5 Companies That Came To Win This Week
For the week ending Oct. 9, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.
The Week Ending Oct. 9
Topping this week’s Came to Win list is IBM, which unveiled a bold plan to spin off its Global Technology Services business unit to create a new, publicly held IT services giant.
Also making the list are Nvidia for launching its new BlueField Data Processing Unit technology, AMD for debuting its next-generation Zen 3 processor architecture and Ryzen 5000 CPU line, MSP Thrive for a strategic acquisition that will expand its application services, and cybersecurity vendor Tanium for a blockbuster round of funding.
IBM Plans To Spin Off Its Managed Infrastructure Services Unit
In a bold restructuring move, IBM will spin off its Global Technology Services (GTS) unit and create a new, publicly held managed infrastructure services giant, IBM said in a surprise announcement this week.
The GTS business, which provides consulting, business process and application management services, generated $27.36 billion in revenue in 2019. But it’s not clear how much of that would move to what IBM is temporarily calling “NewCo.”
The new services company will have a $60 billion services backlog, IBM said, and more than 4,600 clients in 115 countries including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100.
IBM plans to retain the $16.63 billion Global Business Services unit with business, strategy and technology consultants that help customers modernize legacy applications.
IBM’s combined services business is currently No. 1 on the CRN Solution Provider 500 list. The move announced this week will likely knock IBM out of that position but create two IT services giants in the top 10.
Nvidia Debuts New Type Of Server Processor To Improve Data Center Economics
Taking its data center ambitions to a new level, GPU designer Nvidia this week introduced its new BlueField DPU (data processing unit) chips that are designed to offload critical networking, storage and security workloads from the CPU and enable new security and hypervisor capabilities.
Unveiling the new processor line at its fall GTC 2020 conference, Nvidia made a case for installing BlueField DPUs in “every server going forward.”
The PCI-based DPUs feature a new “data-center-infrastructure-on-a-chip architecture” called DOCA and rely on a mix of Arm processor cores, ConnectX-6 SmartNIC technology from Nvidia’s Mellanox Technologies acquisition, and – in some chips – Nvidia’s data center GPU architecture.
In addition to the BlueField unveiling at the GTC 2020 conference, Nvidia announced expanded support for the Arm ecosystem from edge to cloud systems, said that DGX SuperPODS are now shipping through partners, updated its Ampere line of GPUs with the new A40 for visual computing and RTX A6000 for desktop workstations, and unveiled its new Nvidia Maxine platform that brings AI to videoconferencing.
AMD Unveils Zen 3 Architecture, Ryzen 5000 CPUs
Staying with the topic of processor advances, AMD was in the spotlight this week when it debuted its next-generation, 7-nanometer Zen 3 architecture and the first product line developed based on the architecture, the Ryzen 5000 desktop processors.
The Zen 3 architecture provides a 19 percent uplift in instructions per clock over the previous-generation Zen 2 as well as highest maximum boost frequencies and redesigned core layout and cache topology that gives the processors’ cores two times faster access to a larger cache. AMD CEO Lisa Su said Zen 3 increases the company’s lead over rival Intel in performance and power efficiency.
The Ryzen 5000 processor features up to 4.9 GHz in boost speeds and 16 cores for what the chipmaker says will provide the best single- and multi-threaded performance in a PC.
Next-Generation MSP Thrive Expands Application Services Capabilities With Timlin Acquisition
Thrive, a Massachusetts-based managed services provider that has focused heavily on next-generation IT infrastructure and cloud services, is expanding its applications services offerings with a strategic acquisition.
This week Thrive said it has acquired Timlin Enterprises, a provider of applications and services around the Microsoft 365 platform. Timlin brings to Thrive a delivery platform for the entire Microsoft stack including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and Power BI.
Timlin, also based in Massachusetts, brings expertise in application development, customization and integration.
Cybersecurity Company Tanium Quietly Raising $200M In New Funding Round
Cybersecurity technology vendor Tanium disclosed this week that it has nearly completed a $200 million round of funding – a round that would put its financing at well-over $1 billion and likely make the company the most valuable non-public cybersecurity tech company.
The new round of funding was disclosed in an SEC Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week. The company said it had already sold $150.5 million in equity of a total of $200 million offered to 26 potential investors.
Tanium previously raised $900 million in 11 rounds of funding, including $117.2 million in June from Salesforce Ventures, according to the Crunchbase website.