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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →CRN’s editorial ranking of 24 major IT-industry transactions puts HPE’s $14 billion agreement to buy Juniper Networks at No. 1 and Cisco’s completed $28 billion acquisition of Splunk at No. 2. That order is not a strict ranking by price: CRN weighs transaction value alongside strategic and channel impact. The list covers acquisitions, take-privates, divestitures and business-unit deals, including some announced in 2024 that had not closed by publication. It is an IT-industry snapshot, not a definitive global technology-and-telecom league table.
How to read this ranking
The ranking and deal details below follow CRN’s 2024 list. CRN describes its selection as subjective: price matters, but so do a transaction’s market significance and effect on the IT channel. The order therefore does not represent a descending dollar-value table. For example, Cisco–Splunk was valued at twice HPE–Juniper’s announced price, but the latter ranked first.
Values below are those reported by CRN, not necessarily audited purchase prices. “Undisclosed” means the companies did not provide a price in the cited account; a reported estimate is labeled as such. Status reflects the information reported for each transaction, rather than implying that every 2024 announcement closed that year.
The 24 deals, from No. 1 to No. 24
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HPE–Juniper Networks — $14 billion; pending at CRN’s publication
HPE announced the agreement on January 9, 2024. It planned to add Juniper’s Mist AI, campus and branch networking, and security products, roughly doubling its networking business. The strategic prize is an expanded networking portfolio suited to AI-era infrastructure; regulatory review and the challenge of integrating overlapping products remained material uncertainties. HPE had not acquired Juniper when CRN published its ranking.
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Cisco–Splunk — $28 billion; closed March 18, 2024
Announced in September 2023 and completed in March 2024, the acquisition joined Cisco’s networking and security business with Splunk’s analytics, observability and security information and event management (SIEM) capabilities. Cisco’s ambition was a broader security and observability platform built around network and machine data. The deal’s scale and strategic reach made it a landmark even though it was not announced during 2024.
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Cohesity–Veritas enterprise data protection — price undisclosed; closed December 10, 2024
Cohesity combined with Veritas’ enterprise data-protection business, including NetBackup, in a business-unit transaction rather than a purchase of all of Veritas. The companies did not disclose a price; CRN cited a Reuters report valuing the business at about $3 billion. The combination created a much larger competitor in enterprise backup and data resilience, with product integration and customer continuity central to its execution.
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AMD–ZT Systems — $4.9 billion; announced in August, expected to close in 2025
AMD agreed to buy the data-center systems designer to add expertise in designing and deploying large-scale computing systems. The acquisition supports AMD’s effort to offer the systems knowledge needed to put AI infrastructure into service, not just processors. At announcement, the transaction was still subject to completion conditions.
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Ahead–Computer Design & Integration — purchase price undisclosed
Ahead announced the acquisition on February 1. It broadened the solution provider’s hybrid-IT, cybersecurity and technical-services capabilities and geographic reach. Ahead described the combined company as a $3.7 billion digital-transformation business; that figure is the scale of the combined business, not the acquisition price.
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ConnectWise–Axcient and SkyKick — combined price undisclosed
Announced in September, the deals expanded ConnectWise’s offerings for managed service providers (MSPs) across backup, business continuity, disaster recovery and cybersecurity. CRN reported an earlier estimate of $400 million to $500 million for Axcient alone; that is not a confirmed value for both acquisitions. For MSPs, the strategic appeal is a broader service portfolio, while consolidation can also affect product choice and vendor dependence.
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KKR–VMware End-User Computing — approximately $4 billion; launched as Omnissa
KKR announced the acquisition of VMware’s End-User Computing (EUC) business on February 26. The business, including Workspace ONE and Horizon, launched independently as Omnissa on July 1. CRN reported approximately 26,000 customers and $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue for the business; those are scale indicators, not the transaction price. The carve-out followed Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware and separated end-user computing from the rest of VMware.
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IBM–HashiCorp — $6.4 billion; announced April 24
IBM proposed to add HashiCorp’s Terraform and other hybrid-cloud lifecycle tools to its and Red Hat’s automation portfolio. The deal addressed the operational complexity of managing applications and infrastructure across different cloud environments. CRN’s account listed the transaction as announced; it should not be confused with a 2024 closing.
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EQT–Perficient — approximately $3 billion; closed October 2
Announced May 6, EQT’s acquisition took the digital consultancy and IT solution provider private at approximately $76 per share. The transaction gave Perficient a private-equity owner as it continued serving businesses with digital and technology consulting. A take-private changes the company’s ownership and reporting context; it is distinct from a strategic buyer absorbing a product line.
