What were some of last week's big news stories impacting solution providers? Here are five that will interest partners of Oracle and Avaya, and highlight some IT market trends, such as Century Link's decision to sell its data centers.

$9.3 billion – Price that Oracle agreed to pay in July for NetSuite, although the second largest investor in the cloud software company – investment house T. Rowe Price – wants an extra $2 billion. T. Rowe Price has raised concerns about the process by which the price was established for NetSuite, given the involvement of Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison – the largest NetSuite investor - in both companies. One NetSuite partner calls this standoff a "crisis."

57 – Number of data centers CenturyLink has agreed to sell to a group of funds advised by investment firm BC Partners. CenturyLink, the latest carrier to exit the data center business, will sell the data centers and its colocation business for $2.15 billion. BC Partners will work in a consortium that also includes Medina Capital Advisors and Longview Asset Management. CenturyLink will retain a minority stake in the company, valued at $150 million.

$44 million – Potential payout CSC chairman, president and CEO Mike Lawrie could receive if the proposed merger of the solution provider giant with HPE's Enterprise Services division goes through, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In all, top CSC executives could earn as much as $90.5 million among them in stock, option and severance payouts, according to the filing. Lawrie is expected to remain in his role after the merger becomes official.

4 percent – Year-over-year growth in hardware sales for solution provider giant CDW in its third quarter, a gain that was dwarfed by double-digit percentage growth in its cloud and security businesses. CEO Thomas Richards said sales to mid-size and large corporate customers declined in the quarter as an anticipated boost in U.S. IT spending failed to materialize. Meanwhile, CDW's small-business customers have been more open to cloud-based solutions, thanks to the flexibility, level of service, and ability to manage on the consumption basis it provides, Richards said.

56 percent – Reduction in co-delivery time performance for Avaya channel partners that are part of the vendor's new partner program, Avaya Edge, according to Steve Biondi, channel chief for Avaya. The unified communications company, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is transforming itself into a software and services provider. It's shifting its channel resources and creating new tracks to better enable Avaya Edge partners.