5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

For the week ending March 12, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.

The Week Ending March 12

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is AMD for making a savvy channel executive management hire.

Also making the list are application security startup Snyk for an impressive Series E funding round, Schneider Electric for launching a program to help partners develop managed power services practices, cloud networking provider Perimeter 81 for debuting its own new partner program for SASE-focused MSPs, and Datto for a strategic acquisition in security technology.

AMD Nabs HPE Channel Superstar Terry Richardson

AMD has made a big move in channel management, disclosing this week that it hired former Hewlett Packard Enterprise channel chief Terry Richardson as its North America channel chief.

At AMD Richardson is overseeing all partner relationships for commercial sales of CPUs and GPUs through server and PC OEMs and distributors. Richardson, who began working at AMD on March 1, also manages AMD’s commercial components channel.

The well-respected Richardson retired from HPE in January after an 11-year career at the company, including working as vice president and general manager of the U.S. East Enterprise business. Channel partners told CRN that hiring Richardson, a 30-year sales veteran, boosts AMD’s credibility as its mounts a more aggressive channel charge against rival Intel.

Application Security Startup Snyk Raises $300M To Go Global

Red-hot application security startup Snyk scored big in financing this week, completing a $300 million Series E round of funding that rockets the company’s valuation to $4.7 billion – quadruple its valuation since the start of 2020.

Snyk, founded in 2015, plans to use some of the proceeds from the funding round to fuel its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, including building out go-to-market teams in Australia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Singapore.

The Boston-based company also will use some of the funding to build security more into the fabric of software development through partnerships with developer-first companies such as Atlassian, Docker and Red Hat.

It was also a good week for cloud security startup Aqua Security, which raised $135 million in its own Series E funding round, bringing its valuation to $1 billion.

Schneider Electric Launches ‘First Of Its Kind’ Managed Power Services Partner Program

Schneider Electric wins applause this week for taking the wraps off its new Edge Software and Digital Services Program that’s designed to help channel partners create a managed power services practice that can drive net-new recurring revenue.

The cutting-edge partner program provides ongoing financial rebate incentives, support tools and new certifications that Schneider Electric said can add 1.5 times additional revenue for a partner over the life cycle of a product.

The new Edge Software and Digital Services Program, part of the mySchneider IT Solutions Partner Program, helps partners establish a new recurring revenue stream by providing remote monitoring and management services for their customers’ critical power infrastructure – especially in the rapidly growing edge computing market.

Schneider Electric unveiled the new program at the XChange+ 2021 online event, put on by The Channel Company, parent company of CRN and CRN.com.

Perimeter 81 Launches Partner Program For SASE-Minded MSPs

Perimeter 81, a developer of cloud and network security technology, wins kudos this week for launching a partner program to help MSP partners nab deals in the red-hot secure access service edge (SASE) market.

Perimeter 81, which recently entered the SASE space, has more than 1,300 customers and grew 400 percent in 2020. While the company has about 100 partners today, channel chief Bob Kilbride wants Perimeter 81 to step up its channel efforts, recruiting more than 100 additional MSP partners by the end of 2021 and boosting channel sales from less than 10 percent of total sales to more than 20 percent by year’s end.

The new channel program provides benefits and support for the Perimeter 81 partner ecosystem including a new partner portal, market development funds, partner certifications and – launching soon – self-paced training opportunities. The program will be made up of four tiers with annual recurring revenue a key metric for partners, along with net-new growth and customer retention.

Also making channel program moves this week were cloud security vendor Iboss, which launched its first formal partner program, and security tech developer Fortinet, which provided four key updates to the Fortinet Engage Partner Program designed to help partners augment transactions with services engagements.

Datto Acquires BitDam In Bid For SMB MSP Cyber Threat Protection

One of the biggest IT security threats in recent years has been the hijacking of tools used by MSPs to manage their clients’ IT systems to launch cyberattacks. This week Datto made a bold acquisition in a move to protect MSPs and their customers against such threats.

MSP-focused technology developer Datto acquired BitDam, an Israeli developer of cyber threat detection technology. BitDam says its Advanced Threat Protection software provides comprehensive protection for cloud-based applications against malware, phishing, business email compromise attacks, account compromise and spam.

The BitDam acquisition comes on the heels of Datto’s launch of its ransomware detection technology, part of the vendor’s Datto RMM remote monitoring and management platform for MSPs.

Datto has already started integrating the BitDam technology with its own products and expects to begin offering it to MSPs later this year, CEO Tim Weller (pictured) said Thursday during Datto’s fiscal 2020 fourth quarter earnings call.