5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending Aug. 12

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is distributor ScanSource for its savvy deal to acquire master agent Intelisys in a move that will bring recurring revenue opportunities to ScanSource partners.

Also making the list is Hewlett Packard Enterprise for its pending acquisition of high-performance computing system vendor SGI; Mirantis, for its maneuver to obtain support for its OpenStack software running on Red Hat Linux; Intel, for an acquisition that expands its artificial intelligence technology capabilities; and ForeScout, for its partnership with a respected New York IT consulting company that furthers its push into Internet of Things security.

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 5 Companies That Had A Rough Week roundup.

ScanSource Storms Into Telecom-Cloud Services With Intelisys Acquisition Deal

Distributor ScanSource surprised the channel this week when it announced an agreement to buy master agent Intelisys Communications for $83.6 million, plus earn-outs, in a deal that will bring more recurring-revenue telecom and cloud service opportunities to its traditional communications resellers.

ScanSource's offerings today weigh heavily on traditional on-premise VoIP and videoconferencing services. Acquiring Intelisys, a master agent with a robust portfolio of recurring revenue telecom and cloud services, could disrupt the value-added services distribution landscape.

The marriage of ScanSource's hardware and software mastery with Intelisys' network and connectivity expertise and more than two decades of recurring revenue experience will help ScanSource's partner community get into supporting hosted voice and cloud offerings, ScanSource CTO Greg Dixon told CRN.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Doubles Down In High-Performance Computing With SGI Acquisition

Hewlett Packard Enterprise struck a deal this week to acquire SGI for $275 million in cash in a move that will expand HPE's portfolio of high-performance computing (HPC) systems. The companies expect to complete the acquisition during HPE's fiscal 2017 first quarter that begins Nov. 1.

Through the acquisition HPE will gain SGI's scale-up and scale-out server supercomputers, its InfiniteStorage data storage technology, and its advanced HPC software.

Partners told CRN that the move creates opportunities for HPE in big data processing and analytics.

Mirantis Sidesteps Red Hat Resistance To Support OpenStack Software On RHEL

Mirantis made a gutsy move this week to find a way to allow its OpenStack cloud development software to run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This week Mirantis announced a partnership with Linux vendor SUSE, which will support RHEL implementations run by Mirantis customers.

Mirantis said such enterprise support would allow it to sell its OpenStack software to Red Hat's massive customer base. The company said it has been trying for years to reach an agreement with Red Hat to certify and support its product for RHEL, to no avail.

Red Hat offers its own OpenStack software and says that is the only OpenStack distribution precisely engineered for integration with its operating system. But Mirantis hints that Red Hat is stifling a potential competitor. This probably isn't the last chapter in this narrative.

Intel Pushes Innovation Envelope With Acquisition Of AI Startup

Returning to the acquisition front for the moment, Intel this week said it is buying artificial intelligence developer Nervana Systems, which specializes in deep learning and neural networks technology.

Intel has been aggressively pursuing new technology areas like Internet of Things and advanced data center systems. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are part of that effort and buying Nervana Systems, which develops semiconductors used in neural networks, is a significant step in expanding beyond its PC processor roots.

ForeScout Steps Up IoT Security Game With IPM Partnership

The demand for security in the nascent Internet of Things arena is expected to be huge, and both startups and established security technology vendors are maneuvering to position themselves to become leaders in this space.

This week ForeScout Technologies made a significant move in the IoT security market by partnering with IPM, a New York-based IT consulting firm with expertise in endpoint system management and security. IPM is seen as a partner that's well-positioned to tap into the potentially huge IoT security opportunity.