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Today is Monday, March 9, 2026. Welcome to In Case You Missed It, our weekly five-minute rundown of important channel news stories that might have flown under the radar last week. In this edition: Ingram Micro Q4 and full year 2025 results: Ingram Micro reported fourth quarter net sales of $14.9 billion (up 11.5%) and full year net sales of $52.6 billion (up 9.5%), with its Xvantage platform now driving “billions” in transacted revenue. The company debuted the “AgenTeq” brand for its agentic AI capabilities, including a Sales Brief Agent initially piloted in Canada. Memory pricing crisis update: Dell is “compressing discounting” and shortening quote windows. HP says memory costs doubled in one quarter to 35% of PC production costs. Intel’s CEO says there’s no relief until 2028. The message to partners: quote fast, communicate pricing risk early, and plan for volatility. MSP Well launches as the channel’s first mental health community: Co-founded by Joe Ussia (Infinite IT Solutions), James Mignacca (Cavelo), and Miguel Ribeiro (VBS IT Services), MSP Well is a free peer-support network for IT and MSP professionals dealing with burnout, stress, and the mental health impact of cybersecurity work. Launched at XChange March 2026 in Orlando. ServiceNow claims AI bot resolves 90% of its own help desk tickets: The “Autonomous Workforce” agent handles Level 1 IT issues end-to-end, including password resets, VPN issues, and software access, with 99%+ resolution rates in targeted categories. GA expected in the second half of this year. Read Full Transcript Hello and welcome to In Case You Missed It from ChannelBuzz.ca. Your Monday morning recap where we catch you up on some of the channel news and trend headlines you may have missed in the last week. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca. Today is Monday, March 9, 2026. Let’s get your week started right. Ingram Micro closed out fiscal 2025 with some pretty strong numbers. The distributor reported fourth quarter net sales of just under $14.9 billion, up 11.5% year over year and above the high end of its guidance range. For the full year, net sales came in at $52.6 billion, up nearly 10%. The company attributed the growth to strong demand across its core distribution business, an uptick in cloud marketplace revenue, and continued traction from its Xvantage digital platform, which management now says drives “billions of dollars” in transacted revenue. But the detail that caught my attention is a word, not a figure. During the earnings call, Ingram introduced the name AgenTeq – T-E-Q, by the way – as its branding for its agentic AI capabilities within the Xvantage platform. AgenTeq encompasses over 400 AI and ML models that Ingram’s been building, including a tool called the Sales Brief Agent, which gives Ingram sales teams real-time AI-generated intelligence on partner and customer accounts to help uncover growth opportunities. And in a detail worth noting for this audience, the Sales Brief Agent was initially piloted here in Canada before its planned global rollout in the first half of this year. We’re still learning what AgenTeq means in practical terms for channel partners and it’s early days for the branding, but the combination of its financial results and the platform investment suggests Ingram is placing a very deliberate bet on AI-driven distribution. A story we’ll be following up very soon here on In The Channel. If you listened last week, you heard us lead with the component shortage story. Cisco rewriting partner contract terms, Lenovo warning of March price hikes, Western Digital’s entire 2026 production already spoken for. The situation has not gotten better. In fact, it’s getting worse and faster than most of us expected. Dell COO Jeff Clarke told analysts last week the company’s compressing discounting and that quotes are now valid for “the shortest period of time they’ve ever been.” HP’s CFO disclosed that memory costs have doubled in a single quarter and now represent about 35% of PC production costs, up from 15 to 18% a few months ago. And Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan says there’s no relief coming until 2028, a timeline backed by both SK Hynix and Micron. The takeaway for partners hasn’t changed from last week, but it’s more urgent now. Shorten your quote windows, have the pricing conversation with customers early, and assume that anything you quote today can and will cost more by the time it ships. Grab your helmet. Switching gears to something that doesn’t come up nearly enough. A new community initiative called MSP Well was formally launched this week at The Channel Company’s XChange conference in Orlando. MSP Well is a peer-support community dedicated to mental health and resilience among IT, MSP, and MSSP professionals. It was co-founded by Joe Ussia, CEO of Infinite IT Solutions, James Mignacca, CEO of Canadian vendor Cavelo, and Miguel Ribeiro of VBS IT Services. As Ussia put it, “the channel talks constantly about tools, threats, and uptime, but rarely about the human cost to the people doing the work.” MSP Well aims to change that, offering peer support, a Discord community, an anonymous call line, and partnerships with certified counsellors. It’s a meaningful initiative, and it’s something we’re looking forward to following up on here on In The Channel. And finally, ServiceNow says it has built an AI agent that’s now resolving 90% of inbound IT tickets on its own internal employee help desk. The system handles high-volume Level 1 issues like password resets, software access, VPN connectivity, and hardware troubleshooting, with resolution rates above 99% in those categories. When it gets stuck, it escalates rather than guessing. It’s an internal deployment for now, with general availability scheduled for the second half of the year. ServiceNow’s annual Knowledge conference takes place in May, and I’d expect we’ll hear a lot more about it there. Those are some of the things we were paying attention to last week. This week on In The Channel, we take a look at Check Point’s recent acquisition spree and how it all comes together with their chief strategy officer, Roi Karo. Sit down with frequent guest Tony Anscombe from ESET to talk about the current threat landscape. And break down the most meaningful findings of the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Index report. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca. Have a great week!

