5 Companies That Came To Win This Week
The Week Ending August 31
Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is VMware, which made a bold move to slash the price of VMware Cloud on AWS and also took steps to update its partner program.
Also making the list this week are Hewlett Packard Enterprise for creating new incentives for partners to sell high-value products and services; Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider OVHcloud for launching its first channel program and offering partners a cloud service option beyond AWS; object storage technology developer Cloudian, which raised an impressive $94 million in financing; and database developer SQream, which began its U.S. channel journey this week with a partnership with solution provider Datatrend Technologies.
Not everyone in the IT industry was making smart moves this week, of course. For a rundown of companies that were unfortunate, unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions, check out this week's Five Companies That Had A Rough Week roundup.
VMware Slashes Price Of VMware Cloud On AWS By 50 Percent
VMware made some bold moves at its VMworld 2018 event this week, topped by the decision to cut the price of VMware Cloud on AWS in half in a move that should provide a boost for VMware partners' cloud computing businesses.
The blockbuster pricing was accompanied by a smaller three-host minimum software-defined data center configuration requirement for production workloads. The company also unveiled six new VMware Cloud on AWS features around NSX, storage and custom CPU licensing that channel partners can use to attack the cloud market.
On the technology side, VMware launched three new multi-cloud Software-as-a-Service automation services that partners can offer customers to help them better manage cloud costs, operations, security and compliance within multi-cloud environments.
And as if all that wasn't enough, VMware also announced that it is revamping its channel program with a goal of allowing partners to engage with VMware in ways that best fit partners' business models. Those changes are expected to be rolled out in April.
HPE Unleashes New Partner Ready Incentives For High Value Products And Services
Speaking of providing channel partners with a boost, Hewlett Packard Enterprise wins applause this week for rolling out aggressive new incentives for its fastest growing, high-value products with a new, simplified Partner Ready program.
The incentives include increased rebates for partners centered on high-growth, high-value, next-generation products and services such as the HPE Synergy composable infrastructure and HPE SimpliVity hyper-converged infrastructure, HPE Nimble and HPE 3PAR storage, software including HPE OneView and HPE OneSphere, and services-focused offerings like HPE GreenLake and HPE Datacenter Care.
In addition to encouraging partners to sell the higher value products and services, the new rebates will accelerate partners' move into higher tiers of rebates, according to the company.
OVHcloud Rolls Out Partner Program To Challenge AWS, IBM
Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider Overcloud is investing heavily in the channel and expects partners to drive 60 percent of the company's revenue in 2019.
This week, the company launched its first partner program in a bid to expand its hybrid, public and private cloud offerings to more business customers through the channel.
The program provides the channel with a new hyper-scale IaaS option to mega-companies like Amazon Web Services and IBM. OVHcloud looks to recruit resellers, managed services providers and systems integrators with the program.
Object Storage Tech Developer Cloudian Receives $94M In Funding
Cloudian, a leading developer of distributed file systems and object storage technology announced this week that it had raised $94 million in Series E financing.
The new funding brings the San Mateo, Calif.-based company's funding to an impressive $173 million. Part of this funding round, $25 million, had been announced earlier this year.
The financing is the biggest round of funding ever for an object storage developer, according to the company.
GPU Database Developer SQream Makes First Foray Into U.S. Channel
New York and Tel Aviv-based SQream, which develops a highly advanced database that works with GPU processors, wins kudos this week for its channel deal with Datatrend Technologies, a Minnetonka, Minn., solution provider.
Together the two companies will work to develop next-generation data warehouse systems based on SQream's software that can handle huge volumes of data in the multi-petabyte range. SQream is looking to replace customers' legacy data warehouse systems that are running out of steam as data volumes explode.
The alliance is significant because it's SQream's first real channel deal in the U.S. (the company has worked with some partners in other countries) and is intended to set the stage for the database developer's expansion into the U.S. channel.