5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Jan. 13, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel including Intel, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Verinext and Aligned Data Centers.

The Week Ending Jan. 13

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is Intel for launching the latest generation of its flagship Xeon Scalable processors for data center systems.

Also making this week’s list are Google Cloud for its plans to step up its partner program offerings, including partner incentives and support, in 2023. Microsoft makes the list for a strategic acquisition in the data center infrastructure space, as does Aligned Data Centers for its ambitious expansion plans.

And digital transformation services provider Verinext, the result of the merger of Anexinet and Veristor, made its official debut this week.

Intel Aims High With New Xeon Scalable ‘Sapphire Rapids’ Processors

Intel officially launched its fourth-generation “Sapphire Rapids” Xeon Scalable processors this week, saying the high-performance family of data center processors represent a paradigm shift in the way businesses run their processing workloads and solve computing challenges.

Intel said the new processors feature the most accelerators built into a data center CPU in the industry, resulting in an average 2.9 times increase in performance across the most common workloads. They also have features to improve CPU utilization and power efficiency.

Intel also announced full details and the availability of the new 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KS, what the chipmaker called the world’s fastest desktop processor. The chip, with 24 cores, delivers up to 6.0 gigahertz max turbo frequency with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost and 36MB of Intel Smart cache for performance in gaming and content creation.

Intel also debuted the Intel Xeon CPU Max series of processors, code-named Sapphire Rapids HBM, and the Intel Data Center GPU Max series, code-named Ponte Vecchio.

The company also introduced a number of OEM partners that are already incorporating the new processors into their products.

Google Cloud Unveils Partner Strategy, Initiatives For 2023

Google Cloud makes this week’s list for stepping up its Partner Advantage program, boosting partner incentives and certifications across the board and heavily investing in new training and support – all with the goal of increasing partner margins, sales, expertise and customer opportunities in 2023.

The program update includes a unified migration program, a new support desk for partners, and the introduction of product family-specific specialized tracks for Google Cloud Platform, Google Workspace, and Chrome Enterprise.

The new, unified migration program, with a common methodology and partner incentives, brings together tools, best practices and playbooks that partners can use to help customers accelerate large-scale migration initiatives, make them more predictable and ensure customer success. The new support desk and new knowledge base support unit will help partners quickly resolve technical issues.

Google Cloud is updating its partner incentive model to offer incentives that span the entire customer engagement lifecycle. The company is also providing incentives for specific products, transactions, implementation and accelerating customer consumption.

Microsoft Acquires Fungible, Gets Composable Infrastructure Hardware

Microsoft made a significant move in the data center infrastructure space when it disclosed this week its acquisition of Fungible, a developer of composable infrastructure technology based on the company’s data processing unit (DPU) hardware that accelerates data center network and storage performance.

The Fungible DPU is a microprocessor aimed at optimizing storage and networking to offload those tasks from the CPU. The DPU also includes software that manages the control plane while building a high-performance data fabric.

Microsoft said the acquisition signals the company’s continued investments in its data center infrastructure portfolio that help customers increase server density, improve system latency, optimize energy efficiency and reduce costs.

Fungible will become part of the Microsoft data center infrastructure group.

New Tech Titan Verinext Launches

This week marked the launch of Verinext, the name of the new digital transformation services provider formed through the blockbuster merger of Anexinet and Veristor.

This week saw the official debut of the new company and brand identity – its name combines elements of the names of its predecessors. The merger, completed last year, created a new solution provider with 350 employees, annual revenue approaching $500 million and a full suite of managed services and transformative business technologies.

Verinext plans to grow its employee headcount by 20 percent this year, including a significant expansion of its ranks of services professionals and solution architects. The company’s talent base is strong in such next-generation technologies as artificial intelligence/machine learning, data analytics, engineering automation, DevOps and application modernization.

Aligned Data Centers Plans 27-Acre Campus In Oregon

Data center service provider Aligned Data Centers is building a massive 27-acre campus in Hillsboro, Ore., that will ultimately provide 108 megawatts of processing capacity for its customers, the company said this week.

The campus will include an initial data center building with 72 megawatts of capacity, followed by a second building with another 36 megawatts. The facility will leverage Aligned’s patented cooling technology and its state-of-the-art waterless heat rejection system.

The Hillsboro area has become a popular spot for building data centers with its low-cost energy, tax incentives through the Oregon Enterprise Zone program, and proximity to international subsea cables.

Dallas-based Aligned has been rapidly expanding, opening two data center facilities in Phoenix last year with a combined 400-megawatt capacity, and has sites under construction in Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, northern Virginia and Frederick County, Md.

In 2022 Aligned completed its acquisition of Odata, an operator of data center facilities throughout Central and South America.