5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending April 13

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is Intel, which has scored major design wins for its FPGA microprocessors,

Also making the list this week are Mimecast for launching its first global partner program, Extreme Networks for its innovative partner and customer financing model, SAS for its ambitious plans to move 50 percent of midmarket sales through the channel by the end of 2020, and security technology vendor Avast for filing for an IPO valued at $1 billion.

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.

Intel Gets FPGA Win As Dell EMC, Fujitsu Adopt Reprogrammable Chips For Their Servers

Intel scored a major win this week, disclosing that Dell EMC and Fujitsu are using Intel's reprogrammable microprocessors in their server product lineups.

Intel said this marks the first major use of its field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chips "to help speed up mainstream applications for the modern data center." Those microprocessors, which boost performance and power efficiency, can be programmed after manufacture for a wide range of workloads in analytics, financial services and smart city infrastructure.

Dell EMC's PowerEdge R640, R740 and R740XD servers that incorporate Intel's FPGA processors are already available.

The news validates Intel's $16.7 billion acquisition of Altera in 2015, which brought the FPGA technology for high-computing tasks to Intel.

Mimecast Launches First Partner Program With The Goal Of Deepening Its Partner Relationships

Email security technology developer Mimecast this week debuted its first-ever global partner program focused on deepening ties with the company's most committed solution providers through a four-tier program and a new deal registration system.

The new program will replace separate regional channel programs the vendor has operated in each of its geographies.

The channel initiative is expected to double the discounts available for Mimecast's roughly 400 North American channel partners, Julian Martin, vice president of global channel and operations, told CRN. The deal registration program will reward solution providers that bring in net-new customers, with more perks available for partners at higher tiers.

While revenue generation will be a factor in determining what tiers partners are assigned to, Mimecast greatly values partners with advanced professional service capabilities. Mimecast is specifically interested in recruiting and rewarding partners that can integrate disparate products through APIs for security automation.

Extreme Networks Seeks To Crack Capital Code With 'Bold' New Partner Financing Model

Extreme Networks says its new financing initiative will change the way solution providers finance customer deals -- and possibly reframe the entire partner-customer dynamic.

With Extreme Capital Solutions, a new operational expense-based model, solution providers will be paid in cash as they would in a traditional deal while Extreme Networks works with its distributors to treat the transaction like a subscription. The transactions are on a rolling 60-day term, allowing customers to make changes to their networking infrastructure, from the core of the data center to access points, with no more than 60 days notice.

With this model Extreme Networks assumes the financial risk while partners are paid up front. Solution providers called the approach ’bold’ because it recognizes the changing dynamics in IT and provides the kind of flexibility that customers have been demanding.

SAS Aiming To Achieve 50 Percent Of Midmarket Sales Through The Channel Within Three Years

Business analytics software developer SAS has traditionally focused its channel efforts on working with systems integrators and business analytics consultants. But until now resellers have accounted for only about 5 percent of the company's revenue.

SAS executives have concluded that the company needs to sell to midmarket customers more efficiently than it has with direct sales – and that means boosting sales through VARs and MASPs (Managed Analytical Service Providers) to the midmarket.

So the company has developed ambitious plans to shift a significant portion of those sales away from direct sales with the goal of having 50 percent of midmarket revenue go through the channel by the end of 2020. The new strategy will require significant realignment of the company's field sales coverage model and changes in how the company designs its products.

Anti-Virus Titan Avast Plans To Raise $1B In Tech IPO, U.K.'s Largest

Endpoint security technology developer Avast this week applied to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange in a move that's expected to value the company at around $4 billion.

The listing for the Prague, Czech Republic-based company, anticipated in May, is expected to raise $200 million in primary proceeds and $800 million in secondary sales. That would mark the largest-ever tech company initial public offering in the U.K.

The IPO proceeds will be used to fund the company's growth and pay down its debt. The move comes six years after Avast scrapped plans to list on the U.S. Nasdaq exchange, citing difficult market conditions.