Pinar Ormeci, CEO of Lexful For MSPs, documentation is essential. But it's also one of the hardest parts of running a service business. Inaccurate, outdated, or inaccessible documentation slows teams down, increases onboarding time for new technicians, and can even put service quality at risk. That's the problem Lexful is aiming to solve with a new approach. In this episode, we sit down with Pinar Ormeci, CEO of Lexful, to discuss the company's new AI-native platform built specifically for managed service providers. Pinar explains how Lexful uses artificial intelligence to capture and organize MSP best practices in real time, making documentation not just a compliance task, but a practical tool that drives efficiency and reduces errors. We also dive into some of the challenges MSPs face when adopting AI tools — like ensuring sensitive client data stays secure and meets regulatory or geographic requirements — and how Lexful addresses these concerns with flexible data residency options. Plus, Pinar shares her thoughts on global expansion, including the Canadian MSP market, and what makes Lexful different from traditional IT documentation tools. Whether you're looking for ways to improve operational efficiency, reduce technician burnout, or future-proof your MSP business with AI, this conversation offers practical insights and a glimpse at where documentation technology is heading. Tune in to hear Pinar Ormeci explain how AI can transform the way MSPs capture, store, and use the knowledge that keeps their businesses running. Read Full Transcript Hello and welcome to the ChannelBuzz.ca podcast, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and as always your host for the show. If you’re an MSP, you know that documentation is both critical and, let’s be honest, often a pain. From onboarding new technologies to keeping client procedures up to date, maintaining clean, accurate and accessible documentation can feel like a full-time job and even then it’s rarely perfect. That’s where Lexful comes in. Founded by Pinar Ormeci, Lexful is a new AI-native platform designed specifically for managed service providers. The goal is to make documentation smarter, faster and more useful, not just for the teams doing the work today, but for future technicians, clients and partners. Think of it as giving your organization a digital brain that learns your processes, organizes your best practices and helps your team actually use the documentation you spent so long building. In today’s conversation, Pinar walks us through what makes Lexful different from traditional IT documentation tools, how the platform’s AI assistant Ask Lex works, and how MSPs can balance the need for actionable insights with security and control over sensitive client data. We also talk about global expansion, including Canada, of course, and what it takes to bring AI-powered documentation to MSPs operating in regulated markets or multiple geographies. Whether you’re curious about AI in the MSP workflow, looking for ways to improve operational efficiency, or just interested in the next wave of tools that may be shaping the channel, this episode’s full of insights from someone who’s building a platform designed for exactly that. Grab your headphones and let’s jump into a conversation with Pinar Ormeci, CEO of Lexful. Robert Dutt: Thanks for taking the time. I appreciate you’re joining us to talk a little bit about what’s going on over at Lexful. Pinar Ormeci: Thank you so much for having me, Robert. Robert Dutt: You’re entering a market that MSPs already know well in terms of documentation tools. What was it that was broken enough about the status quo, the situation, that you felt like, “Oh, it’s time to start from scratch with something brand new.” Pinar Ormeci: Yeah, as you can imagine, everything changed with AI, with the advent of AI and the pace of doing things and how MSPs must react and are reacting to an AI-first world even today, and it’s even accelerating as we continue. So as such, we fundamentally believe that the things that worked yesterday will not work today and definitely not tomorrow, right, for the workforce that contains humans and AI agents. So we are the response to a long-standing pain point that the MSPs have when it comes to documenting what they have, finding answers and context when they need, and also having the ability to update that documentation as needed, right? So MSPs, when they’re operating, they’re going 100 miles an hour across clients, across tabs, across tools, and the last thing they need is wasting time trying to find the right answer, right network diagram, trying to see if that’s actually the latest and greatest. And usually that doesn’t happen. There’s a lot of tribal knowledge that lives in the MSPs because they honestly, at some point, stop trusting the data that they have and things start living in their minds. And that’s the reason why we exist. So yes, we are an IT documentation solution, but we are an AI-native platform that is starting with documentation and our goal is to really help MSPs move into knowledge operations, an AI operating layer, where the knowledge becomes autonomous, the outcomes become autonomous, and really the knowledge becomes a living thing. Robert Dutt: Well, let’s start with where you’re at in that regard. From your perspective and from what you were hearing as you were building up Lexful and planning it out, what’s the real cost of bad, outdated, unfindable documentation inside an MSP’s operation? Both in terms of operational stuff for the organization, but also in terms of ability to grow, margins of the business, the experience that technicians have, those kinds of things that are not peripheral, but not right at the center of operations. Pinar Ormeci: Excellent question. And what we say is that MSP documentation as it stands today is really broken. And ultimately, this is an economic problem. This is not a technical problem in the sense that it costs MSPs real margin. And how does that happen? So today, documents become stale as soon as they are written. Technicians waste hours collectively trying to find the right information, and manual updates really don’t scale. So what this ends up resulting in is missed signals, right? So you don’t act when you should be acting. You don’t find answers as fast as you could. Your technicians get burned out because literally after five, ten minutes of searching and not being able to find what they need, technicians go to other technicians. So everybody’s pinging each other, disrupting. So there’s also a lot of context switching. And this results in errors where you’re trying to solve different clients’ problems. And ultimately and fundamentally, this really results in eroding client trust and churn, right? So we see this documentation problem not as a technical problem, but fundamentally an economic problem that has real impact on the bottom line of the MSPs. And also their top line, because knowledge is also critical, Robert, for AI agents, for workflows. Your AI workflow or your agentic workforce is only as strong as the data that they rely on. So if you have a bunch of unstructured data lying around across different tools and you have no clue how stale or up to date they are, your agents won’t be as useful as they could be. So we are approaching the problem on both sides, both reducing your costs and increasing your margins, but also really preparing you for the agentic workflow and also AI-driven new revenue streams. Robert Dutt: You’ve positioned Lexful as an AI-native platform rather than a traditional documentation tool with AI built in, strapped on, however you want to phrase that. What does that mean in practice for an MSP that’s using Lexful on a day-to-day basis as opposed to using traditional documentation tools or methodologies? Pinar Ormeci: Sure. Legacy documentation tools were built in a different era, right? Before AI existed, they really depended on manual entry, keyword search, and they’re optimized for storage really, not to be an operational workhorse. Not for knowledge operations, where you’re able to put data to work for you 24/7. So our goal with Lexful is to move from this world of scattered docs and tribal knowledge to a unified AI-native platform that delivers the right solution to the right technician, anchored to the right context, to the right client, instantly. So this is how this looks in real life. Let’s say that you’re using a legacy documentation tool and you say, “Hey, I’m going to give Lexful a go. I want to try it.” By the way, you can have a completely free trial where you get to use the full functionality of Lexful in parallel to your existing tool. So there’s no risk. We call it migration without mayhem. So if you don’t like it, no feelings hurt. You can always continue with your existing platform. But this is how it looks. The first thing that we do is we migrate all your existing documentation. That means including your SOPs, onboarding guidelines, runbooks, what have you, your MSP-specific documentation, plus all your client assets and passwords and their documents into the Lexful schema. And while we are doing that, we transform that data into context, relationships, assets. So everything becomes structured so that AI can operate seamlessly and securely, very fast, within the guardrails that we put. So that’s fundamentally different than bolting AI into the scattered docs that are unstructured and expecting much from that AI agent. Before we even migrate the documents, Robert, what we’ve done is we completely context-engineered an LLM model to live in the MSP space. So you have this, let’s say, AI technician now that has access to all your data. And the things that you can do with this are really amazing. So we have AI as UI, as entry point to Lexful. And what that means is you can ask natural query questions in plain English. For example, a technician can easily ask, “Hey, what’s the admin password for this client?” Or they can ask, “Hey, what devices need patching for the clients that are in the Ohio area?” Or “What should I do about it?” Or you can say, “Hey, give me a project plan for me to patch these devices and make sure you’re prioritizing them based on urgency.” Or an L1 tech who you just hired and you’re trying to onboard, instead of pinging the senior technicians all the time, they can literally go to Ask Lex, which is our AI-powered knowledge assistant, and say, “Hey, how does my MSP do onboarding? What’s the best way for me to increase my learning curve immediately? What would you propose?” Because this is an LLM now that has access to all your knowledge and is context-engineered, as I mentioned, in the MSP and all things IT. Robert Dutt: And you mentioned data throughout that. And clearly, for Ask Lex, for the AI infrastructure to have the value that it potentially has, it has to have access to both an MSP’s most valuable data, the best practices, the procedures, the stuff that folks have developed over the however many years the business has been in place, and customer data, network diagrams and passwords, et cetera. How are you balancing getting the most out of that and getting the most value out of Lexful with trust, security, control, all those kinds of things that MSPs and rightly customers are going to be asking about? Pinar Ormeci: Yeah, 100%. And that’s why vibe coding is not going to work for any production-grade solution, but also definitely for MSPs, where you have multi-tenancy, security is of utmost importance. You have all these compliances and regulations and all of that, right? So you have to have a real MSP-grade solution. So in our case, obviously, we are handling really sensitive data, the client’s data, and also passwords, right? As a documentation tool, we have password management as part of that, a rich document creator and asset management. So it’s as sensitive as it gets. What we do is zero-trust security from day one. So Robert, I was the CEO of another MSP-first vendor before I joined Lexful, and what we did was Secure Access Service Edge, which is a SASE solution, right? So I’m so security-first because I’ve seen firsthand all the horrible consequences when security is optional. Security is a must-have. It has to belong in an MSP stack, and MSPs actually shouldn’t even deal with clients if the client says, “Oh, security is optional for me.” So I am very, very security-first. So from day one, what we’ve done at Lexful is we said that we’re going to be SOC 2 Type 2 compliant. So the whole thing that we’re building is built in that framework. We are already in SOC 2 audit, by the way, so hopefully we’ll get the SOC 2 Type 2 compliance. That’s the earliest you can get, by the way, as a young company, by the end of this half. Yeah, so we have a never trust, always verify framework, and we do take it very seriously. Robert Dutt: And similar issue, but from a different point of view, many MSPs, especially those outside the US, care about where data lives or even is in transit, or are required by regulation to care about where data lives or is in transit, whether that’s in-country, region-specific, or even locked down to the level of on-prem. I guess, how are you guys thinking about data residency and deployment flexibility as you scale and as your customer base scales? Pinar Ormeci: Oh, yeah, 100%. So as part of the SOC 2 Type 2, we are GDPR compliant. We are California CCPA compliant. So from a data residency perspective, similarly, we use AWS because we’re a global cloud-native platform. So we have data centers in the US, but also in Europe, in Canada, in Australia. So based on need, we have no problems having data centers locally in the region the MSP resides. Robert Dutt: You touched on this a little bit earlier, but I think for a lot of MSPs who are changing something like a documentation system that’s core to the business, it feels like there’s a risk there. Even if you see potential benefits, there’s also the challenge of leaving familiar systems, even if they aren’t your favorite things in the world. Can you elaborate a little bit on how you guys approach migration and early adoption so that partners can evaluate Lexful and still keep the business running at the same time? You touched on kind of having that parallel migration path. How exactly does that look for an MSP? Pinar Ormeci: Oh, yeah. As an operational tool, you cannot disrupt the MSP operations. That’s fundamental. So that’s why we say migration without mayhem, and it’s actually one of our core features. The other thing is we are very API-first, meaning even the product that we built is built on APIs. Our front end and back end are decoupled. Everything we do is via APIs. We have a RESTful API already out there for the MSPs to utilize. And for the migration as well, we have an API that automates the migration from an existing tool into the Lexful schema. But while we do that, we also have the MSP continue to use their existing tool while we bring that knowledge into Lexful. And then in that two-week trial, the MSP can use both platforms at the same time, really make sure all that data is there. They can validate that everything is to their liking and all of that. And at the end of that trial, if they continue to move with Lexful, then they can let go of their existing tool. So yeah, migration is very important. And like I say, we automate the migration to the extent possible using the API. Of course, migration is not trivial in any tool, let alone a documentation tool, especially if the MSP has so much documentation. So we always suggest, do this after Friday. Your workday is over, or during the weekend. So just don’t do it Monday 9 AM, just in case, because it might take one hour, two hours or whatever. But having said that, hopefully the migration is the easiest part of switching to Lexful. Robert Dutt: You’re working with AWS. I think you’re thinking on sort of a global scale, and why wouldn’t you, since it’s all online, it’s all technology. But as you think about global expansion, and I’m going to be biased here and say Canada in particular since that’s where this audience lives, how are you thinking about global focus? And also, I’m curious, as you’re talking to MSPs, what differences do you see in how MSPs think about and approach documentation, compliance, AI across the various regions that you’re talking to partners in? Pinar Ormeci: I think Canadian MSPs are pretty amazing and very innovation-forward. They’re definitely thinking about AI, their clients. They’re not that different from the North American ones, obviously. So we have very mature MSPs in Canada. And I don’t see massive differences when it comes to Canadian MSPs versus American MSPs, honestly, because the level of maturity in both countries is similar. So from a distribution perspective, we want to go wherever the pain points exist today when it comes to knowledge and documentation. And that is literally everywhere, right, Robert? So we are a global player and we also want to make it easy for the MSPs to get access to Lexful. We are working with Sherweb, we are working with Pax8. So the hope is that we will be part of those marketplaces definitely within this year. So by the way, a lot of our developers are in Vancouver. So we have great ties to Canada. I’m actually flying on Sunday to Vancouver for some internal meetings next week. So from our perspective, everything we do, everything we envision, our vision, we are a global player. We want to be the de facto central intelligence layer the MSPs trust for years to come. Robert Dutt: And along those lines, kind of looking forward, for an MSP who comes on board early days, as you guys are launching, how do you hope their business looks different a year from now after they’ve fully realized what you guys are doing and what you guys will do with Lexful over the course of that year? Pinar Ormeci: Yeah, excellent question. So we are a paradigm shift. I really see us, remember those days, for people who are old enough, like we used to have no internet, man. Like we used to have encyclopedias and the books, and like, my background is in engineering, I’m an electrical engineer. If I didn’t know something, I had to go open a book and like, it was these weird times without the internet. And then suddenly there was the internet, where this collective information and you can search for anything and, you know, then Google and so on. So that’s the paradigm shift that we are trying to bring the MSPs into. Instead of manual keyword-based search, manual updates and so on, now you live in that knowledge. Knowledge is always up to date. You do in-context troubleshooting. The technicians, they can be in co-pilot, they can be in their PSA, they can be in their Teams and they can just ask Lex to get the right answer contextually. The next steps, and then whatever is new discovered in that discussion is automatically detected if there is a gap and then trickled down to the right SOP, right KB. So this is the paradigm shift that we are talking about, so that MSPs can focus on not the mundane, like, “Hey, we need to update this document,” try to incentivize technicians on actually what makes the money, what delights their customers. They can be so much more strategic with their clients because just imagine now all the insights you can bubble up utilizing an AI and LLM that knows all your clients, that knows all the trends, that knows all the compliance needs. It is just a different game. So we’re really trying to bring the MSPs into an AI-first world because otherwise people will get left behind, right? The old ways don’t scale. Robert Dutt: And finally, probably the most important question we’re going to ask today, and that’s good journalistic practice, right, to wait till the very end to ask the most important question. I do have to ask though, is it true that your AI is also your channel chief? And if so, how sure are you that Lex isn’t coming for your job? Pinar Ormeci: Yeah, so I was like, you know, if you’re an AI-native company, we need to have some teammates that are not just human, but humanoid, let’s say. So we have as our channel chief a humanoid robot that has an LLM, has an NVIDIA chip. We have trained him on all the right things. Although at Right of Boom, people told me, “Oh, we thought he was a female,” but so yeah, Lex is amazing. And he is very clumsy though, so I don’t know that he’s coming after our jobs that fast. But yeah, we’re living in some amazing times. It’s just really fascinating as a technical person myself who’s been in the tech industry for 20-plus years. It’s fascinating to be living in these times where everything is moving exponentially. And yeah, so we do have a channel chief that is not a human. And he is with us at all the events that we go to. You can come to our booth and say hello, and then you can converse with him as well, right? Ask him like, “Hey dude, what do you think the MSP’s pain points are? Is Lex doing a good job? Is Pinar a good boss?” So he’ll have an opinion for you. Robert Dutt: All right, so flesh-and-bone channel chiefs have been put on notice. They are in fact on the list of roles that can be replaced. But jokes aside, no matter how good Lex and his AI pals get, what’s kind of the one role in all of this that you think humans will always play no matter where the technology goes? Pinar Ormeci: I think the judgment layer, at least for the, let’s say, near term, right? I honestly don’t know, 20 years… the thing is moving so fast. I keep reading Anthropic’s CEO and it’s just, things are changing a lot. But in the near term, the human judgment is still paramount. Human in the loop is paramount. And with AI, you have to always trust, but verify. So at Lexful, we make it such that we give all the reasoning the AI is doing to reach that conclusion, all the links where it’s going. So we make sure that the hallucinations, if there are any, are minimized and the humans can verify everything. So the human in the loop is ultimately critical and they are the judgment factor. And especially in the MSP channel, relationships are key. One of the things I love about the MSPs and this ecosystem is the community aspect, people helping each other. Then there’s MSPs being like, “Hey, we’re all on the same team” attitude. So I don’t think you can replace that for small, medium businesses. Ultimately, the best we can be is human. We are not AI, we are not robots. Humans, we’ve evolved to be social animals and community is such an important part of the MSP ecosystem. I don’t think that’s going anywhere soon. So we are here, as we say at Lexful, not to replace expertise. We’re just here to expose it to more people so that the technicians can do more important jobs other than just wasting hours documenting or finding the right information. Robert Dutt: I appreciate your taking the time. Good luck on rolling out and evolving Lexful. It will be exciting to see where things go from here. Thank you very much. Pinar Ormeci: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. There you have it, a look at how AI may change your documentation system and maybe even provide a new business platform for your managed services business in the long run, courtesy of Lexful’s Pinar Ormeci. I’d like to thank Pinar for joining us and thank you for listening. That wraps up this week on the podcast. We’ll be back on Monday with In Case You Missed It, our weekly roundup of channel news and trends that you need to know about. And next week and into the near future, we’ll be taking a look at why modern IT environments are increasingly hard to monitor and have a chat with our frequent guest, Tony Anscombe, about the security forces you need to know about. Between now and then, please do subscribe to or follow the podcast in your podcast app of choice. And if it allows you to do so, please consider leaving a review or rating for the show. Have a great weekend. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca and I’ll see you around the channel.

