5 Companies That Came To Win This Week
For the week ending June 5, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their 'A' game to the channel.
The Week Ending June 5
Topping this week’s Came to Win list are the IT industry executives who spoke out this week against racism and social injustice, calling for change in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.
Also making the list are VMware for a strategic acquisition in the security space, RingCentral for launching a new channel program that gives partners more control over the sales process, Equinix for an acquisition that will significantly expand its data center capacity in North America, and Cradlepoint for providing partners with a new 5G specialization opportunity.
What’s happening in the US is abhorrent. It’s far overdue for all of us to take action to eradicate systemic racism, xenophobia, inequality & all forms of bigotry in America. How we respond will be an important moment in our nation’s history. @Cisco will lead. #blacklivesmatter
— Chuck Robbins (@ChuckRobbins) May 30, 2020
IT Industry Leaders Decry Racism And Inequality, Donate To Social Justice Causes
CEOs of some of the nation’s biggest IT vendors and solution providers have spoken out against racism and social injustice in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died last week after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, and the nationwide protests that followed.
Cisco Systems, which postponed its Cisco Live event this week amid the outcry over Floyd’s death, pledged to donate $5 million to several organizations focused on social justice causes including the Equal Justice Initiative, the Legal Defense Fund and Black Lives Matter.
“It’s far overdue for all of us to take action to eradicate systemic racism, xenophobia, inequality & all forms of bigotry in America. How we respond will be an important moment in our nation’s history,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said in a tweet.
Intel is donating $1 million to anti-racism and social justice groups. "While racism can look very different around the world, one thing that does not look different is that racism of any kind will not be tolerated here at Intel or in our communities,” CEO Bob Swan said in a memo to employees that was published on the company’s website.
“Everyone should have the right to breathe freely,” said Presidio CEO Bob Cagnazzi in a Twitter post. “Everyone should have the right to freely breathe with the same privileges others enjoy. Racism in any form should not be tolerated.” In an interview with CRN, Cagnazzi said the channel powerhouse is committed to taking substantive actions to help stem the tide of systemic racism.
“George Floyd should not be dead,” said Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri in a message sent to HPE’s 61,600 employees in which he decried the “systemic oppression and racism that still exist in our society.”
"The murder of George Floyd is an atrocity," wrote Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell in a letter to all Dell employees. “I've always believed diversity is power. It's how we win and win the right way. We can lead by example into our inclusive culture. We can lead by example and surround each other in love and support when we need it most."
Adding their voices to the calls for change were IBM CEO Arvind Krishna (“We are committed to fighting discrimination in all forms”), Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey (“We see you and we support you”), NetApp CEO George Kurian, Pure Storage CEO Charles Giancarlo, and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
VMware To Buy Network Detection And Response Firm Lastline
Virtualization tech giant VMware made a strategic acquisition in security this week when it struck a deal to buy Lastline, an anti-malware research pioneer and developer of network threat detection and response technology.
The move follows VMware’s $2.1 billion acquisition of security vendor Carbon Black last year. Acquiring Lastline will allow VMware to increase the capabilities of the Carbon Black Threat Analysis Unit with network-centric threat research and behavioral analysis.
The acquisition brings to VMware an impressive group of cybersecurity experts, including four of the industry’s most published security threat academics, adding network-focused, anti-malware researchers and developers and go-to-market security experts to the company’s NSX team.
RingCentral Launches New Partner Program To Attract Resellers, MSP-Minded Partners
Unified Communications-as-a-Service powerhouse RingCentral wins applause this week for rolling out a channel program that gives partners new ways to work with the company beyond its agent model and retain ownership of their customer relationships.
Under RingCentral’s current partner program, Channel Harmony, partners register leads with the company – which then handles the deal from there, including contract renewals and customer care.
The new IGNITE! Partner Program is geared to partners who want more participation in the sales cycle with SMB customers, including providing quotes, executing contracts and closing deals with higher sales incentives. Qualified partners can serve as RingCentral resellers for customers with up to 400 employees.
Equinix Acquiring 13 Data Centers From Bell Canada For $750 Million
Equinix, already a giant in the market for data center and interconnection services, is getting even bigger with a deal this week to buy 13 data centers in Canada from Bell Canada for $750 million.
The acquisition is expected to generate more than $100 million in annual revenue for Equinix and open new gateways for North America to Europe and Asia.
Equinix, a leading provider of data center co-location and interconnection services, is buying 25 facilities across 13 data center sites from Bell Communications. The acquisition will add roughly 1.2 million square feet of data center space and 400,000 square feet of co-location space to the Equinix holdings.
The acquisition, expected to close later this year, will give Equinix a presence in eight metro regions in Canada.
Cradlepoint Launches Tech Alliance Program, First 5G Specialization For Partners
Wireless network equipment and service provider Cradlepoint earns kudos this week for its new 5G specialization for partners and the launch of a technology partner program.
The new Enterprise Specialization for 5G will prepare channel partners to develop and offer solutions around the next-generation wireless technology, as the company does today with 4G LTE wireless.
The specialization will educate partners on building pathways to 5G without the need to rip and replace customers’ existing network infrastructure, according to the company. With the specialization solution providers can build a profitable LAN practice and become a trusted 5G advisor for clients.
The new Technology Alliance Partner Program will cover third-party vendor partnerships Cradlepoint has with vendors such as Microsoft Azure and NetMotion, offering solution providers a greater range of joint solutions to offer their customers.