For the week ending Sept. 13, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel including ConnectWise, Todyl, AWS, ServiceNow and Blue Mantis.

The Week Ending Sept. 13

Topping this week’s Came to Win list is ConnectWise for its Axcient and SkyKick acquisitions that will boost its data protection technology portfolio.

Also making the list is cybersecurity tech developer Todyl for a revamped channel program that provides partners with more resources and support. Amazon Web Services makes the list for its plans to expand its U.K. data centers to handle the growing demands of AI. ServiceNow wins applause for big additions to its Now Platform.

And strategic service provider Blue Mantis, already on a fast-growth trajectory, is here for its aggressive growth plans following its acquisition by a new private equity owner.

ConnectWise Buys Axcient, SkyKick To Strengthen Cybersecurity, Data Protection Offerings

In a move to bolster its cybersecurity and data protection capabilities, ConnectWise this week acquired Axcient and SkyKick, reinforcing the critical role of data protection as the last line of defense against cyber threats.

The deal provides ConnectWise with a full-fledged MSP-focused business continuity and disaster recovery offering to go head-to-head with MSP platform powerhouse Kaseya, which acquired storage backup vendor Datto in June 2022 for $6.2 billion. In April Kaseya launched its Kaseya 365 MSP platform that incorporates endpoint management, endpoint security, backup and automation.

The two acquisitions will bring enhanced data protection through business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions and SkyKick’s Microsoft 365 Cloud Backup.

“The strategy behind acquiring both SkyKick and Axcient was to further expand our cybersecurity and data protection portfolios,” Ameer Karim, EVP and GM at Tampa-based vendor ConnectWise, told CRN. “As cyber threats evolve, data protection and cybersecurity must go hand-in-hand. By integrating these two innovative companies, we’re strengthening our business continuity, disaster recovery and overall data protection offerings.”

ConnectWise said that SkyKick and Axcient customers can expect a smooth transition as they join the ConnectWise ecosystem through the Asio platform.

About 300 Axcient employees, including CEO Rod Mathews are coming over to ConnectWise in the deal, Karim said. Todd Schwartz, co-CEO of SkyKick, said more than 100 employees are coming over in the acquisition and he and co-CEO Evan Richman are staying on.

Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed. CRN previously reported that ConnectWise was in talks to buy Denver-based business continuity and disaster recovery vendor Axcient for between $400 million and $500 million, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.

Todyl Launches Revamped Partner Program To Enhance MSPs’ Security Capabilities

Todyl this week launched a partner program that’s revamped “from the ground up” to better align its internal resources and deliver exceptional value to MSPs.

The enhanced program provides enhanced resources and strategic support to MSPs by offering expert support to deliver compliant security solutions in an evolving threat landscape.

“Our program is unique because it integrates three distinct roles, each addressing a critical aspect of partnership success,” Todyl CEO John Nellen told CRN. “We’re excited about the potential this program has to scale our partners’ businesses and enhance their security capabilities.”

The upgraded program offers an assigned customer success manager to every partner who aligns the Denver-based cybersecurity vendor’s technical capabilities with the partner’s business objectives. The success manager will oversee onboarding, configuration deployments and ongoing support to ensure partners maximize their use of Todyl’s platform.

Partners will also have an account manager focusing on security-led growth who will guide partners through market strategies and security initiatives. And MSPs will have a manage detection and response manager who will act as an extension of partners’ teams, offering real-time support and posture reviews.

Additionally, the program provides sales and marketing support including campaigns-in-a-box, custom webinar planning and execution and end user leads. Partners also receive exclusive access to Todyl University and its comprehensive, self-paced learning with use-case modules to help partners deepen their understanding of Todyl’s platform.

AWS Invests $10.5B In UK To Fuel AI Infrastructure Expansion

The wave of AI software development and deployment is putting more demand on data centers, whether they are run internally by businesses and organizations, by data center service providers and or by the cloud hyperscalers.

Amazon Web Services makes this week’s Came to Win list for its announcement that it plans to invest $10.5 billion over the next five years to expand its data centers in the U.K. with the goal of enabling AI systems for British businesses.