Jack Hirsch, vice president of product at Okta The rise of AI in the workplace is creating a new kind of risk for organizations: shadow AI. Employees can now spin up AI agents that connect directly to emails, files, and business systems—often without IT oversight. These agents can access sensitive data, and without proper controls, they become prime targets for cyberattacks. In this episode of the podcast, we're joined by Jack Hirsch, vice president of product at Okta, to explore what shadow AI is, why it matters for Canadian organizations, and how IT partners can help their customers manage it. Jack discusses Okta's latest tools, which provide real-time visibility into AI agents and their permissions. These capabilities make it easier for security teams to discover unmanaged agents, understand their access, and quickly bring them under identity-based controls. We also touch on regulatory implications, including Canada's proposed Bill C-8, which heightens expectations around cyber risk accountability, access controls, and transparency. As legislation moves forward, organizations will need to prove they understand not just who has access to sensitive systems—but which AI agents do as well. For MSPs and IT resellers, this emerging landscape represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Jack shares insights into how partners can position themselves as trusted advisors for clients navigating AI risk, turning a potentially complex problem into a service opportunity. Tune in to hear why identity management is becoming central to securing the agentic enterprise—and what your customers will need to stay ahead of shadow AI risks. Read Full Transcript Hello and welcome to the ChannelBuzz.ca podcast, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and as always, your host for the show. Okta has announced a new set of capabilities designed to help organizations uncover and manage a fast-growing risk: shadow AI. As AI tools become easier to use, employees are increasingly creating their own AI agents, connecting them to emails, files, SaaS apps, and internal systems to get work done faster. The problem is that many of these agents are created without security oversight, governance, or clear ownership. Once they’re connected to sensitive systems, they can quietly gain broad access to data, making them attractive targets for attackers and a potential liability for organizations. Okta’s new solution is designed to address that gap. It gives security teams real-time visibility into AI agents across the enterprise, showing which agents exist, what they can access, and what permissions they’ve been granted. Just as importantly, it allows organizations to quickly bring unmanaged or risky agents under identity controls, treating them more like digital employees than anonymous tools. That visibility matters even more in Canada, where proposed legislation like Bill C-8 is raising expectations around cyber risk accountability, access controls, and transparency. As AI becomes embedded into everyday workflows, organizations will be expected to know not just who has access to what sensitive data, but what machines and agents do as well. To unpack what shadow AI really means, why identity has become central to managing AI risk, and what all this creates in terms of opportunity for Canadian IT partners, I’m joined today by Jack Hirsch, Vice President of Product at Okta. Let’s dive in. Robert Dutt: Jack, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Jack Hirsch: My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Robert Dutt: It feels like this is a topic that a lot of folks in the channel have been through with different flavors in the past. When you say “shadow X,” it certainly brings up memories of transitions past, but just to level set and set the parameters here, can you give me a quick definition on shadow AI? I almost said shadow IT. Can you give me a quick definition on shadow AI, and why it’s becoming both a security and governance issue? Jack Hirsch: Sure. Well, look, it’s no secret now that AI is changing the shape of how work gets done in the modern era. You have these non-deterministic entities running around, and fundamentally, they’re exciting, they’re interesting on their own, but where they really light up in value, where you start to see efficiency and effectiveness gains from your carbon-based workforces, is when you start connecting them to tools. They need resource access to be truly productive. So AI agents need resource access, and that’s when it can start to get scary, and that’s when shadow AI starts to create a ton of risk for modern organizations. We know that the point of authentication is now much stronger with phishing-resistant auth. However, post-auth security is the primary breach vector for the vast majority of cybersecurity incidents now, meaning the session token’s been cut. There’s access out in the ecosystem, and that’s why shadow AI is terrifying. Unfortunately, the options available to the ecosystem to secure AI and to build it quickly have been not good enough, to put it bluntly. This leaves security leaders with this very, very difficult challenge of moving fast and potentially breaking things and giving away the keys to the kingdom to OpenClaw, or whatever it is that you want to do, or potentially stifling innovation. That’s a really, really difficult spot for security leaders to be in. So yeah, shadow AI is everywhere. The challenges are greater. The stakes have never been higher. Robert Dutt: Yeah, so that’s sort of the problem space. So when employees spin up AI agents and connect them to emails, to files, to internal data, to systems, whatever it may be, I presume most of the problems emerge from unintended consequences, as is so often the case in technology. But what are some of the common ways that sensitive data ends up exposed without anyone really necessarily realizing it, or is that the nature of the problem? Jack Hirsch: Well, look, I think there’s sort of the naive answer, and not to say that it’s easy or trivial. I don’t want to trivialize this, but the naive answer is, “Oh, prompt injection, data leakage, data poisoning. Oh yeah, who knows what the LLM will spit out?” But the actual scarier risk is around inadvertent access and the standing credentials that need to be given to AI agents for them to be productive. If Rob, you and I work at Acme Corp, and we’re working on a project together and we want to spin up an AI agent, whose permissions do we give it? Most of the time now, a security leader is not going to be able to jump in front of every single moving train and slow them. They’ll just say, “Oh yeah, give it a set of static credentials. Give it an API key, but don’t give it Rob’s access. Don’t give it Jack’s access. Give it super user access, and we’ll trust it to do the right thing.” And so you’re giving this untrained, very influenceable, non-deterministic entity the keys to the kingdom. And that’s really the primary risk vector here. And so it’s all an identity and access management problem. Fundamentally, these are identities that need to be discovered. They need to be controlled. They need to be governed. And their access needs to be managed in the same way that their carbon-based peers, us as humans, need to be governed as well. Robert Dutt: So with that framing, it sounds like maybe identity is more important than traditional network or endpoint controls in terms of security in this world, where there are all these agents running around and doing whatever it is, hopefully, we want them to do and potentially what we don’t want them to do. Jack Hirsch: I think this is where the traditional model of endpoint or network or identity-based detection and response falls flat. You can’t keep up with the incredible volume of AI agent activity out in the ecosystem to detect it all. Every single, even approved platforms are now starting to put AI sprinkles throughout their products. And so it’s sort of fighting an uphill battle there. And so the reason this is truly an identity-centric problem is because, again, all those agents need access to resources inside of organizations. And the way that AI grew, and we saw this with how OpenAI and Anthropic and even Google with Gemini, their sort of growth paths were primarily consumer driven. And in a consumer world, it’s really easy. I’m spinning up, I’m literally sitting next to a machine that has a Claude bot spun up in a fully isolated environment, but I’m an individual user in that scenario. And so if I want to give it access, I can just OAuth myself. It’s super easy. And so the authorization mechanism wasn’t really thought about in an enterprise context. And then when you get into an enterprise context, you have individuals that want to do exactly the same thing and access corporate resources. So it really is a new type of identity. We can talk about some of the differences between human and AI agent, but it’s fundamentally an identity and access management problem. These are digital identities, non-human identities that need access to resources within an organization. And you actually see this being recognized by broader standards bodies. So for example, Cross App Access was something that we’ve been working on. It’s a new standard, it’s an extension of the OAuth protocol. And it’s something that we’ve been working on for years, two, three years now at this point. And we reintroduced it to the ecosystem this past summer, summer of 2025. And we introduced it first to ISVs and the people that were sort of around the Okta ecosystem had heard about it before. But then the rest of the ecosystem, the adoption was wild because MCP had become a thing and people were trying to deploy MCP servers and AI agents into their enterprises. And no one, not at the time Anthropic or OpenAI or any of the big model providers, had taken on the challenge of enterprise authorization for AI agents. And so this standard that had been sort of latent and sitting somewhere in an IETF draft for a while got picked up and started gaining a ton of steam. And just in November, right before Anthropic split off MCP and gave it away to the open ecosystem, it got merged into the MCP repo as the new default enterprise authorization mechanism for MCP. And so this isn’t something that’s Okta owned, it’s just a standard that we developed because we are independent. And as such, we are the sort of standard-bearer for the open security ecosystem. We believe that we need to be the rising tide that lifts all ships. And that’s why we develop open standards like Cross App Access. So now, really excited, we’ve taken our own engineers and pushed this authorization code out into the open ecosystem so that many applications start picking up this capability, this new OAuth extension. Robert Dutt: So at a high level, when you talk about the products that you guys are bringing to market, the solutions to address this, at a high level, what kind of new visibility or new insights are you giving organizations that are using these tools that they simply didn’t have before when it comes to discovering AI agents, the privileges they have, and what they’re up to? Jack Hirsch: Yeah. So, I mean, maybe if I can even blow it up further and say, let’s talk about maybe three steps: discovery, then control, and governance. So on the discovery side, there are many ways to discover, let’s date ourselves, shadow IT. There are many ways to discover, right? You can have a browser extension, you can have some sort of endpoint monitoring, you can have network monitoring. You can also check the resources themselves for access. And so we took a, initially, we’re taking a multi-pronged approach to doing the discovery, but we’re doing what we do best, which is integrating into over 8,000 ISVs and checking for resource access. And so who’s accessing these resources? Are they carbon-based? Are they digital-based? And so the first phase of discovery with our ISPM product is being able to see who’s accessing these resources and why. And so that extended very, very nicely to AI agents. And it doesn’t really matter where the AI agents exist, right? It doesn’t matter if they’re part of a larger platform with something like Salesforce and Agentforce, or whether they’re homegrown, built off in some skunkworks team off to the side. Ultimately, when they get access to the resource, we see it. And then you get into the control plane. So that’s just the discovery. Within the control plane, we want to meet our customers where they are. And we know that the vast majority of these things are going to be granted access via static credentials, just the god-mode tokens. And for those, we can harden them. We can effectively bring them under management. We can bring those credentials under management. We can observe them. We can rotate them. We can observe for anomalous behavior, et cetera. And so that’s like what you would consider a traditional PAM use case or maybe a modern IGA use case. But then also with control, we give Cross App Access, which is a new mechanism that extends the amazing innovation that was OAuth and OAuth scopes, basically extending that to say, instead of checking with the end user for access to this resource, we can set policy. Now the IDP can set policy to control access to those resources. And then to close the loop, there’s governance. And so standard governance flow, and actually I don’t even want to say standard governance flow because governance historically has this GRC compliance lens, but it’s very much a security-forward technology here. When you get to the state where you need to govern these identities and their access, we can run access certs in the exact same way based on whether or not they’re human or non-human. And so every one of those agentic identities gets pulled into Okta’s Universal Directory. All of their access is controlled. All of it is governed. We still gather the same risk signal and risk pattern behavior from the Identity Threat Protection product. And that’s, I wish I could say that 10 years ago, we knew we were building an identity security fabric, this new category of product that’s going to cover every identity use case, every resource type, and every user type. However, that was the strategy, not knowing that AI agents were going to be born in the 2020s. And it just makes it so that we are really well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity. And it gives us a very novel approach to how we secure AI in a way that, it’s because we have this unified identity security fabric. A basket of tools that don’t talk to each other, if you have a disparate IAM and IGA and PAM set of tools, in theory, you could stitch it all together, but you end up with higher costs and worse security outcomes. And so we actually took a much harder approach to market. And this is many years ago. Again, this predates the rise of AI agents, but we decided that we were not going to take an acquisitive strategy where we just bolt on a bunch of things and call them a “platform” in air quotes. And your order form would look like a drugstore receipt. And so you’re not buying a list of products that happen to be on the same order form because we want to satisfy a CFO. We’re taking an approach that we want to drive end-to-end identity security outcomes for CISOs and IT leaders. So we’re doing the hard work deeply integrating these products across the fabric so that we can truly secure every identity, every use case, and every resource type. Robert Dutt: Close to home here in Canada, we have a proposed Bill C-8 on the table. It’s raising expectations around visibility, around access control, accountability, risk, all of these things. I know there are similar ideas out there in terms of government around the world. How does legislation along these lines change the conversation for IT leaders, especially around the topic of shadow AI? Jack Hirsch: So look, I am such a fan of this type of regulation because it pushes… When we enter highly regulated markets, regardless of where they are, and we can talk about C-8, I think it really does align with our identity security fabric narrative and what we’re angling for. But fundamentally, what we’re talking about is trust. If I’m not mistaken, C-8 talks about resilience and reliability. Okta has industry leading availability and resilience. We proudly espouse our four nines of availability, but in reality, it’s much higher. And we target much higher. With the launch of our cell in Canada, and we can talk about the nature of that launch, but with the launch of our cell in Canada, we not only get multi-region disaster recovery, but we get Enhanced Disaster Recovery, which is a product that I really wanted to call Instant DR, because it’s a DNS flip, but the lawyers didn’t like that. So it’s Enhanced Disaster Recovery. And so when you’re talking about resilience and reliability and running critical infrastructure, fundamentally, identity is critical infrastructure. We support governments, financial services, militaries, supply chain logistics with organizations like FedEx, healthcare. And so maybe bringing it back to C-8, data residency, check, highly invested, especially with de-globalization pressures around the world. Supply chain governance, super, super important for us to maintain our independent posture here and to say, look, it doesn’t matter whether you’re buying from a monolithic platform or an independent provider of identity security. We are invested in making sure that your entire enterprise is secure. And so just the same way FedRAMP was a standard-bearer and STIGs in the US were standard-bearers, or IRAP was pushing us in the right direction in Australia, or ISMAP in Japan, I think C-8 is a very, very welcome change. I think it highlights the need for robust identity security and it should put identity at the foundation of every security leader’s agenda this year. Robert Dutt: Well, these pieces of legislation are still in the process and we can look forward. This is likely to see the light of day in some shape or another, but there’s still that sort of sense of maybe we should wait and see. I guess what I’m getting at is what’s the danger or the risk involved in waiting until regulations are finalized, on the books and in place, before starting to take action? Jack Hirsch: So let’s just say at a personal level, I am not into promoting scare tactics. I know that it is very common in the security space for colors to be red. Our colors are blue. That’s not our vibe at Okta. And so look, every organization has their own risk barometer. What I can say is the vast majority of breaches stem from some form of attack on identity. The vast majority of breaches, the implications of having a data breach, oftentimes they go, I think the average time to detection for a data breach is somewhere just shy of 300 days. And so you’re talking about millions of dollars in damages, huge reputational hit. And there are scenarios, and I will not point to any recent security incidents that might have impacted large swaths of the industry, but not Okta. But I’ll just say the reason is because we believe strongly that having a lower risk profile should be easier, should be more elegant. People come to Okta not because of the, “Oh, you get it all done by the CLI.” Yeah, you can, but it’s elegant. It’s intuitive. It’s easier to use. It de-complexifies the world of identity security. I’m sitting in front of my notepad here to take notes, and one of our product principles is productizing best practices. And so we want to make it easier for organizations to reduce their risk profile and make the end user experience elegant and memorable when it needs to be, and disappear into the background when it shouldn’t be memorable. And so with that, look, I would advise everyone go down the rabbit hole. Just look at recent breaches. Look at how widely pervasive these breaches are. Look how easy it is to go after a phish, to buy a phishing kit on the dark web, and see the types of organizations that get hit by these and it’s everyone. And so whether you’re waiting for legislation to be imposed to drive the standards or you are just looking to have an appropriate barometer of risk for your organization, you shouldn’t have to choose between ease of use and cost and lower risk and greater security. And so I would just say everyone’s going to be on their own journey. I’m not a salesperson. I’m on the product team. But I fundamentally think that identity is one of the pillars of Zero Trust. I believe that it should be. It’s foundational. It is the foundation. If I had nothing else to do, if I were starting my own company today and I wanted to build a security practice for my company to manage our organizational risk, it would start with identity, 110%. Robert Dutt: We’ve taken sort of a general market-wide view of the technology problem and now of the regulatory side of things. This is a podcast for IT solution providers. So sort of going with that “if I were starting a business today” line that you just started there, for MSPs and resellers, where do you see the biggest opportunity to help customers get ahead of shadow AI, both in terms of reducing customer risk and in terms of new services, new types of services that they can bring to market? Jack Hirsch: I’ll take it in two parts. One is just you can’t control what you don’t see. And so for VARs and MSPs and sort of operators in the technology ecosystem, I would say look at Okta’s ISPM product. It is amazing what you learn by wiring it. And it’s not just for Okta as an IDP. It’ll wire into any IDP. It will wire into multiple IDPs. It’ll wire into over 300 SCIM-based apps because it’s wired into the Okta Integration Network, and there’s a large set of SCIM apps that work natively with ISPM. And just see what you can find. I optimized my life, my product world for hugs and high fives. And I’ll never forget, I’m sure this person knows exactly who they are. It was a security leader in Australia, ran out of their office after trying ISPM during a merger and they used it to reduce risk during the merger as they were establishing a trust relationship between their organizations. And it basically made this person look like a superstar in front of their C-suite and board because it was like the entire risk burndown chart for their entire M&A transaction to establish the technical risk barometer. So I would just say ISPM is an incredible starting point. A+, highly recommend. You can’t control what you can’t see. And then I think on the second part, of course ISPM will discover AI as well. And then the second part is just, I wouldn’t lose sight of the experience. And so making sure that you’re creating an elegant experience by your choice of products, not only for the admins that you might work directly with or the leadership that might be engaging with you, but also for the end users. And knowing when tools should be elegant, easy to use, easy to configure, and when they should just sort of fade into the background. That’s ultimately what we work on at Okta. It’s our strong conviction from a product standpoint, that it needs to be an absolutely elegant, unmatched user experience for partners, for admins, for end users, and for customers. Robert Dutt: I think we’ve gone over a lot of the territory that I wanted to go over, but just to kind of bring things home, looking ahead over the balance of 2026 or into the first half of next year, what do you think are going to be the biggest mistakes that organizations might make when it comes to agents and identity? And what can solution providers be doing now to make sure their customers don’t make those mistakes? Jack Hirsch: This is an easy one. I think there’s sort of two categories of mistakes. One is getting worried because everything is moving so fast, getting that sort of analysis paralysis to say, “I’m going to see where it shakes out. How important is this AI thing?” Or even if you’re an AI bull, waiting to see who the winners and losers are before you establish any sort of program around it. That’s, I think, one big category of things not to do. I would say, go after it immediately. The capabilities you need are already out there. They might be newer. They might feel a little bit less familiar. But again, ultimately, these are identities that need access to your corporate resources. So I think that is one big category. The other big category is, I would not look at point solutions for this. Anyone that is saying, “We’re going to secure your AI.” That’s great. But what is an AI? It’s an identity. It can be a resource in some scenarios, right? With agent-to-agent, agents acting as resources, but ultimately they’re just identities. That’s for the identity nerds. Sorry. Just as a caveat for the identity nerds out there like myself. But fundamentally, you need a unified platform that gives you that unified view of core access management, core governance, core privileged access, brings all of those identities, whether it be human or non-human, into a single directory and can discover them, can control them, can govern them. And it shouldn’t matter whether they were built by your users, by third parties, by partners, by your supply chain contractors. That unified identity security fabric will deliver comprehensive security and it should be deeply orchestrated into any technology stack. And those products already exist, and it just so happens that Okta is building a reference implementation. Robert Dutt: Works out well for you then, doesn’t it? Jack Hirsch: It does. Robert Dutt: I appreciate your taking the time, Jack. It’s been an interesting conversation and it’s a fascinating and ever-evolving area. Jack Hirsch: Thank you very much. All right. Thanks, Rob. And thanks everyone. Appreciate the time. There you have it, a look at shadow AI through an identity lens with Jack Hirsch from Okta. I’d like to thank Jack for joining us for the show and thank you for listening today. The podcast will be back in your feed tomorrow as we take a look at the launch of Lexful, an AI-first documentation tool for MSPs that boasts, if you can believe it, a robotic channel chief. We’ll find out all about that tomorrow. You’ll want to be sure to catch that, so please subscribe to or follow the podcast in your podcast app of choice. And if it allows you to do so, please consider leaving a rating or review of the show. Until tomorrow, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca and I’ll see you in the channel.

