5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending March 15

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is Nvidia for its $6.9 billion bid to acquire data center component manufacturer Mellanox, reportedly beating rival Intel to the punch.

Also making the list this week are Google for a savvy hire for its Google Cloud operations, Dell Technologies for preparing to debut consumption-based pricing for partners, Cisco Systems for launching new payment options that make it easier for partners to shift into recurring revenue, and Ingram Micro for new online marketplace capabilities that make it easier for partners to sell and access cloud services.

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.

Nvidia Outbids Intel To Buy Mellanox For $6.9 Billion

Chipmaker Nvidia made a savvy acquisition this week when it struck a deal to acquire Mellanox, an Israeli developer of data center and networking component products, for $6.9 billion.

Nvidia is believed to have outbid Intel — which reportedly offered $6 billion for Mellanox — and other tech companies to win the deal.

Nvidia is expected to combine its graphical processing unit chips with Mellanox’s data center products, including ethernet switches, InfiniBand intelligent interconnect technology and hyper-converged infrastructure systems, targeting high-performance computing applications.

Google Hires Away Key Oracle Cloud Executive

Google scored big in the personnel department this week when the company hired Amit Zavery, the top executive at Oracle's cloud division, who now joins his former boss Thomas Kurian at Google Cloud.

As a vice president of engineering, Zavery will again work under Kurian, leading the Google Cloud Apigee team that is building out the capabilities of the company's Apigee API management platform.

Zavery worked at Oracle for 24 years and ran the Google Cloud Platform business for more than a year.

Dell Hints That New Consumption-Based Pricing Is On The Way For Partners

It's not official yet, but Dell Technologies executives this week indicated that a consumption-based selling plan is in the works for channel partners and customers. An announcement is anticipated at the Dell Technologies World conference April 29 through May 2.

This week Dell EMC channel chief Joyce Mullen (pictured) told CRN that more consumption-based capabilities for the channel are in the works.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise's HPE GreenLake Flex Capacity, a consumption-based, pay-per-use model for partners, has been highly successful and Dell executives acknowledged that they have taken notice and have been studying GreenLake as they develop their own plan.

Cisco Capital Is Clearing Hurdles For Partners Making The Jump To Recurring Revenue

Cisco Systems wins kudos for a plan to leverage its Cisco Capital payment options business unit to make it easier for partners to transition to a recurring revenue model.

Customers are asking for IT consumption options that provide more flexibility and scalability. That means partners need to invest more in people and IT assets up front to provide IT on an as-a-service basis. That can be a challenge for solution providers with limited financial resources.

The Cisco Capital program helps lighten the financial burden on partners by taking a portion of the contract and providing up-front funding for partners to acquire the technology they need to offer their customers IT on a subscription basis.

The move benefits Cisco, of course, which has set a goal of generating 50 percent of its revenue from software and services. Helping partners move to a more valuable, recurring revenue model will help the networking giant get there.

Ingram Micro Expands Cloud Services Access For Solution Providers

Ingram Micro wins applause this week for taking steps that make it easier for solution providers to access cloud services offered by the distributor.

Ingram Micro has enhanced the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace with new capabilities that help solution providers more easily do business with each other. The marketplace enhancements include a new user interface, new portals and new ways to more easily connect to ISV vendors publishing their application services through the marketplace.

The changes also include the ability to quickly publish new services for partners, a new cloud marketing hub that helps partners close sales, and a new API for easily connecting to third-party services.