5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Sept. 27, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their 'A' game to the channel.

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The Week Ending Sept. 27

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is Apple, which won a victory in the U.S.-China tariff war and will continuing manufacturing Mac Pros in the U.S.

Also making the "Came to Win" list this week are Samsung for (finally) launching its Galaxy Fold smartphone, solution provider NWN for developing a new set of integrated “Solutions-as-a-Service” offerings, big data software developer Matillion for launching its first partner program, and Google for winning a legal battle in Europe over the “right to be forgotten” law.

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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.

Apple To Continue Manufacturing The Mac Pro In Texas

Apple has received a federal exclusion for “certain necessary components” manufactured in China and will assemble the next generation of its Mac Pro desktop in the U.S.

The announcement this week means that Apple successfully dodged a potential hit from the ongoing trade war with China and the tariffs that each country has levied against each other’s products. Apple was seen as being particularly vulnerable because some of its products are manufactured in China and the company uses components and subsystems sourced from there.

Apple has long manufactured the Mac Pro desktop in Austin. But President Donald Trump had tweeted that Apple would not receive tariff waivers for Mac Pro components produced in China, as Apple had requested.

This week Apple said it has now received a federal exclusion for “certain necessary components” in order to continue manufacturing the Mac Pro in the U.S., including the updated version of the computer announced in June and that’s due for availability later this year.

Samsung Launches Galaxy Fold, Industry’s First Mainstream Foldable Smartphone

Samsung made a bold product move this week when began selling the Galaxy Fold, it’s nearly $2,000 foldable smartphone, in the U.S.

When opened the Galaxy Fold offers 7.3 inches of display space using Samsung’s Infinity Flex Display technology. When closed, the device has a 4.6-inch display on its top cover, which can be used to access apps as normal.

The launch was delayed for months in order to fix issues that were uncovered when test devices of the product were released earlier this year.

The new device is accompanied by what the company calls its Galaxy Fold Premier Service.

NWN Launches New ‘Solution-as-a-Service” Portfolio

Solution Provider NWN took its services lineup to a new level this week when it introduced a portfolio of five integrated solutions that the Waltham, Mass.-based company is providing on an “as-a-service” basis.

The company also debuted a new management platform that enables full monitoring, provisioning and billing for a customer’s environment, while also providing advanced data analytics. CEO Jim Sullivan said the platform’s analytics capabilities offer customers insights and access to data within their environments.

The five integrated solutions in the new as-a-service lineup cover unified communications, managed security, contact center, Device-as-a-Service and advanced technology solutions.

NWN, No. 76 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, is also launching a new brand identity as part of the rollout of the new offerings.

Big Data Company Matillion Launches First Channel Program

Rising data transformation software developer Matillion wins kudos this week for launching its first channel program and setting the goal of onboarding its first 100 partners by the end of the year.

Matillion is a fast-growing provider of software used to transform and load data into cloud data warehouse systems such as AWS Redshift, Google Big Query and Snowflake Computing.

Matillion has been working on a deal-by-deal basis with about 200 partners, including solutions providers, systems integrators, consultants and MSPs. The new program will bring structure to the company’s channel operations and provide partners with partner management and sales support, technical and business training on Matillion products, access to solution architects with cloud data warehouse expertise, sales enablement and marketing resources and more.

About 25 percent of the company’s sales today involve a partner and the company plans to increase that to 30 to 35 percent in the next year or two.

Google Wins Legal Round In European ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Case

Google, which has found itself under legal scrutiny by European Union regulators in recent years, scored a victory this week when the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Google does not have to apply the EU’s “right to be forgotten” law on a global basis.

Under that law Google must remove information from search results when EU member states request it. Google has complied with that law in Europe, introducing geoblocking technology in 2016 that prevents European users from seeing delisted links, according to a BBC story.

But Google balked at censoring search results elsewhere in the world, arguing that it set a dangerous precedent for free speech and information sharing across borders, according to a Forbes story. CNIL, a French privacy regulator, fined Google around $100,000 for its refusal and the case went to court.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice ruled that the right to have personal data protected was not absolute and Google did not have to comply with the European rule on a global basis, according to a Reuters story.