Mark Sweeney, senior vice president of mid‑market growth and global commercial strategy at Citrix As of this week, MSPs and resellers working with Citrix may notice their partner relationship looks a little different. On March 1, Citrix officially expanded its long-standing partnership with Arrow Electronics, shifting more of the day-to-day management of its Service Provider partners in North America and Europe to the distributor. The move builds on an existing relationship between the two companies, but goes further — touching partner engagement, transactions, and how partners interact with the Citrix ecosystem overall. For MSPs and resellers, especially in Canada, changes like this tend to raise practical questions. What's actually changing in the partner experience? Why make this move now? What responsibilities remain with Citrix, and which ones move to Arrow? And what does this mean for quoting, renewals, incentives, and support escalation? In this episode of the podcast, we're joined by Mark Sweeney to help unpack the announcement. We talk through what Citrix had already handed over to Arrow, what's new as of March 1, and how the company sees this shift fitting into its broader channel strategy. The conversation also takes a Canada-specific lens, exploring what this transition means for Canadian MSPs and resellers, and what partners should be thinking about as the new model settles in. We wrap with a look ahead at what comes next — and how partners can position themselves to get the most value from the change. Read Full Transcript Hello and welcome to the ChannelBuzz.ca podcast, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and as always, your host for the show. If you’re an MSP or a reseller working with Citrix, as of this week, your relationship with the vendor may look a little different. Earlier this year, Citrix announced it’s expanding its partnership with distributor Arrow Electronics, handing over more of the day-to-day management of its service provider partners in North America and Europe. That change officially took place March 1st. Citrix and Arrow have already been working together for some time, but this move goes further, affecting things like partner engagement, transactions, incentives, and how partners interact with the Citrix ecosystem overall. For MSPs and resellers here in Canada, it naturally raises questions. What’s actually changing? Why now? What stays with Citrix? What shifts to Arrow? And most importantly, what does it all mean to your day-to-day business? To help unpack all of that, I’m joined by Mark Sweeney from Citrix. Mark’s been deeply involved in the company’s channel strategy and is here to walk us through not just what is changing, but why Citrix believes it’s the right move and how partners can get the most out of the transition. So let’s dive right in. Robert Dutt: Mark, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Mark Sweeney: No, thanks for having me, Robert. Robert Dutt: I guess let’s start with a little bit of context first. You guys have been working with Arrow Electronics for a long time as a distribution partner and more recently, over the past little while, have handed over a little bit more responsibility and management to Arrow. I guess to level set it, can you walk me through before this March 1 announcement, what part of the relationships had already been managed by Arrow and what parts did Citrix still manage or handle directly? Mark Sweeney: Sure. Thanks for that. You’re right. Over the past numerous years, we’ve had a long and outstanding relationship with our friends at Arrow and it historically was a distribution-related arrangement that we had with them. Over the past two years, I would say that that relationship has started to change and evolve into where we see it today. Specifically, I would say it was probably about 18 months ago where we started to extend more of our business over to Arrow. That specific piece was around our CSP business. That was below a certain threshold. The threshold being about 2,000 users. Any of our CSP, MSP partners that were providing services to end users, we actually shifted those over to Arrow about 18 months ago to start supporting that business. The initial approach that we saw was very healthy and very good. One of the things that we wanted to do was actually extend that a little bit further. We looked at some of our mid-market customers and any of our mid-market customers that we didn’t manage with our enterprise team. We started to have Arrow actually manage them from a go-to-market perspective as well. The first idea there was to start to remove friction between the CSP business that was managing the same type of customers that were existing in our mid-market space. That happened probably about 12 months ago. During that period of time, our enterprise team continued to manage enterprise customers and larger MSPs that were above that 2,000 user threshold. If you thought about it and you just drew a line into our business, anyone that was below that 2,000 threshold was probably being managed by Arrow and anyone above was being managed by our enterprise team. Robert Dutt: We look forward to March 1 as that goes live, as that has gone live. What actually changes for a Citrix service provider or MSP partner of yours with this further transition to Arrow? Mark Sweeney: If there were MSP partners that were being managed by named account executives as part of Citrix, those MSP customers are also being moved over to Arrow as of March 1. Now, we’ve already communicated that to them. If not all of the MSPs should have received communication from us and from Arrow on this. I’ve also posted myself on LinkedIn about this. Anyone who was an MSP before, they are now also going to be managed by Arrow. Robert Dutt: Why make the move now? Was this something that partners were asking for? Is it sort of about where you’re at and where you want to take the channel? Mark Sweeney: I like to say, “Why not now?” The reason why I say that is because we saw some very good success with Arrow in our mid-market space and then also in our MSP business. What we also saw was a little bit of friction, as I mentioned earlier, in the smaller CSPs but then also in the mid-market space because we’re selling into the same market. What we wanted to do was we wanted to remove that friction entirely so that all MSPs now could be worked and can be functioning as a single entity that’s being managed by Arrow. What that allows us to do is really begin to focus on our innovation of our technology but then also allow us to give further support to our product development teams or product engineering teams, all of our support teams. I think for us, it wasn’t necessarily that it had to be done on March 1st, but I think it was just more of a natural time for us to do it as it was occurring 12 months after the mid-market space, 18 months after the initial CSP space. That’s why I think now is probably the best time. Robert Dutt: Continue to pull on that thread that you just introduced there. As this transition is complete, in terms of the partner business, where does Citrix stay very hands-on and where does Arrow kind of fully take the wheel? Mark Sweeney: I would say that Arrow is fully taking the wheel on all the business that is mid-market business. Anything where our enterprise account executives aren’t managing the team, they’re going to be there. Any of our service providers, any of our managed service providers, Arrow is taking the full reins too. But we still have a channel team and our channel team is still going to be managed by Kerry Saunders in the US from an enterprise perspective. For the enterprise CSA channel partners out there, they’re still going to be managed. We’re still going to be building this team. We’re still going to be managing that team. I’m working very closely with Kerry and her team. My counterparts on Arrow are actually working very closely with Kerry and her team as well. I’ll also say that I’m fully supporting the Arrow business right now and I have a team that’s supporting the Arrow business as well. We have Citrix representation that is going to be supporting all of our partners across the business. Robert Dutt: Most of our listeners are Canadian MSPs and resellers, folks who’ve been working with you or with Arrow historically. But as this transition happens, what can they expect to feel different in Canada compared to the rest of North America, if anything? Mark Sweeney: This business, what we’re doing is not just happening in North America as well. This is also happening in Europe. I’m based out of London, England, as I’m sure you hear the accent, originally American. I’ve actually spent a couple of years in Canada and in the Mississauga-Etobicoke area when we had our office there. I have had the opportunity to meet a number of your partners and your customers in the region. I don’t think anything is going to change based on geography. Anything that we’re going to see in the US is likely what we’re going to see in Canada. Similar things that we’re going to see in Europe. I would say immediate changes, there really aren’t going to be any. I think a lot of the business that we’ve already worked on with the channel partners in Canada as well as the other regions is going to be an extension. Any of the contracts that you have in place with us, those are being assigned out to the Arrow team. You’re not going to see anything change there. I did have the opportunity to spend a few days with Arrow and their leadership last week in Spain talking about strategies. One thing that it’s not a change, but I would think of it more as an opportunity. There are a lot of technologies that Arrow is exploring outside of Citrix. If I were to give one recommendation to the Canadian team, it is to work with your Arrow counterparts to see what other technologies that they have inside of their portfolio that could potentially play into what you’re doing as an MSP or in the mid-market. Given what they’re doing, there are some areas of synergy in terms of being able to potentially expand the portfolio that some of the managed service providers are actually providing to their customers. Robert Dutt: Along those same lines, what can partners do to make sure this is as smooth a transition as possible for them, to make things as simple as possible? What are you doing to make sure this is as simple a process as possible? This hopefully simplifies things for partners. I don’t think any channel chief ever sets out to make things more complex. Mark Sweeney: Two answers to that. I think the first is what I’m doing. In North America, I’m establishing a team that’s going to be dedicated to supporting the MSP business and our MSP partners, and then also a team that’s going to be supporting our mid-market team too. The reason why I’ve kept them separate is specifically what you just said, to provide this as seamless as possible so that we have subject matter experts on the MSP business and then subject matter experts on the mid-market business. I think that’s probably the first thing. Keep in mind that these are overlays from a Citrix standpoint, so there are going to be direct counterparts for Arrow that will be able to work with your partners in Canada. I think the first thing that I would recommend to any of the MSPs in Canada is to identify who your account executive is going to be from an Arrow standpoint and reach out to that person as quickly as you can. Don’t wait for a renewal to happen. Don’t wait for an expansion need to happen. Really understand what your business looks like today. Understand if you have customers, if you are looking to expand what that looks like, reach out to your account team. In the FAQ that should be shared, you should be able to find it. In North America, there’s a gentleman by the name of John Heller who is available for you to reach. He’s based in the US. Then you’ve also got myself, Mark Sweeney, that you could reach out to if you’re having any challenges identifying who your account executive is. I would say, again, two things just to summarize. I’m building a team to help support. Then from your perspective, just go ahead and reach out to your account executive as quickly as you can. Robert Dutt: Any time a vendor shifts responsibilities like this, I think there’s a natural tendency for partners to worry about support and escalation, those sorts of things, about being a step further away from the vendor in abstraction and potentially worst case scenario becoming that proverbial pop fly that drops harmlessly between two fielders who both presume the other guy’s got the ball. What are you guys doing to make sure that that doesn’t happen? What safeguards are in place? You discussed a little bit having that overlap already, but what else are you doing to make sure partners’ fears around that may be assuaged if they’re out there? Mark Sweeney: Sure. To play on your reference a little bit, because I don’t get to talk about baseball too often and it’s always cricket related, I will say that it’s important for us to call the ball. If I’m in center field and the ball’s coming my way and I’ve got my left fielder over there, I want to make sure I know who has what. I think the first thing we’re doing is creating rules of engagement between our two partners so we understand who’s doing what. From a support perspective, that support is still being handled by Citrix. Anything that’s tier one related or tier two related, you’re still calling or you’re still working into the Citrix support teams. You still have contact information from Citrix support people that you can work with, but from a go-to-market perspective, that’s where you’re going to be working with the Arrow team. I think we’ve drawn very clear lines in terms of who’s doing what. We have our support team that’s being managed, the support still being managed by Citrix. All the go-to-market functions are going to be managed by Arrow. So I think that’s the first thing to keep in mind. The second thing is to think holistically, why are we even doing this? We’re doing this because we want to dedicate more resource to our innovation. We want to dedicate more resource to our supportability of our products. We want to dedicate more of our resource just to the overall adoption and consumption of everything that we’re trying to do from a technology perspective. I understand that and I’ve heard that before and I’ve had conversations with partners and customers on this, but I think when you actually dive into it to say, “Why are we doing it?” I think the answer to that “why” is what should actually make you feel better. The reason why is because we’re trying to invest more in innovation and support engineering and product development and product management. We’re actually seeing quick execution and quick successes from a lot of that as we continue to expand on our technology and our platform and our portfolio. Then again, on the support perspective, we’re still managing that and then the go-to-market functions are going to be managed by Arrow. Robert Dutt: Zooming out a bit from that, how does this Arrow partnership and this new structure fit into the overall picture of where you guys want to take your channel community over the next year or two? Mark Sweeney: I think our channel community is incredibly important to us as a whole. When we look at who our channel partners are, the ones that have been working with us for the past dozen years, they know who we are as an organization. They know what we’ve been doing from a technology perspective. If you look at where we are building our channel program right now, more on Kerry Saunders’ team, a lot of it right now is identifying the partners that are providing value-added services into our product community and into our customer community. I think where I start to think about what’s going to happen in the future is a lot of this is like, what more can we be providing to our customers and how can we do that with our channel? This allows us to help enable our channel even further, start to enable our channel around some of the concepts that we’re thinking specifically around persona-based selling, persona-based consumption. One of the things that we’re working with our consulting teams and our technical teams right now is around the concepts that we really want our customers to think about us as a company that secures the work. The way we do that is by looking at various personas across our customer base. We want our channel partners to really understand that concept and work with customers to identify them as a persona that is focused on the modern worker, somebody who’s using SaaS-based applications on a regular basis, personas that are task-based workers, think about call centers, things like that, knowledge-based workers, maybe somebody that needs more access to more specialized applications. Then you may have power users. I think working with our channel to build that out, build that strategy out so that we could go more wall-to-wall with customers is where I see our business going towards in the next few years. Robert Dutt: Before we wrap up, I’m sure you’ve been talking to a lot of partners about this change as you formulated it and since it was announced and out there, and channel partners are not a notoriously shy bunch in terms of sharing opinions. I’m curious if you had one misconception that you’ve heard from partners or otherwise in the market about this announcement that you’d like to clear up. Mark Sweeney: I haven’t heard a misconception yet. I think that’s a good thing. I did have some conversations with a few of the partners already. For the most part, and I’ll say for the whole part, it’s actually been very positive. I think the piece about removing the friction is one of the critical pieces. I think our channel partners and our managed service providers are very excited about the fact that we’ve removed that friction and we’re allowing that ability to really sell into all of the spaces out there. I’ll double back on one of the points that you raised and it’s that point of what’s going to happen. Is there going to be any miss or any like missing the fly ball? I think that’s not a misconception I’ve heard yet. That’s a misconception I heard last year. That’s probably still out there a little bit. I mean, you’ve asked the question and I think where I want your partners in Canada to think about is we have done this for a specific reason and that specific reason is because we saw significant growth in the relationship in the business over the past 18 months. We saw that also give us the ability to really focus on our innovation and our technology and our support and product management capabilities. The reason why we’re extending it is because we’ve seen success early on and we want to continue that success and we want to build on that momentum. I would say that’s probably, even though I haven’t heard something yet, that would be the reason why I think it could be out there. Robert Dutt: Mark, I appreciate your taking the time. Good luck on this transition and look forward to seeing how the relationship evolves. Mark Sweeney: That’s great. Thanks very much for your time, Robert. Thank you to the folks listening to me in Canada. There you have it, a look at the expanding Citrix-Arrow relationship, courtesy of Citrix’s Mark Sweeney. I’d like to thank Mark for joining us for the show and thank you for listening today. The podcast will be back in your feed tomorrow as we tackle shadow AI from an identity point of view and Thursday as we take a look at the launch of Lexful, an AI-first documentation tool that boasts, if you can believe it, a robotic channel chief. You’ll want to catch both of those, so please subscribe to the show or follow it in your podcast app of choice and if it allows you to do so, please consider leaving a rating or review of the show. Until tomorrow, I’m Robert for ChannelBuzz.ca and I’ll see you in the channel.

