5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending July 10, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their 'A' game to the channel.

The Week Ending July 10

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is Vantage Data Centers, which has its eye on significant expansion after getting $1.2 billion in new financing this week.

Also making the list are AT&T and Cisco Systems for launching an SD-WAN managed service based on Cisco’s flagship SD-WAN product, Microsoft for taking steps to seize domains used by cybercriminals in phishing attacks, SUSE for a savvy acquisition in the Kubernetes arena, and Trustwave for its move to allow channel partners to resell its managed services.

Investors Flow $1.2 Billion To Vantage Data Centers To Accelerate Expansion

Fast-growing Vantage Data Centers now has its eye on significant global expansion after investors this week poured $1.2 billion into the data center service provider.

Denver-based Vantage entered into an agreement and joint venture to form a strategic partnership with a group of investors to accelerate the expansion of its wholesale data centers throughout North America and Europe.

Colony Capital, which already owns a stake in Vantage, is providing $200 million in new capital while the remaining $1 billion is coming from other investors who are acquiring a stake in the company’s 12 North American data centers.

The new funding follows Vantage’s February acquisition of Luxembourg-based Etix Everywhere, obtaining that company’s data center portfolio including a data center campus in Germany. Vantage plans to develop multiple hyperscale data centers in Berlin, Milan, Warsaw and Zurich.

AT&T, Cisco Team Up On New SD-WAN Managed Service

Telecom giant AT&T is offering a new managed SD-WAN service for enterprise customers and it’s built on Cisco Systems’ flagship secure SD-WAN service powered by Viptela.

AT&T already offers its own network-based SD-WAN platform and an SD-WAN offering based on VMware’s VeloCloud for SD-WAN services. Getting AT&T to offer Cisco SD-WAN as part of its SD-WAN portfolio is a win for the networking giant.

The new service, unveiled Wednesday, embeds security capabilities (including an application-aware enterprise firewall, intrusion protection and advanced malware protection) at its core to help enterprises protect network traffic and gain access to workloads regardless of their location in a branch office or the cloud.

The AT&T Cisco-based SD-WAN managed service offers intelligent dynamic routing, optimized cloud connectivity, and visibility into applications and performance.

Microsoft Seizes Domains Used For COVID-19-Themed Phishing

Microsoft launched a cybersecurity counteroffensive this week, seizing control and disabling key URL domains used by cybercriminals who had deployed a coronavirus-themed phishing campaign targeting Microsoft customers.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia allowed Microsoft to seize the domains used by cybercriminals who attempted to defraud customers in 62 countries by using COVID-19-related lures in phishing emails.

The cybercriminals, for example, used a deceptive Microsoft Excel link with the term “COVID-19 bonus” to trick users into clicking on a link and prompt them to grant access permissions to a malicious web application.

The sophisticated phishing campaign was designed to compromise thousands of Microsoft customer accounts and gain access to customer email, contact lists, sensitive documents and other personal information in an effort to exfiltrate information, redirect wire transfers and launch further cybercrime from compromised accounts.

SUSE To Buy Container Technology Startup Rancher Labs

Linux powerhouse SUSE made a savvy acquisition this week when it struck a deal to buy Rancher Labs, a container technology startup that’s become a force in the all-important Kubernetes market. The move will help SUSE expand into the red-hot Kubernetes arena.

SUSE, which was spun off from Micro Focus last year in a sale to a Swedish private equity firm, has since sought to compete more aggressively in the cloud-native infrastructure market by asserting itself as a Kubernetes vendor.

SUSE described the deal to buy Rancher Labs, based in Cupertino, Calif., and its enterprise Kubernetes platform as the first step in an inorganic growth strategy.

Trustwave Allows Partners To Resell Security Services

Solution providers have been allowed to resell cybersecurity vendor Trustwave’s database and email security products. But until now opportunities involving Trustwave’s managed threat detection and response services had to be referred back to the vendor.

Trustwave wins applause this week for its decision to now allow its channel partners, including VARs, MSPs and agents, to directly resell the vendor’s threat protection and response managed services and professional services.

The new strategy is part of Trustwave’s new Trustwave PartnerOne partner program, which also makes penetration testing services available to the channel.

Partners find it more attractive to package Trustwave services with related technology and deliver the bundle themselves rather than having to refer services engagements back to the vendor, Trustwave said.