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Salesforce–Own — approximately $1.9 billion; announced September
Salesforce agreed to acquire Own, whose data-protection and data-management capabilities complement Salesforce’s cloud platform. The deal was expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal fourth quarter ending January 31, 2025, according to CRN. That expectation is not evidence of a 2024 completion.
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CD&R–Presidio — majority stake; price undisclosed
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice announced a majority investment in Presidio in April. Presidio is a large IT solution provider focused on areas including cloud, AI, managed services and networking. The transaction illustrates private equity’s role in reshaping channel businesses as well as buying software companies.
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Sophos–Secureworks — $859 million; announced October 21, expected to close in early 2025
Sophos planned to combine Secureworks’ Taegis extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities with its cybersecurity platform. The logic is broader security coverage and services; the practical test is whether the products and customer relationships can be integrated effectively. At CRN’s publication, the transaction was pending. Sophos was owned by Thoma Bravo.
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Nvidia–Run:ai — approximately $700 million; announced in April
Nvidia’s acquisition added Run:ai’s Kubernetes-based orchestration and management for AI workloads. It fits the infrastructure layer: helping organizations schedule and manage workloads that use accelerators, alongside Nvidia’s broader AI systems and DGX Cloud strategy. CRN reported the deal as announced.
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Rocket Software–OpenText application modernization and connectivity — $2.275 billion; closed May 1
OpenText sold its application-modernization and connectivity (AMC) business to Rocket Software, including mainframe software assets. This divestiture let OpenText raise proceeds it said it would use to reduce debt, while Rocket expanded its mainframe and modernization portfolio. The transaction demonstrates how a business unit can move between owners without either company being acquired in full.
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SAP–WalkMe — $1.5 billion; closed September 12
SAP announced the acquisition in June to strengthen digital adoption and business-transformation offerings, including support for users adopting enterprise software and AI copilots. It is a software-adoption deal, not an infrastructure purchase; its value depends on helping customers put software capabilities into everyday use.
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HPE–Morpheus Data — price undisclosed; closed August 30
HPE added Morpheus Data’s hybrid-cloud management, application provisioning, orchestration, automation and cloud-cost optimization capabilities to its GreenLake portfolio. The acquisition strengthened HPE’s software and services layer for managing workloads across environments.
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Thoma Bravo–Darktrace — approximately $5.3 billion; closed October 1
Thoma Bravo announced the take-private on April 26. Darktrace’s AI-driven threat detection made it a prominent cybersecurity investment for the private-equity firm. The deal brought a public cybersecurity company into private ownership; the strategic question is how the company develops its products and operations under that ownership.
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Apax Partners–Thoughtworks — $1.75 billion; closed November 13
Apax announced the take-private on August 5. Thoughtworks is an IT consultancy and cloud partner, including with AWS and Google Cloud. The transaction placed a services company with technology and cloud expertise under private ownership rather than combining two product platforms.
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CyberArk–Venafi — $1.54 billion; closed October 1
Announced in May, the acquisition combined CyberArk’s human-identity security with Venafi’s machine-identity security. As organizations manage growing numbers of software identities and credentials, the combination reflects a security strategy that reaches beyond employee logins.
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Cognizant–Belcan — $1.3 billion; closed August 27
Announced in June, the deal added more than 6,500 engineering employees, according to CRN, and expanded Cognizant’s services in aerospace, defense, space, marine and industrial sectors. It was a major services-capability acquisition rather than a software-platform deal.
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Palo Alto Networks–IBM QRadar assets — $500 million; completed in September
Palo Alto Networks acquired IBM’s QRadar security information and event management assets. It planned to migrate QRadar SaaS customers to Cortex XSIAM, making customer migration a central part of the transaction’s execution. The deal is an example of a security vendor expanding through assets and customer relationships rather than buying an entire company.
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Wiz–Dazz — reported $450 million; announced in November
Wiz’s acquisition of Dazz broadened its cloud-security platform into remediation, application-security posture management, and threat and exposure management. CRN reported the $450 million figure; it should be read as reported rather than as a confirmed price. The strategic focus is not only identifying cloud risk, but also helping organizations address it.
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Veeam–Alcion — price undisclosed
Veeam announced the Alcion acquisition in September, adding AI-based data-protection and security capabilities to Veeam Data Cloud. Alcion CEO Niraj Tolia became Veeam’s chief technology officer, according to CRN. The transaction linked data protection with the growing emphasis on securing and recovering business data.