AWS said the investment is critical to build up its AI infrastructure in the region and secure the U.K.’s economic future in the AI era.

“We’re proud to announce our plans to invest £8 billion ($10.5 billion) in digital and AI infrastructure over the next five years to help meet the growing needs of our customers and partners and support the transformation of the U.K.’s digital economy,” said AWS’ Tanuja Randery, vice president and managing director of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), in a statement.

AWS invests tens of billions of dollars each year to expand its data center footprint to enter new markets or boost capabilities in existing regions. AWS data centers house thousands of servers, storage, networking, data protection and power infrastructure that enable its cloud services and AI services.

Parent company Amazon employs around 75,000 people in the U.K., which includes data center teams and AWS staff. AWS estimated that its new investment will contribute approximately $18.3 billion to the U.K.’s total GDP between 2024 and 2028.

ServiceNow Launches Now Platform ‘Xanadu’ Release At Partner Summit

Agentic AI, enhancements to the Now Assist AI assistant software, and a pro edition of RaptorDB are among the biggest additions to ServiceNow’s Now Platform, part of the Xanadu release that made its debut at the company’s Global Partner Ecosystem Summit this week.

ServiceNow has about 2,200 channel partners and Chief Experience Officer Amy Lokey said the company is focused on making Now Platform deployments easier for partners.

“We’re making that continually simpler and easier, and doing all that hard work so that our customers don’t have to and our partners can quickly achieve what they’re looking for,” Lokey said. “Frequently, our partners are really some of the first to try these new solutions themselves in their own ServiceNow implementations. So they’re really design partners with us as we deploy the solutions.”

Lokey said the new capabilities in the Xanadu release will help partners focus on “massive productivity gains that benefit employees, that deliver better customer service, that deliver better customer loyalty” as they work with customers to develop AI projects.

Among the technology launches was a more scalable RaptorDB Pro edition of the company’s Postgre-based database with improved transactional and analytical performance, and a new unified Knowledge Graph that consolidates data management and analytics functions.

Within the Xanadu release of the Now Platform are hundreds of AI updates including the Now Assist AI assistant, new AI agents in such areas as customer service management and ITSM, and Now Assist integration with Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Blue Mantis Shifting Into ‘High Growth Mode’ With New Private Equity Majority Owner

Blue Mantis is stepping up its security-first, next-generation service provider sales offensive under a new private equity majority owner, Recognize.

The New York-headquartered Recognize, which focuses solely on technology services companies and has a portfolio of just nine companies, expects to build on the Blue Mantis foundation with near and longer-term acquisitions.

“All in all, I couldn’t be happier as we get to really shift gears now into high growth mode,” said Blue Mantis CEO Josh Dinneen, who engineered the private equity deal to fuel geographic expansion and additional acquisitions.

“But I want to be very clear: We are going to grow under control and with a purpose. We are not going to just do a roll-up strategy. This isn’t M&A-led. It is a combination of organic and inorganic growth that is going to drive performance,” he told CRN.

Previous majority owner Abry Partners, which acquired an ownership stake in Blue Mantis in December 2020, will stay on as a minority investor. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Blue Mantis, which formally announced the Recognize deal this week, will be “more aggressive” with acquisitions with a focus on investing in the right geographies and technology segments to fuel sales growth, Dinneen said. “We are super excited to scale and become a North America superpower.”

Dinneen is already in discussions with three potential acquisition targets. Among the areas for potential acquisitions are data enablement, data management, cybersecurity, and territory expansion. “We are looking for companies that can help accelerate growth with adjacencies and capabilities that really make sense for us,” he said.

The new majority ownership stake comes with Blue Mantis, a next-generation midmarket and enterprise-focused services provider headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., on a services-fueled sales tear. Over the last three years the company has grown at a 26.5 percent CAGR with revenue soaring to more than $250 million of which 50 percent is recurring revenue. At the same time, the company’s workforce has grown from just 150 three years ago to 400.