Channel programs news
CRN staff
CRN reviews 40 of the biggest tech deals that have hit the channel, from Novell’s acquisition of WordPerfect to Broadcom’s impending acquisition of VMware.
In the 40 years since CRN was founded, billions and billions of dollars have been spent on mergers and acquisitions in the tech world. Most of these deals have shaped the channel in one way or another.
Some of the biggest and most attention-grabbing deals in the technology sector are also the ones with the biggest channel impact. Take, for example, Dell Technologies’ $67 billion acquisition of EMC, which further strengthened Dell’s corporate position in the industry and set the stage for VMware’s spin-off and still-proposed acquisition of VMware by Broadcom. Or IBM’s $34 billion red hat that boosted Big Blue’s open source software chops.
Things like Borland International’s $439 million acquisition of Ashton-Tate or Microsoft’s pursuit of 86-DOS, a Seattle-based company, have long faded from the front pages of CRN and other tech media, but they have changed the course dramatically. Technology industry.
Other deals at the time were thought to be perfect matches between completely opposite companies: Hewlett-Packard’s enterprise software company Autonomy, for example.
Click through the slideshow to see the 40 deals that had the biggest impact on the channel, from traditional M&A to spin-outs.