Today is Monday, March 2, 2026. Welcome to In Case You Missed It, our weekly five-minute rundown of important channel news stories that might have flown under the radar last week. In this edition: Component shortages start hitting the channel: Rising memory and storage costs are prompting vendors to revisit pricing and deal protections, highlighted by a letter from Cisco to partners and reinforced by warnings from other vendors, distributors, and suppliers as availability tightens across servers, storage, and PCs. Pure Storage rebrands as Everpure: Pure Storage has rebranded to Everpure, signaling a shift toward AI-ready data management and rolling out partner program changes aimed at supporting subscription services and platform-led growth. WatchGuard targets MSPs with enterprise-grade security: WatchGuard says new platform enhancements allow MSPs to deliver enterprise-level security outcomes — including zero trust, MDR, and unified management — without enterprise-level complexity. AWS threat research highlights AI-driven attacks: New findings from Amazon Web Services show attackers using AI-assisted techniques to accelerate exploitation of perimeter devices, including firewalls, underscoring how rapidly the threat landscape is evolving. Read Full Transcript Hello and welcome to In Case You Missed It from ChannelBuzz.ca, your Monday morning recap where we catch you up on some of the channel news and trend headlines you may have missed in the last week. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca. Today is Monday, March 2, 2026. Let’s get your week started right. This week, the IT channel is being forced to confront an uncomfortable reality. Global components shortages and memory price spikes are fundamentally reshaping how hardware deals are negotiated and fulfilled, and vendors are already updating partner policies as they try to cope. At the center of the storm is a note from Cisco Systems to partners, which was obtained by CRN, in which Cisco says it’ll adjust partner contract terms in response to rapidly rising memory costs and supply volatility. The company now reserves the right to cancel compute orders up to 45 days prior to shipment and to adjust pricing between order and shipment date if component costs, tariffs, or other external factors shift dramatically. That’s a significant departure from the traditional price protection norms. And this isn’t isolated. Executives from major distributors told CRN that memory and storage shortages, particularly DRAM and SSDs, are pushing prices up and tightening supplies across servers, storage, and PC portfolios. Memory prices are reported to have doubled year over year in early 2026, and are expected to continue rising, leading many distributors to shorten their own validities and revisit backlog pricing with vendors. Vendors themselves are directly advising partners of pricing shifts too. Lenovo has warned partners that select PC and server products will see price hikes in March unless orders are placed and shipped promptly, reflecting those costs. And hardware availability is also tightening in real terms. For example, Western Digital says its entire 2026 hard drive production capacity is already spoken for, with most allocations locked up in long-term agreements with hyperscale cloud and AI customers, a trend that could push prices higher and leave less inventory for channel projects. As memory, storage, and other components become harder to source and pricier to procure, partners may face shortened quote windows, less pricing certainty, and project timing risk, compelling MSPs and VARs to rethink their own quoting strategies, accelerate their sales cycles, and build supply chain agility into their roadmaps. Good luck out there. Also worth noting, Everpure, the company formerly known as Pure Storage, has completed a major strategic evolution, rebranding itself to signal a transition from traditional storage vendor to a broader AI-ready data management platform and announcing changes that partners should really pay attention to. The name change, which takes effect on the New York Stock Exchange March 5, reflects the company’s push into enterprise data orchestration and intelligence beyond simply shipping storage hardware and arrays. Central to this transformation is Everpure’s planned acquisition of data intelligence firm 1touch, a move designed to bring automated data discovery, classification, and semantic enrichment capabilities into its portfolio. This expands the enterprise data cloud vision, equipping enterprises to make data inherently AI-ready and more valuable across hybrid environments. Alongside that rebrand, Everpure has updated its partner engagement model with a new tiering structure that gives MSPs, resellers, and distributors clearer pathways to profitability and growth, reflecting the broader mission of the company going forward. Recent results show that the demand for data management and subscription services are driving double-digit growth, the company says, underscoring why partners should lean into Everpure’s evolving platform play. For channel pros, the message is that Everpure sees partners as critical to selling data-centric solutions in the AI era and is aligning its incentives and program structure accordingly. Up next, WatchGuard is positioning its latest platform updates as a way for MSPs to deliver what it calls enterprise-grade security to small and mid-sized customers, without the complexity typically associated with large enterprise tools. The company says the enhancements are focused on unifying endpoint, network, identity, and MDR capabilities into a single manageable platform designed for service providers. Key to the message is simplification. WatchGuard is emphasizing centralized management, automated threat response, and bundled security services that allow MSPs to deploy advanced protection like zero-trust network access, AI-driven threat detection, and 24/7 monitoring at scale and under predictable pricing models. For MSPs, the pitch is that this closes a long-standing gap, giving smaller customers access to security capabilities that more rival enterprise deployments, while still fitting MSP operational and margin requirements. WatchGuard argues that as threats become more sophisticated, the ability to offer enterprise-grade outcomes without enterprise-grade overhead is becoming a baseline expectation rather than a premium add-on. And speaking of more sophisticated threats to bring this week’s roundup home, new threat research from Amazon Web Services adding to the evidence that AI is actively changing how attacks are carried out, not just how they’re defended against. AWS researchers report seeing threat actors use AI-assisted techniques to more quickly identify and exploit vulnerabilities in perimeter devices, including Fortinet FortiGate firewalls, reducing the time between disclosure and real-world exploitation. The finding reinforces a growing concern for solution providers. Attackers are using AI to scale reconnaissance, speed up exploit development, and adapt attacks faster than traditional defenses expect. For MSPs and VARs, the implication is clear. Staying ahead now requires faster patching cycles, continuous monitoring, and security platforms that assume AI-accelerated threats are the norm and not an edge case. Those are some of the things we were paying attention to last week. This week on the podcast, expect to hear how Citrix is thinking of partners as it hands off more of its channel management to Arrow Electronics, a look at the role of identity in taming shadow AI, and how startup Lexful is aiming to redefine how MSPs think about documentation. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca. Have a great week!

