5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

The Week Ending August 24

Topping this week's roundup of companies that came to win is StorageCraft for its impressive new data platform and data protection software that will create opportunities for its channel partners.

Also making the list this week are Schneider Electric for its new cloud-based data infrastructure management platform, Axcient/eFolder for its plans to pursue a channel-only sales strategy, Pure Storage for a savvy technology acquisition, and HPE Aruba for besting rival Cisco in Gartner's Critical Capabilities for Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure ranking report.

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 Five Companies That Had A Rough Week roundup.

StorageCraft Creates $15 Billion Partner Opportunity With New OneXafe, ShadowXafe Offerings

In one of its biggest product launches in years, StorageCraft this week debuted its new OneXafe converged data platform and next-generation ShadowXafe data protection software suite.

OneXafe, specifically designed for SMB and midsize company markets, combines scale-out storage with data protection for physical and virtualized environments. The system includes technology StorageCraft gained through its 2017 acquisition of Exablox.

The new systems are designed to eliminate data storage and protection silos and improve scalability to help businesses manage explosive growth in data volumes.

StorageCraft executives, speaking with CRN at The Channel Company's XChange 2018 conference this week, said the new products expand the opportunities for partners beyond backup and recovery to include storage, cloud and other services, creating a potential $15 billion addressable market for solution providers.

Schneider Electric Launches SaaS Platform To Boost Channel Sales

Schneider Electric this week launched its EcoStruxure IT for Partners cloud-based data infrastructure management platform in a move that will give the company's channel partners the opportunity to capture more recurring revenue.

EcoStruxure IT for Partners, specifically designed for solution providers, is a Software-as-a-Service system that includes remote monitoring, lifecycle management and predictive analytical capabilities. The software provides partners with visibility into customers' physical infrastructure, both within data centers and distributed environments, to improve IT performance and efficiency and reduce costs.

EcoStruxure IT for Partners opens the door for partners to sell additional services and products to their customers and increase recurring revenue streams. Schneider Electric is also offering partners access to a new dedicated Partner Success Management team to help them get up and running with the software.

Axcient/eFolder Moving To Partner-Only Model, Prepping New Channel Program

Axcient/eFolder wins kudos this week for its plans to pursue a channel-only sales strategy and its development of a new channel program.

Axcient, a disaster recovery-as-a-service provider, merged last year with eFolder, a developer of data protection and file sync and share software. Axcient utilized a direct sales model while eFolder, although working with some solution providers, lacked a formal channel program.

This week, at The Channel Company's XChange 2018 conference, Jeff Cummings (pictured), Axcient/eFolder's chief revenue officer, said the company is developing a channel program that it plans to roll out by the end of this year. The program will include partner education and market development funding.

Even more significant is the company's plans to adopt a "partner only" sales strategy once the program is in place.

Pure Storage Acquires Deduplication Technology Developer StorReduce

Fast-growing all-flash storage system vendor Pure Storage made a savvy acquisition this week when it bought StorReduce, a developer of cloud-first software for deduplicating, managing and migrating data.

The move will help Pure Storage significantly improve the performance of its FlashBlade all-flash array storage systems.

Pure Storage will offer the StorReduce technology as standalone software and as an appliance, eventually on the Pure Storage platform.

HPE Aruba Bests Cisco Again In Critical Capabilities Report

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, bested rival Cisco Systems in Gartner's Critical Capabilities for Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure ranking report for the second year in a row.

Gartner gave Aruba top marks in five of six use cases. That came close to Aruba's performance in the annual report last year when it dominated across all six use case categories.

Aruba's continued strong showing illustrates how the company, which placed first in only one category in 2016, has put together a product portfolio and strategy that resonates strongly with enterprise customers.

Sophos, Fortinet And HPE Aruba Are Among CRN Annual Report Card Top Scorers

Let's have a round of applause for the 19 companies that garnered the top scores in the 2018 CRN Annual Report Card.

Solution providers scored vendors in 24 technology categories based on their performance in product innovation, support, partnership, and managed and cloud services.

Kudos are especially due to the four companies that won in two technology categories: Sophos (endpoint security and network security), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Enterprise Network Storage and industry standard servers), HP Inc. (multifunction printers and tablets) and Fortinet (web application security and security management).

And a big cheer for Aruba, an HPE company, that took the top overall score in three categories: SMB networking, enterprise wireless LANs, and enterprise networking infrastructure.