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Xerox–Lexmark — $1.5 billion; announced December 23, expected to close in the second half of 2025
Xerox agreed to acquire Lexmark, combining printer businesses, distribution and managed-print operations. The transaction pointed to further consolidation in a mature hardware and services market. It was an announced agreement, not a 2024 closing.
What the deals say about technology markets
AI is a thread, not a label for every transaction
Several deals targeted parts of the AI stack. HPE–Juniper brought AI-oriented networking; Nvidia–Run:ai added workload orchestration; AMD–ZT Systems added data-center system design; and SAP–WalkMe aimed to support software adoption and AI-copilot use. Cisco–Splunk and acquisitions such as Veeam–Alcion also connected AI with analytics, security or data protection. CRN also highlighted AMD’s approximately $665 million acquisition of Finnish AI company Silo AI, a notable related transaction outside its 24. AI helps explain the direction of investment, but many deals were chiefly about security, consulting, backup, cloud management or portfolio reshaping.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsCybersecurity consolidation spans more than threat detection
The security transactions covered different layers: Cisco–Splunk and Palo Alto Networks–QRadar in analytics and SIEM; Sophos–Secureworks in XDR; CyberArk–Venafi across human and machine identities; Wiz–Dazz in cloud security and remediation; and Thoma Bravo–Darktrace in AI-driven threat detection. Veeam–Alcion and Cohesity–Veritas focused on data protection and resilience. Together, they show buyers assembling broader security and recovery portfolios. For customers, integration may simplify vendor relationships, but product migration, overlap and reduced choice are practical considerations.
Infrastructure deals target control, deployment and modernization
HPE–Juniper concerned networking; IBM–HashiCorp and HPE–Morpheus Data concerned automation and hybrid-cloud management; Nvidia–Run:ai and AMD–ZT Systems addressed AI compute deployment. KKR’s VMware EUC acquisition separated Workspace ONE and Horizon into Omnissa, while Rocket Software’s purchase of OpenText AMC moved mainframe modernization assets to a new owner. These are distinct parts of the technology estate, not interchangeable bets on “cloud.”
Private equity and carve-outs reshaped ownership
Darktrace, Thoughtworks and Perficient went private; CD&R invested in Presidio; KKR acquired VMware’s EUC business; and Rocket Software bought OpenText’s AMC unit. Sophos, itself owned by Thoma Bravo, agreed to buy Secureworks. Such transactions can give a business a focused owner or release assets for a seller, but they also raise customer questions about investment priorities, product road maps, support and future ownership. The Broadcom–VMware acquisition itself is not a 2024 deal: it closed in November 2023, though its subsequent restructuring formed the backdrop for the EUC carve-out.
Deals discussed in 2024 that did not become completed transactions
Reported talks are not acquisitions. Salesforce–Informatica discussions were reported at about $11 billion but did not produce a transaction; Google–Wiz discussions were reported at about $23 billion and did not close; and Google–HubSpot acquisition discussions likewise did not result in a deal. They belong in the context around 2024 M&A, not among completed acquisitions.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Scope also matters. CRN’s list excluded selected telecommunications transactions: T-Mobile’s planned purchase of UScellular wireless operations, valued at approximately $4.4 billion, and Verizon’s $20 billion agreement to acquire Frontier. HPE’s sale of a 30% stake in H3C to Unisplendour, valued at approximately $2.1 billion, was another notable related transaction. Their omission reflects the boundaries of CRN’s IT-industry ranking, not an absence of large technology-adjacent deals.
What customers and partners should monitor
- Regulatory and closing risk: an announced deal can be delayed, changed or abandoned. Pending transactions should not be treated as completed ownership changes.
- Product migrations: customers of acquired or carved-out products should watch for support commitments, licensing changes, integration plans and end-of-life notices.
- Channel relationships: a vendor combining direct sales, managed services and partner routes may change incentives or introduce product overlap for solution providers.
- Platform dependence: consolidation may simplify procurement, but reliance on a single supplier can reduce flexibility and increase switching costs.
- Ownership and investment priorities: take-privates and carve-outs can change reporting, leadership and investment horizons; customers should follow concrete roadmap and service announcements rather than assume continuity or disruption.
Sources and scope
The ranked deal details, values, status notes and exclusions above are drawn from CRN’s ranking. For broader industry context on technology investment in infrastructure, software, security, networking, data centers and AI, see Deloitte’s 2025 technology industry outlook. ECLAC’s 2025 report on foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean also identifies several 2024 AI-related transactions, including SAP–WalkMe, Nvidia–Run:ai and AMD–Silo AI.
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