5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending April 1 CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.

The Week Ending April 1

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is HP Inc. for its bold move to secure its position as a work-from-home product superstar with its deal to acquire videoconferencing equipment maker Poly.

Also making this week’s list is Intel for its own savvy move to acquire Granulate and its software optimization technology while solution provider superstar Converge Technology scored its 29th acquisition.

Ingram Micro makes the list for launching a digital transformation organization with the goal of improving how vendors and partners engage with the distributor, as does software development tech provider Docker for an impressive funding round.

Videoconferencing Blockbuster: HP To Acquire Poly For $3.3B

In a move to offer an expanded portfolio of products for the work-from-home movement, HP Inc. this week struck a $3.3 billion deal to acquire Poly, a $1.7 billion global provider of videoconferencing hardware, conference phones and audio headsets.

HP is a leading marketer of laptop and desktop computers, printers and related products—all of which have been in high demand since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced millions of employees to work from home over the past two years.

By acquiring Poly, HP will bolster its product lineup to better meet customers’ work-from-home and hybrid office needs. “The rise of the hybrid office creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the way work gets done,” HP President and CEO Enrique Lores said in announcing the acquisition deal.

The deal follows HP’s $425 million acquisition of HyperX, which specializes in gaming headsets, in 2021. HP is also working with Zoom and Microsoft to improve the videoconferencing cloud experience.

Intel Buying AI Startup To Cut Cloud Costs, Boost CPU Compute Abilities

Sticking with the topic of strategic acquisitions, Intel this week confirmed a deal to buy Granulate Cloud Solutions, an AI software optimization startup, for a reported $650 million.

The giant chip maker intends to leverage Granulate’s technology to help customers maximize compute workload performance and reduce cloud and infrastructure costs. Intel plans to “rapidly scale” Granulate’s optimization software, including across its data center portfolio.

Granulate applies AI to high-priority computing workloads to optimize how they travel across cloud and on-premises networks. The Granulate autonomous optimization service reduces CPU utilization and application latencies by learning about an application and deploying a customized set of continuous optimizations at runtime.

Ingram Micro Unveils Digital Transformation Initiative, Hires Amazon And Facebook Talent

Ingram Micro launched a Global Digital Solutions organization this week to oversee the distributor’s digital transformation initiatives—all with the goal of helping solution providers and vendors take better advantage of new and improved Ingram Micro systems and platforms and improve partners’ engagement experience.

One example is the distributor’s Flexible Subscription Engine, which has some vendors considering converting their own product SKUs and solutions to a flexible subscription mode and integrating them with the distributor’s APIs and data.

As part of the Global Digital Solutions initiative, Ingram Micro is expanding the organization’s management team with some top-tier hires including former AWS executive Ajay Agarwal as chief product and platform officer and former Facebook/Meta executive Mukund Gopalan as chief data officer.

Channel M&A Star Converge Technology Buys Interdynamix

Solution Provider Converge Technology Solutions continued its torrid pace of acquisitions this week when the Gatineau, Quebec-based solution provider said it had acquired Interdynamix, a solution engineering and business consulting specialist based in Edmonton, Alberta.

The acquisition is CTS’ fourththis year and its 29th overall since 2017. CEO Shaun Maine has told CRN he expects to make between eight and 12 acquisitions this year and antipates that CTS will acquire approximately $1 billion in revenue per year over the next three years by buying solution providers focused on midmarket customers.

Interdynamix is comprised of architects, engineers, sales and support professionals and specializes in solving business problems with innovative solutions and services, ranging from cloud computing and infrastructure to open-source consulting.

Maine said the Interdynamix acquisition will give CTS more coverage across western Canada and Toronto, as well as bolster the solution provider’s expertise across hybrid cloud, open-source technologies and telecommunications.

Docker Closes $105 Million Financing Round

Software container technology developer Docker scored big in the financing arena this week, raising $105 million in a Series C funding round. The round was led by new investor Bain Capital Ventures and included a number of other new and existing investors.

The new funding will help Docker “accelerate [its] vision of enabling developers to spend more time on innovation, less time on everything else,” said CEO Scott Johnston in a blog post.

Johnston called the funding round “a humbling milestone” since Docker’s November 2019 restructuring where the company sold off its enterprise business in a bid to focus on its active developer business.