$85.4 billion.

That’s how much AT&T is forking out to buy Time Warner, and the deal is worth every penny to the carrier.

Many technology companies – especially those in telecommunications – see consolidation as the logical path forward for their success, and survival. In a world of rapidly developing technologies and customer demands, the fastest way to get on top of things sometimes is to buy rather than build.

AT&T’s transaction is the largest we wrote about last month, but we wrote about eight other deals, and they aren’t only from the telco world. Google Cloud made a bold purchase to stay in competition against its two big public-cloud rivals. Palo Alto Networks added security orchestration by purchasing Demisto.

So here you have it — the nine biggest M&A stories impacting the channel in February.

Slide through the images below to read about them or check out the January edition.