Mike DePalma, vice president of business development for cybersecurity at OpenText AI has quickly moved from an abstract talking point to a real strategic priority for managed service providers. But while enthusiasm is high, readiness — and results — are far more uneven. In this episode, I'm joined by Mike DePalma, vice president of business development for cybersecurity at OpenText, for a candid conversation about how MSPs are actually navigating the AI transition. We dig into why many partners are excited about AI, yet still unprepared to deliver it in a scalable, customer-facing way, and why that's starting to change. As MSPs gain a clearer understanding of where AI can be profitable, pricing models are evolving, and old assumptions about margins and service delivery are being challenged. Mike explains why the channel has made faster progress using AI internally than deploying it for customers, and how concepts like AI-as-a-Service are pushing providers to focus less on tools and more on business outcomes. We also talk about the return of consulting and custom project work, and why quarterly business reviews are becoming a key lever for expanding the scope of AI services. The conversation goes beyond technology to look at ecosystem dynamics: why partners want openness more than consolidation, what MSPs are asking vendors for right now, and how shifting feedback has forced OpenText to slow down changes to its partner program. Finally, Mike shares his view on what the AI opportunity will look like a year from now—and why deeper engagement with MSP communities may be more important than ever during this transition. If you're trying to separate real AI opportunity from hype, this is a grounded, practical discussion you won't want to miss.

