10 blockbuster acquisitions from 2017 (so far)

HPE buys SimpliVity

Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced it would acquire hyperconverged vendor SimpliVity for US$650 million, putting the heat on rival Cisco.

HPE said it would use SimpliVity's software-defined offering as a full integrated offering that would not only be available as part of a new family of HPE SimpliVity HC 380 hyperconverged offerings within but also as part of a broader software-defined fabric.

The acquisition was closed a month later, and SimpliVity debuted its first device, SimpliVity 380, in March.

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Cisco buys AppDynamics

Cisco made a move to acquire the application management vendor for US$3.7 billion. In a blog post, the company said the acquisition would support its strategic transition toward software-centric solutions and deliver predictable recurring revenue.

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Inabox acquires Hostworks and Logic Communications

Inabox has made two acquisitions so far this year, with managed cloud hosting firm Hostworks for $7 million, and managed IT and cloud services provider Logic Communications for $1.5 million.

Hostworks brought over an offering that includes managed hosting and operations in public and hybrid clouds, digital consulting, application development and platform-as-a-service for on-demand media.

Chief executive Damian Kay declared the Logic Communications acquisition positioned the Western Australia-based company as a strong alternative service provider in the SME market.

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HPE buys another storage vendor: Nimble

HPE backed up its SimpliVity acquisition a month later by buying all-flash storage vendor Nimble for US$1 billion

HPE said at the time that Nimble would enable it to offer a full range of flash storage systems for customers of all sizes. The acquisition also strengthened HPE's hand in the highly competitive flash storage systems market against rivals Dell EMC, NetApp and Pure Storage.

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Staples and Office Max acquired by investment firm

Global investment firm Platinum Equity acquired the Australian and New Zealand arms of Staples for an undisclosed amount. At the time, Staples said it would continue to operate under the Staples name until a new corporate brand was revealed.

A month later, Platinum revealed its second Australian acquisition with print hardware chain Office Max and its 11 stores. Platinum also owns a 70 percent stake in Telstra's directories business Sensis.

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Cirrus buys NGage Technology Group

The Perth-based company announced it would acquire Melbourne's NGage Technology for $2.5 million.

NGage has appeared in every CRN Fast50 since its first entry in 2013, when the managed services provider made No.1. Cirrus is also a high-performer in the CRN Fast50, having come in at No.3 in 2015.

"We both sell similar technology but there are also a number of areas they don't do," said Cirrus' former executive director Frank Richmond. "They don't do much in the networking space, they don't do much in security. Their managed service offering has only just started. Together we will be much stronger force."

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Deloitte buys Strut Digital

Global consulting firm Deloitte continued its local acquisition spree with boutique managed services provider Strut Digital.

Strut is a DevOps specialist that specialises in migrating businesses onto AWS environments. The business was rebranded to Deloitte DevOps as part of its Deloitte Technology Consulting's cloud operating unit.

It was another example of Deloitte's push to onboard smaller, tech-savvy business to adopt their approach to services in recent years.

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Synnex Corp buys Westcon-Comstor

The latest blockbuster acquisition in distribution land, US-headquartered Synnex Corporation acquired Westcon-Comstor's American business and took a minority stake in the EMA and APAC businesses.

Previously owned by South Africa's Datatec, Westcon struggled financially after a troubled SAP implementation led to shares falling.

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Verizon closes Yahoo acquisition

After a year of negations, Yahoo finally agreed to sell its core business to Verizon for US$4.48 billion. After a massive email hacking came to light, Verizon slashed its buying price by US$250 million for the early internet pioneer, which was once valued at US$100 billion.

The acquisition saw Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer resign from the board and the remaining shell become a holding company with a 15.5 percent stake in Alibaba, and a 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan.

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SMS Management and Technology… no wait, ASG

Melbourne's DWS was all set to acquire struggling IT services provider SMS Management Technology, until ASG swooped in on the deal with a superior offer.

DWS had offered to buy SMS in February for $124 million, comprising $1 for each share plus 0.39 DWS shares for each SMS share. Three months later, ASG revealed it was also intrested in buying SMS, offering up $1.80 for each share.

After giving DWS the chance to respond, SMS decided to go with ASG's offer.

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