5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending July 17, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.

The Week Ending July 17

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is Hewlett Packard Enterprise and its Aruba subsidiary for a savvy strategic acquisition in the SD-WAN space.

Also making the list are chip startup Graphcore for launching a speedy new IPU designed to compete with industry heavyweight Nvidia, HP Inc. for debuting its new Amplify partner program, and Alation and UJET for launching their first-ever partner programs.

And file storage tech company Qumulo and cybersecurity vendor Auth0 make the list for impressive financing rounds this week.

HPE Strikes Deal To Acquire Silver Peak To Boost SD-WAN, Aruba

Hewlett Packard Enterprise made a strategic move in the networking arena this week when Aruba Networks, HPE’s networking subsidiary, struck a deal to buy software-defined WAN leader Silver Peak for approximately $925 million.

Acquiring Silver Peak is expected to accelerate Aruba’s edge-to-cloud strategy. The deal will provide Aruba, a leader in the wireless networking arena, with a full SD-WAN offering that will give competitors Cisco and VMware a run for their money.

The network technology portfolios for Aruba and Silver Peak are seen as complementary. Aruba is strong in policy management and the ability to handle large scale branch deployments while Silver Peak is a leader in WAN transformation and capabilities for building hybrid WANs that connect to the cloud.

Chip Startup Graphcore Takes On Nvidia With New IPU

Artificial intelligence chip startup Graphcore is taking on Nvidia with what it calls the “world’s most complex processor,” saying it can outpace Nvidia’s new A100 processor.

The Bristol, U.K. company introduced its new intelligence processing unit (IPU), the Colossus MK2, this week packing 59.4 billion transistors on an 823 mm2 die. That’s a few billion transistors more than Nvidia’s A100 in a slightly smaller package.

Graphcore is making the MK2 available in a purpose-built 1U system called the M2000, equipped with four MK2 IPUs, making it capable of one petaflop or three quadrillion calculations per second, according to the company.

HP Overhauls Partner Program To Target New Sales Models, Services, Data Sharing

HP Inc. introduced its new Amplify partner program this week focusing on rewarding partners that can offer more services, collaborate around data and provide a strong digital presence.

Amplify will include a new, simpler, two-tier system with a revamped compensation structure and that’s focused on compensating partners for more than just sales volumes. The program will put increased emphasis on data sharing as customers increasingly look to interact digitally – a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amplify, which will launch for commercial partners in November, will replace the current HP Partner First channel program.

Alation, UJET Launch Inaugural Partner Programs

Big data software developer Alation and Contact Center-as-a-Service provider UJET both win applause this week for launching their first channel partner programs.

Alation, which develops data catalog software that helps businesses inventory their data assets, unveiled the Alation Partner Network with a particular focus on providing its systems integration, reseller and technology partners with more training and certification opportunities.

CCaaS provider UJET, which has worked directly with end customers until now, launched its first partner program this week to help expand its business globally, recognizing that the channel is the best way to grow. UJET partners can either white label the company’s CCaaS offerings or work with UJET in a referral mode.

Qumulo, Auth0 Score Big Financing Wins

We may be in the midst of a global pandemic and national recession, but that’s not stopping some IT companies from winning big in obtaining venture financing.

This week file data platform developer Qumulo announced a $125 million funding round, money the Seattle-based company will use to expand its channel efforts, expand to customers outside of North America and Europe, and accelerate its product development work. The company now has a $1.2 billion valuation.

Cybersecurity firm Auth0, meanwhile, raised $120 million in a round of funding led by Salesforce that boosts the company’s valuation to $1.92 billion. The new financing comes just 14 months after an earlier funding round that raised $103 million.

Cybersecurity service provider BlueVoyant, meanwhile, raised $68 million this week while data integration tech developer Fivetran recently raised $100 million.