Peter DiMarco, general manager of D&H Canada Things change fast in the IT channel, but for D&H Canada, the tagline continues to be BFG or built for growth. But what does that growth look like in 2026, and where is it coming from? In this edition of the podcast, we talk to Peter DiMarco, who has been leading D&H Canada for about a year, about how the company is supporting partners, investing in growth, and navigating the changing landscape. From the rise of AI and other emerging technologies to the unique challenges of running a Canadian operation with a U.S.-based parent, Peter shares insights on where partners can focus their efforts, what initiatives D&H is prioritizing, and what to expect from the distributor in 2026. This episode offers practical takeaways for anyone looking to stay ahead in the channel. We discuss:  how D&H Canada is helping partners navigate growth opportunities in the current market; the impact of operating a Canadian distributor with a U.S.-based parent in today's geopolitical and economic environment; how partners can leverage AI and other emerging technologies to drive business forward; key areas where D&H Canada is investing to support partner success; practical advice for resellers and MSPs planning for 2026; and what partners can expect from D&H Canada in terms of programs, support, and new opportunities. All that and more in this edition of the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast.

Today is Monday, February 23, 2026. Welcome to In Case You Missed It, our weekly five-minute rundown of important channel news stories that might have flown under the radar last week. In this edition: Microsoft AI Cloud Partner benefits expanded: Microsoft has updated its AI Cloud Partner Program with new Copilot-related benefits, enhanced security and Azure credits, and additional go-to-market resources to help partners accelerate AI-enabled solutions. Palo Alto Networks NextWave Program: Palo Alto Networks has revamped its NextWave Partner Program to reward platform-based security delivery, emphasize recurring revenue, and recognize partners with specialized AI and cloud security expertise. monday.com Partner Program update: monday.com has introduced structured reseller and distributor tracks, an AI-powered Go-To-Partners marketplace, and a new AI Genius tier to support partners selling and implementing AI-enabled workflow solutions. Rocket Software IT leader survey: A new Rocket Software study shows 69% of IT leaders cite data security as their top concern and highlights the opportunity for partners to help customers modernize hybrid environments for AI readiness.

Chandreshkar LSP, managing director of Zoho Canada Zoho Canada's efforts to offer a comprehensive suite of online applications it calls a “business operating system” got a boost with the recent launch of new Payroll and Point of Sales modules designed for all of Canada's regions and regulations. In this edition of the podcast, we're joined by Chandrasekhar LSP, managing director for Zoho Canada, to discuss the company's new offerings and how Zoho views local investments as a global company. We also chat about the growth of the company's Canadian organization and the role of its in-country data centre.  But it could be the launch of a mobile-first package for solopreneurs that's the surprise star of this group of releases for both the web-based business app vendor and its partners. LSP explains the partner opportunity around Zoho Solo.

Stan de Boisset, senior vice president of global channels at Proofpoint Proofpoint is launching a major update to its global channel strategy with the debut of the Proofpoint Partner Network, a new partner program designed to improve partner profitability, predictability, and long-term growth. Replacing the Element program, the new framework introduces a three-tier structure — Select, Elite, and Elite+ — along with stronger incentives, clearer deal and renewal protections, expanded marketplace routes to market, and a greater emphasis on services and data security. In this episode, Stan de Boisset, senior vice president of global channels at Proofpoint, joins us to break down what's changing, why Proofpoint made these updates now, and what partners need to know as the program goes live. We discuss how the company is thinking about partner trust, lifecycle economics, and the role of services in building durable, scalable partner businesses.

