5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Oct. 2, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.

The Week Ending Oct. 2

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is VMware, which used its VMworld 2020 event to expand its portfolio of service offerings running on public clouds.

Also making the list are Cisco Systems for a strategic acquisition in the application security space, Hewlett Packard Enterprise for taking its GreenLake sales efforts to the next level by linking the Everything-as-a-Service platform to distributors’ online marketplaces, and Ivanti for its own savvy acquisitions in mobile device management and security.

And Louisiana solution provider Last Mile Strategies and LTE wireless provider For2Fi win special applause for working together to help business customers in the devastated Lake Charles region get back online in the wake of cataclysmic Hurricane Laura.

VMware Unleashes Cloud Offerings At VMworld, Acquires SaltStack

VMware made some significant moves this week as the virtualization giant seeks to become the hybrid cloud market leader, including debuting a number of joint offerings with major public clouds that demonstrate how important strategic partnerships with the public cloud leaders have become for VMware.

VMware, which held its virtual VMworld 2020 this week, unveiled new offerings in concert with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud. VMware, for example, unveiled support for its Tanzu portfolio of Kubernetes products for VMware Cloud on AWS with support for Azure and Oracle in the works. And CloudHealth by VMware, which helps businesses simplify cloud management, now supports Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

VMware also moved to enhance its VMware Cloud on AWS lineup with the new VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery that protects on-premises vSphere workloads on VMware Cloud on AWS. And the new Cloud Partner Navigator helps partners expand business opportunities beyond their own cloud environments to encompass the expanding set of VMware-based clouds and services.

VMware also disclosed a deal to acquire software automation specialist SaltStack in a move that’s expected to boost the capabilities of its vRealize Suite of products and services and better address customer automation needs for both on-premises and cloud systems.

Cisco To Acquire Security Startup Portshift For Reported $100M

Speaking of savvy acquisitions, Cisco Systems this week unveiled an agreement to buy Portshift, an Israel-based startup that focuses on application security technology for cloud-native development environments, including Kubernetes. Published reports put the acquisition price at $100 million.

Portshift, founded by the former head of the security infrastructure division at Check Point Software Technologies, has developed a Kubernetes-native security platform that helps DevOps, security and operations teams continuously secure containerized applications from when they are developed until they are ready to run.

The Portshift technology meets the growing need to address security earlier in the application development life cycle. Providing a way to boost DevOps and container management security will help Cisco provide security for a bigger portion of the life cycle of cloud applications and workloads.

HPE To Offer GreenLake Through Distributor Marketplaces, Triple Channel Investment In Pay-Per-Use Platform

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is taking the sales efforts of its GreenLake Everything-as-a-Service platform to the next level.

This week, at the HPE Virtual Distribution Partner Conference, HPE detailed plans to offer GreenLake through the cloud marketplaces of leading distributors, providing an alternative to public cloud service companies. By plugging GreenLake into distributors’ marketplaces, HPE can scale up the platform’s availability to distributors’ resellers and customers.

This week Keith White, HPE GreenLake Cloud Services senior vice president and general manager, said HPE is working closely with distributors on the initiative, including developing the needed APIs to integrate GreenLake with the online marketplaces. HPE is also working with distributors under the new Swift program to increase sales of the new midmarket version of GreenLake.

HPE also is readying a massive GreenLake sales blitz for the company’s fiscal year that begins Nov. 1, including tripling its channel investment to expand GreenLake sales. That includes hiring new GreenLake inside sales representatives worldwide who will work with partners and an expanded account coverage model for partners.

Ivanti Strikes Deals To Acquire MobileIron, Pulse Secure

Ivanti, a developer of IT asset management and service management software, made a strategic move this week to expand its technology offerings for endpoint device automation and security with deals to buy MobileIron and Pulse Secure.

MobileIron develops mobile-centric, unified endpoint management software used to secure and manage business applications, documents and other content on mobile phones and tablet computers. Ivanti is buying publicly held MobileIron for $872 million.

Pulse Secure develops secure access and mobile security technology, including the Pulse Zero Trust Access platform and Pulse Connect Secure virtual private network. Ivanti is buying privately held Pulse Secure for an undisclosed sum.

Last Mile Strategies, For2Fi Team Up To Help Customers In Hurricane-Hit Louisiana Get Back Online

Solution provider Last Mile Strategies (LMS) and LTE wireless service provider For2Fi win applause for their efforts to help business customers in Louisiana get back online in the wake of Hurricane Laura in late August.

Laura, a cataclysmic Category 4 hurricane, devastated the Lake Charles area of Louisiana on Aug. 27. In the days after the storm LMS, based in Alexandria, La., went to work with local business owners to help them connect to the applications they needed to get work done and make sure their employees were paid on time—all without power and catastrophic damage to cable connectivity infrastructure.

Many of LMS’ clients did not have backup connections, such as LTE or satellite, and many service providers were estimating that it would take four to five days, and even seven to 10 days, to install services for businesses. Telarus, LMS’ master agent, connected the solution provider with For2Fi, a Fall River, Mass.-based provider of 4G LTE wireless internet devices and services. For2Fi shipped 24 Cradlepoint devices for LTE connectivity to LMS overnight that arrived on the Monday after the storm.

By Wednesday LMS had deployed the For2Fi solutions to a number of customers in construction, health care, engineering and hospitality—as well as a small generator shop that had been flooded by the storm and couldn’t reach its online systems. Altogether the solution provider has deployed the For2Fi solution to about 30 customers in the area with others in the works.