5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending Oct. 20

This week saw some of the biggest companies in IT making big leaps to grab hold of major market opportunities. The companies that came to win this week include Cisco and Accenture, which made acquisitions around machine learning and e-commerce, as well as GE and Apple, which formed a blockbuster partnership around the Internet of Things. This week also saw major customer wins around security for Microsoft Azure, as well as a reorganization at HPE to bring partners closer to channel leadership. Take a look at five companies that were in it to win it this week.

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.

Cisco Acquires Perspica

Cisco said this week that it was doubling down on its machine-learning capabilities. The networking giant thursday unveiled the acquisition of Perspica, a startup that provides stream-based processing and machine- learning technology to analyze data coming in from IT systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cisco said the acquisition would complement its recent AppDynamics acquisition and the company's technology and team will be added to the AppDynamics division.

Partners cheered the move, saying it shows Cisco is making a bigger bet on machine learning and artificial intelligence. They said it will help the company's software and subscription services push and the Intuitive Network, an intent-based networking system that anticipates actions, stops security threats and continues to evolve and learn.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Channel Reboot

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Friday said it appointed a new global channel chief, Paul Hunter (pictured). Hunter is the channel-savvy former chief of staff for CEO Meg Whitman and a 15-year company veteran with experience in channel sales and business management. In an interview with CRN, Hunter said partners can expect to see him deliver consistency in the partner program and drive sales growth. The changes come as HPE rolled out a dramatic revamp of its internal compensation, reducing the number of sales plans from 400 to 25 and reducing the number of reps that can be paid on a single deal as part of its Next restructuring initiative.

The restructuring initiative also will reduce management layers, President Antonio Neri said this week. Neri said the changes will increase accountability and bring decision-making closer to customers. Partners cheered the simplification the changes would bring to working with HPE, particularly the more direct access it could potentially give them to higher-level management.

Microsoft Lands Major Security Customer

Microsoft Azure got a significant vote of confidence this week in its security, as it signed on security giant Symantec as a customer to host its ubiquitous line of consumer security products. With the deal, which was revealed Monday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based cybersecurity company will deliver its Norton line of antivirus and data protection products from Azure to millions of customers. Symantec also plans to bring its e-commerce system for purchasing Norton software online to Azure, the company said.

Partners said the move was a huge win for Microsoft, providing validation of Azure's security and privacy capabilities. The move will also help Symantec to improve agility and performance while lowering operating costs, the company said.

Accenture Acquires Altima

Accenture Interactive, a branch of Dublin, Ireland-based Accenture, said Tuesday that it was continuing the Accenture acquisition streak with the purchase of French e-commerce specialist Altima. The acquisition is the division's 17th in the past five years. Accenture Interactive said the acquisition would boost the company's capabilities around mobile and in-store commerce experience.

In an interview with CRN, Anatoly Roytman, head of Accenture Interactive Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America and global digital commerce lead for Accenture said the acquisition will help the company capitalize on a growing industrywide shift in the e-commerce space toward customized client experiences. The 370 Altima employees will be integrated into the Accenture Interactive global commerce practice.

Apple And GE Team Up On IoT

As the opportunity around IoT booms, Apple and GE said this week they are teaming up to help capture that growth. The two companies unveiled Wednesday a new partnership that will bring together Apple's devices with GE's industrial IoT applications and expertise. The companies said GE's industrial IoT platform, Predix, will now be available for use with development of apps for iPhone and iPad via the new Predix software development kit (SDK). The Predix SDK for iOS will be available Oct. 26, Apple said.

The SDK will provide developers with tools for getting predictive industrial analytics from Predix into iPhone and iPad apps. The two companies also pledged to standardize their IoT efforts on one another, with GE committing to making the iPad and iPhone the standard mobile devices provided to employees and Apple promising to promote Predix as its industrial IoT platform of choice to customers. Apple and GE are "fundamentally changing how the industrial world works" through the new partnership and SDK, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a news release.