5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending Jan. 30

The blizzard that hit the Northeast this week may have grabbed all the headlines. But there were plenty of companies this week that got noticed by making the right moves.

This week's roundup of companies that came to win includes Apple's blowout quarterly results, solution providers in the Northeast that came through for their customers in the blizzard, HP's plans to capitalize on the demand for Windows Server 2003 upgrades, Intel's new mobile CPU and Gigamon's expanded channel program.

Apple: Biggest...Profit...Ever

Apple this week reported that net income in its first quarter reached $18.02 billion. That's the largest quarterly profit ever reported by a public company. Not just by Apple. Not just from any IT company. Ever.

A major factor driving that profit was a statistic that was almost as astounding: Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in the quarter. Market researcher Canalys also reported that Apple has become the No. 1 smartphone vendor in China.

There was a downside to the quarterly report, however. Sales of the vendor's iPad tablets dropped 18 percent to 21.4 million units compared with 26 million units one year earlier.

NE Region Solution Providers Come Through Major Blizzard For Customers

The blizzard known as "Juno" virtually shut down New England and the New York area Monday night into Wednesday morning. But as we saw late last year when the Buffalo area was hit with a major snowfall, such weather doesn't deter solution providers and MSPs from serving their customers.

Companies like Monument Data Solutions of Salem, N.H.; NSK in Boston; Atrion in Warwick, R.I.; TCG Network Service in Natick, Mass.; iCorp Technologies in Boston; Digital Edge on Staten Island; Celera Networks in Boston; and eMazzanti Technologies in Hoboken, N.J., worked around the clock through the storm to keep their customers up and running. That included providing customers throughout the country with cloud services hosted in Northeast data centers -- and even providing boots-on-the-ground service for local customers when it was needed.

Solution providers also deserve kudos for proactively working with their customers to prepare their business clients in advance of the storm.

Intel Debuts New CPU Chip For The Wireless Workplace

Showing why it remains a technology innovation leader, Intel this week debuted its 5th generation Intel Core vPro Processor, targeting the high end of the mobile enterprise device market with new wireless docking and display technology, and packing IT department-friendly features for device security and management.

Intel has been feeling the competitive heat in the low end of the mobile market from ARM processor manufacturers. With this Broadwell release, the company is sending a message to enterprise customers that it intends to compete in the wireless space with high-value technology.

Gigamon Takes Partner Program To The Next Level

Gigamon, a developer of network traffic visibility tools, launched its worldwide partner program this week with an eye toward fueling the company's growth.

Gigamon already has 350 channel partners, including 220 in North America, who initiated and registered about 35 percent of the company's sales deals in 2014. But until now, the company has lacked a formal program to manage its partners and properly reward their efforts. The company's goal this year is to have more than half of all deals initiated by partners.

The new program includes a range of incentives and financial benefits, sales and technical training and certifications, sales enablement tools, access to market resources and more.

HP Launches $1 Billion Windows Server 2003 Offensive

Many vendors are planning for an expected burst of business this year fueled by the end of Microsoft's support for Windows Server 2003. Hewlett-Packard is gearing up for an all-out offensive called "Operation Crescendo" with the goal of capturing $1 billion in sales -- for both itself and its channel partners -- from upgrade opportunities.

There are an estimated 20 million Windows Server 2003 implementations, and HP sees a huge opportunity to upgrade customers to Windows Server 2012 on HP Gen9 servers. Partners can expect to get in on the action with free advisory engagements the channel can sell and deliver, server rebates and operating system licensing offers.