5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending June 5

This week's roundup of companies that came to win include big-bet acquisitions by IBM and Cisco in the OpenStack arena; a multibillion-dollar acquisition that Intel hopes will reduce its reliance on the flagging PC market; an impressive, new processor from AMD to compete against Intel; new storage systems from Hewlett-Packard that further drop the cost of all-flash storage; and New Signature's savvy acquisitions that expand the solution provider's reach in the Microsoft arena.

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.

Cisco And IBM Bet Big On OpenStack With Acquisitions

Some question whether OpenStack can fulfill its promise to revolutionize the data center. But Cisco and IBM apparently have no doubts as both moved this week to acquire companies with offerings based on OpenStack technology.

Cisco is acquiring Piston Cloud, a developer of software for managing private cloud systems running on commodity servers. The acquisition is Cisco's latest step in its ambitious Intercloud strategy to create a global network of connected public, private and hybrid clouds.

IBM, meanwhile, acquired Blue Box, a developer of managed private-cloud services based on OpenStack. Blue Box's services allow customers to integrate cloud-based applications and on-premise systems into OpenStack-managed clouds, simplifying the deployment of workloads across hybrid cloud environments.

Intel Bids $16.7 Billion To Buy Custom Chip Maker Altera

Intel took a major step this week to reduce its reliance on the PC chip market by inking a deal to acquire custom-design semiconductor manufacturer Altera for a whopping $16.7 billion.

Intel has sought ways to expand into processors for new applications and reduce its reliance on sales of processors for the flagging PC market. Altera manufactures field-programmable gate arrays that include programmability, security and other high-performance features for Internet-of-Things systems.

Intel's Internet-of-Things business division generated $2.1 billion in revenue in 2014. With its Altera acquisition, it's a good bet that number is about to grow even faster.

AMD Steps Up Its Technology Game With Carrizo CPU

While Intel was writing a big check to buy Altera, Advanced Micro Devices added some competitive heat to the two companies' rivalry by launching a new generation of its A-Series mobile processor that's optimized for better graphics, longer battery life and enhanced performance.

The new midrange processor, which has been code-named "Carrizo," is aimed at consumer and commercial notebooks. Industry-watchers called the new chip "impressive" and said it should provide system builders with a good reason to give AMD a second look.

HP Targets Enterprise Flash Storage With $1.50-Per-GB Pricing

AMD wasn't the only company displaying its technological prowess this week. Hewlett-Packard, at its annual HP Discover conference, debuted solid-state drives that the company said will push the cost of the all-flash version of its 3Par StoreServ arrays to as low as $1.50 per gigabyte.

The new low pricing will give HP and its partners an advantage when competing against startups such as Tegile or Kaminario. It should also accelerate the move to all-flash storage over hybrid flash-disk storage systems.

Solution Provider New Signature Expands Azure Expertise, Market Reach With Acquisitions

New Signature, the Washington D.C.-based solution provider and Microsoft partner extraordinaire, is putting some of the $35 million venture funding it got in April to work. This week, the company said it has acquired CMS Consulting, a Microsoft professional services solution provider, and independent software vendor and managed services provider Infrastructure Guardian.

New Signature, which was recognized as the 2015 Microsoft United States Partner of the Year for a second consecutive year, will leverage the acquisitions, both in Toronto, as another step toward its goal to becoming a one-stop shop for Microsoft services for midsize companies. The acquisitions add to New Signature's sales, marketing and technical employee roster and expand its geographical footprint into Canada. They also deepen the company's expertise around Microsoft's Azure cloud technology, helping it expand its Azure-related practice.