch of the new program, which serves both VAR and MSP partners, represents “the biggest commitment that 1Password has made to the partner community across all different routes,” said Crandall, who joined 1Password in October as global vice president of channel and alliances.

As part of 1Password’s overhaul to sales and technical certifications, the company has shifted from emphasizing individual products to providing certifications around the full platform. The company has also developed a new “curriculum path” that aims to provide foundational knowledge for both sellers and technical professionals at 1Password partners.

1Password has made huge strides over the past few years in becoming a channel-oriented company, expanding from its roots as a consumer password management app, according to executives.

Zscaler Aims To Bolster Browser Security With SquareX Acquisition

Zscaler this week acquired browser security startup SquareX, the company’s latest move aimed at extending its zero-trust security platform.

SquareX has developed what it calls the industry’s first “browser detection and response” platform. The technology enables “lightweight” security extensions to be embedded into any browser, providing a further incentive for organizations to dispense with traditional VPNs and VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), according to Zscaler.

Zscaler founder and CEO Jay Chaudhry said in a statement that “legacy” VPN and VDI systems are “fundamentally flawed and laden with security risks,” creating a need for the type of zero-trust approach that Zscaler will be able to further expand with the SquareX acquisition.

With the addition of the SquareX technology, Zscaler is “deepening our Zero Trust Exchange Platform’s capabilities in standard browsers,” Chaudhry said.

It’s the third acquisition for Zscaler over the past year, coming after the company’s acquisition of AI security startup SPLX in November and the completion of its $675 million acquisition of MDR (managed detection and response) trailblazer Red Canary in August.

WD Unveils Hard Drive Road map: 110-TB-Plus Capacity, AI-Focused Innovations

Hard drive manufacturer WD showed off its storage technology prowess this week, unveiling its road map for producing drives with capacities of over 100 TB along with a new intelligent platform the company said will redefine the economics of storage.

WD’s new hard drive technology is aimed primarily at AI businesses, which not only need more and more capacity but also access to that capacity sooner than in the past, Ahmed Shihab, WD chief product officer, told CRN.

“We’re reinventing the hard drive that the cloud and AI depend on so that we can deliver more capacity sooner while doubling both bandwidth and I/O,” Shihab said. “And we’re introducing a class of drives that delivers 20 percent less power use with 10 percent more capacity. And we’re going to make it easier for the next class of customers, including the hyperscalers, to use all the technologies that we’re building.”

WD, previously known Western Digital, said that its 40-TB UltraSMR ePMR hard drive, which the company called the world’s highest-capacity drive of that type, is now in customer qualifications and the company is on its way toward introducing HAMR-based hard drives with capacities of over 100 TB.

The company has qualified its first 40-TB drive, which Shihab called an industry-first on ePMR (energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording).