Monday Morning Impact – October 7

Avnet to Expand IoT Strategy Through Witekio Acquisition

Avnet has signed an agreement to acquire Witekio, a privately held company with software and embedded systems that supports the development of IoT solutions.

Witekio’s technology includes connected hardware, device architectures and applications that complement the offerings of Softweb, a company previously acquired by Avnet which specializes in cloud-based software to connect, manage and analyze data.

“The combination of Witekio’s embedded software and design expertise with Avnet’s already robust technology ecosystem further strengthens our overall solutions strategy, which is unparalleled in the market today,” said Pete Bartolotta, President of Business Transformation, Avnet. “With Witekio’s expertise, we can more rapidly deliver a complete hardware, software, cloud and middleware solution that delivers insights based on the customer’s specific business case.”

Witekio has approximately 120 employees located in France, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. The team is comprised of business transformation consultants, user experience (UX) designers, system architects and software experts who have worked with many Fortune 500 companies across vertical markets including medical and healthcare, automotive and navigation, handheld and mobility, industrial and energy, and smart connected objects.

“We’re aligned with Avnet in our approach to IoT solutions as well as our company cultures,” said Witekio founder Yannick Chammings. “We completely embrace Avnet’s strategy to build vertical and scalable platforms that can quicken time to market and reduce financial investment while still offering a high level of customization to all players that want to tackle IoT opportunities.”

The transaction is subject to prior regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of 2019. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Channel Impact^®
The announcement furthers Avnet’s end-to-end IoT strategy by adding more capabilities and expertise in embedded software, edge computing and security, specifically from hardware to the cloud.

Splunk Introduces New Data-to-Everything Pricing and $150 Million Ventures Fund

Splunk Inc. has announced advancements to pricing, partner and investment initiatives intended to help customers make better business decisions.

A new, predictive pricing program facilitates long-term planning for customers and extends flexible, transparent pricing as data volumes grow. The new model allows customers to control and manage budgets. Predictive Pricing offers predefined pricing tiers from 125GB to unlimited ingestion of Splunk Enterprise, Splunk ITSI and Splunk ES.

Customers can also choose to purchase Splunk Enterprise based on the compute power required to run the software on-premises and in the cloud. Data ingestion-based pricing will continue to be available for customers who do not wish to change their Splunk licensing model.

In addition the San Francisco-based company is unveiling new “Rapid Adoption” packages, starting at $10,000 MSRP, that work for three, four or five use cases. These packages help customers accelerate their data journey with Splunk with the most common IT and Security operations use cases.

On the partner front, Splunk has announced new or expanded partnerships with Accenture, Cisco, Deloitte, and SAP.

The company has also rolled out a $100 million Innovation Fund and a $50 million Social Impact Fund through Splunk Ventures, which invests in allied organizations.

“We are living in a time of unprecedented change,” said Splunk president/CEO Doug Merritt. “Our Data-to-Everything portfolio of products, combined with our new pricing programs, partner ecosystem solutions, and Splunk Ventures fund remove the barriers between data and action, so our customers — regardless of size or business — have the freedom to deliver outcomes across their entire organization.”

Channel Impact^®
The ability to choose from a selection of pricing strategies in order to best meet the needs of the customer is always popular with channel partners.

BigID Expands its Reach Through New Partner Program

BigID, a firm based in New York and Tel Aviv, which uses advanced machine learning and identity intelligence to promote cybersecurity and enable compliance, has rolled out a new global partner program.

The program is intended to help resellers more easily add BigID’s data discovery, intelligence and privacy automation products to their portfolio to capture new revenue streams as companies comply with global privacy regulations like California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

VARs will receive access to a deal registration program, training, sales management tools, and joint marketing program support for webinars, events, and related activities and collateral, plus an enablement kit delivered through a dedicated portal.

“The addition of our new Momentum Value Added Reseller Program and portal will further enhance our ability to serve a broad range of enterprises worldwide,” said Louise Cooke, VP of VAR Channels at BigID. “We are excited to build upon our success and work with our VARs to deliver a world-class, integrated privacy solution to customers at a time when consumer data privacy is at a premium.”

The new program is also expected to enhance the company’s global presence, especially in Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

Channel Impact^®
Companies are increasing their investment in data privacy, compliance and governance operations to comply with global privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, presenting an opportunity for VARs and managed security service providers (MSSPs) to capitalize on these new revenue opportunities.