5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending Nov. 1, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their 'A' game to the channel.

The Week Ending Nov. 1

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is distributor Tech Data, which made a bold acquisition that will strengthen its hand in the public sector space.

Strategic acquisitions were the name of the game this week: Also making the "Came to Win" list is ConnectWise for a deal that could remake the MSP platform arena, and Fortinet for an acquisition that boosts the cybersecurity vendor’s end-point security capabilities.

Wrapping up the list are MongoDB for striking an alliance with Chinese Internet giant Alibaba that’s expected to expand the database developer’s presence in China, and Intel for taking an aggressive approach to pricing its newest processor.

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.

Tech Data Strikes Deal To Acquire DLT Solutions

Distributor Tech Data made a big move this week to expand into the U.S. public sector space when it struck a deal to acquire DLT Solutions, a major provider of IT solutions for federal, state and local governments.

The acquisition brings to Tech Data a significant amount of public sector expertise and capabilities, not to mention DLT Solution’s 50 in-house contract vehicles.

Tech Data said the acquisition will help the distributor’s channel partners better capture opportunities in the U.S. public sector space.

The deal is Tech Data’s first acquisition since its $2.6 million purchase of Avnet’s Technology Solutions business in September 2016.

ConnectWise Acquires Continuum In ‘Revolutionary’ Deal For MSPs

ConnectWise is buying Continuum in a deal that combines two of the industry’s biggest MSP platform vendors. Executives at the two companies said the acquisition will result in a new ConnectWise with extensive economies of scale and breadth of capabilities for its 30,000-plus MSP customers.

The acquisition, for example, will allow ConnectWise to significantly expand its offerings in security operations center, network operations center and help desk services.

The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Both companies are owned by private equity giant Thoma Bravo.

As if the Continuum deal wasn’t enough, ConnectWise this week also announced a deal to buy ITBoost, an Irving, Tex.-based developer of IT documentation software.

Fortinet Buys Cybersecurity Startup enSilo To Boost Endpoint Defense

And completing this week’s trifecta of major acquisition deals, Fortinet has acquired endpoint security tech developer enSilo in a move to strengthen its real-time automated detection and response capabilities.

Platform security vendor Fortinet plans to integrate the enSilo technology with its Network Access Control, Security Information and Event Management and User Entity Behavior Analytics systems to provide organizations with better visibility into the endpoint and improve control over network, user and host.

Fortinet CEO Ken Xie told CRN that enSilo will benefit from Fortinet’s go-to-market resources, including its sales force, and its extensive customer base.

MongoDB Allies With Alibaba To Bring Database Cloud Service To China

Next-generation database developer MongoDB made a major move this week to expand its presence in the huge and fast-growing database software market in China.

MongoDB struck a deal with Alibaba Group under which the giant Chinese Internet company will globally sell the MongoDB database as a cloud service.

China is one of the biggest database software markets in the world and MongoDB is already established in China: It is the country where MongoDB has been most frequently downloaded for the last four years.

Intel Prices Core i9-9900KS 5GHz CPU At $513

Intel this week announced the availability of the new, limited-edition Core i9-9900KS processor featuring a 5.0GHz turbo frequency for all eight cores. The processor is targeted toward gamers with high performance demands.

The new chip is significant as Intel goes toe-to-toe in competing with processors from rival AMD, including that company’s Ryzen 7 line of processors.

But it’s Intel’s pricing strategy here where the company is really upping its competitive game. Intel is pricing the Core i9-9900KS at $513, just a small premium – less than $20 – above the standard edition Core i9-9900K.

The new processor underscores how the chipmaker is emphasizing the high frequencies of its products as a competitive advantage against AMD.