Today is Monday, February 16, 2026. Welcome to In Case You Missed It, our weekly five-minute rundown of important channel news stories that might have flown under the radar last week. In this edition: Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins says we're in the early stage of a multi-year, multi-billion dollar campus refresh opportunity as customers look to redesign their networks for growing AI tasks. Palo Alto Networks completes its deal to purchase CyberArk for $25 billion, adding crucial identity management capabilities to its security stack. Global sovereign cloud technology spend will jump by more than 30% this year according to Gartner as geopolitical tensions stoke a desire for companies and regulators to insist that data stays close to home. Emerging networking service vendor Meter introduces former Meraki channel leader Pete Atkins as its global partner leader.

Andy Marsee, general manager for the Intel Partner Alliance Late last year, Intel announced the latest revisions to its Intel Partner Alliance program, reducing the number of partner tiers and roles and aiming to make things a bit more simple. In this edition of the podcast, we're joined by Andy Marsee, general manager for the Intel Partner Alliance, to talk about what's going on in the chipmaker's partner programs.  We discuss: the background of the unified Intel Partner Alliance program and the feedback the company has received from partners over recent years; the main goals of revamping the Partner Alliance; simplifying the number of partner tiers and roles in the program and designing the transition; the expanded role of distribution in the new partner program; maximizing partner profitability under the new program; how Intel has updated its Partner Showcase so more partners can run storefronts; how the company is looking to improve the number of leads it delivers to partners; changes to MDF in ease of use and both benefits and requirements; new types of partners Intel is working with; a shift to outcomes-based messaging and marketing at Intel; the role of software development across the Intel channel community; and where Marsee sees the next steps for Intel Partner Alliance. All that and more in this edition of the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast.

Bob Bonneau, country manager for ESET Canada ESET Canada recently celebrated a decade since the company formally opened up shop in this country, ten years that have been filled with growth in the channel and evolution in both the cybersecurity threatscape and how businesses defend themselves. Bob Bonneau, country manager for ESET Canada, joins us on this edition of the podcast to take a look back at the company's run in this country and where he sees things heading. We discuss: the theme of the first decade in Canada for ESET; the evolution of the Canadian cybersecurity landscape over the last ten years; the big milestones of ESET's first decade in Canada; how the organizational structure in Canada has changed over the years; how ESET addresses both the under-representation of women in technology and the skills gap in cybersecurity; ESET's partnership with the Calgary Flames and its role in the company's growth in the west; the rise of managed service providers in the ESET channel; being a Europe-based company and operating in North America;  whether Canadian businesses are in better shape or worse when it comes to cybersecurity a decade later; and what the channel can expect from ESET over the near future All that and more in this edition of the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast.

Asma Aziz, country manager for Intel Canada Everybody's talking about AI, but is anyone doing it? How about doing it well? Those are among the questions that Intel of  Canada set out toanswer with a recent survey of business leaders in Canada and througout the region. And while it's not the best possible results, the good news is there's a lot of interest, and the building blocks are there for Canada to be successful in the next big thing. In this edition of the podcast, we're joined by Asma Aziz, country manager for Intel Canada, to discuss the findings of the study and of course, the opportunity for Canadian solution providers. We discuss: how ready Canadian organizations are for AI; how Canada is leading in AI without talking too much about it; how business leaders are prioritizing and maximizing their AI approaches; why Intel sees an opportunity to turn “opportunity into scaled outcomes;” the biggest challenges and the biggest opportunities for solution providers to help solve them; the resources Intel is providing solution providers to sharpen their value creation around AI; why “the margin is in making AI both trustworthy and practical;” key steps for Canada to make right now to make the most of the AI opportunity; and AI and Canadian SMBs. All this and much more in this edition of the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast.    

Edgar Zacharjev, general manager of RMM for Kaseya On many levels, AI is a natural evolution for managed service providers, who have long been focused on automating as much as possible en route to scale and profitability. But the artificial intelligence era also presents new challenges to MSPs, and is generally changing the nature of the market in which MSPs compete. What should MSPs be looking for, and how should they be preparing for an uncertain future state today? In this edition of the podcast, we talk to Edgar Zacharjev, general manager of RMM for Kaseya, to discuss how he sees aritifical intelligence playing out in the managed services space. We discuss: the future of AI in managed services; the most immediate benefits of moving towards AI for MSPs; the challenges MSP face around issues like data privacy and compliance; how AI is going to redefine the competitive landscape for MSPs; and practical steps MSPs can take to be start building AI into their technology and operations today. All this and much more in this edition of the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast.    

The new threat group appears to be offering as-a-service attacks on companies from Latin American and Asia, but often those hosted on North American infrastructure. What can MSPs learn from this kind of attack? [...]

In this edition of the podcast, ESET's Michal Jankech discusses the opportunity for MSPs around MDR, sales models for the technology, and what makes for a good MDR partner.

SaaS and cloud-based apps are key to businesses of any size, and the proliferation of apps outside of the data centre presents unique challenges to MSPs managing their clients' infrastructures. In this edition of the podcast, we take a look at the threatscape for SaaS apps, as defined by SaaS Alerts' annual SASI Report.

In this edition of the podcast, we look at the continued rise of ransomware, the mainstreaming of managed security services, and how MSSPs can stand out as we're joined by Datto's Austin O'Saben.

Geoff Thompson joined Barracuda as vice president of the company's managed services strategy and development in 2024, and is setting the course for the security vendor in the rapidly growing field of managed security services.

To take a look back at some of the biggest security trends that shaped 2024, and a preview of what to expect the rest of this year, we're joined on the podcast by Santiago Pontiroli, lead security researcher with Acronis' Threat Research Unit (TRU) on this edition of the podcast.

Steve Brining of Acronis joins us on the podcast to discuss the finding of its semi-annual study of the attacks that MSPs are facing off against in the battle to protect themsleves and their customers.

ESET's Tony Anscombe joins us on the podcast to discuss the role of VPNs in your clients' remote access and cybersecurity approaches, including what solution providers need to know about different classes of virtual private networks, and how to find new VPN opportunities.

In this edition of the podcast, Acronis' Stephen Nichols explains the trends driving change in the cyber insurance industry and what today's MSPs should do to ensure they and their customers are protected at a reasonable price.

In this special bonus episode of the podcast from Ingram Micro Canada, Lenovo Canada's Bill Tirpkos interviews Ingram's Ayon Khan and Roger Silvestre about the relationship between the vendor and the distributor, and how Ingram adds value to Lenovo's data centre lineup.

Acronis' Stephen Nichols explains the role of cybersecurity frameworks in designing, planning, selling and executing managed security services in this edition of the podcast.

ESET's Tony Anscombe discusses backup strategy in a managed services context in this episode of the podcast. Find out why this funadmental of managed service is still so critical and how to make sure your customers are protected and able to get back up and running after an incident.

Avaya Canada had a big year in 2023 and is gearing up for 2024. David Robertson, managing director and president of sales for Avaya Canada, joins us on this edition of the podcast to discuss how the Canadian organization fits into the company's overall view, innovation and investment in Canada and where Avaya's Canadian partners…

Ingram Micro's former and new country chief executives for Canada join us on the podcast to discuss Bill Brandel's seven years leading the distributor, and Tyler Coughlan's goals and priorities as he moves into the role.

Ransomware had a banner year, AI became the going concern, and patches still aren't being applied. Find out more about the cyber security scene in 2023 and 2024 in this edition of the podcast.

ESET Canada's Cam Leetham and D&H Canada's Michelle Biase join us on the podcast to discuss the companies' new partnership and how they're working to help smaller resellers build up their security business.

ESET global security evangelist Tony Anscombe joins us on the podcast to discuss the company's research into cybercrime trends for the first half of 2023.

Ingram Micro Canada's Bill Brandel and Lori Scarlett discuss being recognized as a Great Place to Work, forging an identity as a Canadian subsidiary of a multinational, and transforming the distributor in this edition of the podcast.

ESET's Tony Anscombe joins us on this edition of the podcast to discuss the company's new Threat Intelligence Services and how partners can use them to expand their security practices and improve their customers' security stances.

Avaya Canada channel leader Ian Purdell-Lewis joins us on the podcast to discuss the company's hybrid mantra, what it means for partners, and what parts of their CC/UC environments customers are choosing to keep on-prem.

Intel Canada channel chief Phil Vokins joins us on the podcast to talk about what's new in Intel's workstation Xeon processors and partner opportunity in the workstation space.

Epson's Kaila Murphy explains the decision to reduce the number of printers in its WorkForce lineup and what it means for partners in this edition of the podcast.

Cisco Canada's Erin Smirle returns to the podcast to share her thoughts on the momentum of managed services in the channel and how Cisco supports partners in furthering their own managed services journeys.

Intel Canada's Kareem Sherif walks us through what's new in the latest generation of Xeon processors on this edition of the podcast.

AWS global channel chief Ruba Borno chats women-in-tech events, why channel partners can grow by embracing DEI, and much more in this edition of the podcast.

Cisco's Alex Pujols joins us on the podcast to discuss the Partner Innovation Challenge, how he sees partners adding value, and how Cisco is supporting those efforts.

ESET Canada's country manager discusses the company's performance in 2022 and what solution providers can expect in 2023 in this edition of the podcast.

N-able EVP Frank Colletti discusses the headwinds and tailwinds shaping the managed services market in 2022 and into 2023 on this edition of the podcast.

Cisco Canada channel chief Zack Dickson on the return of Partner Summit last year, building solutions around sustainability, and why partners need to embrace their differentiation on this edition of the podcast.

Barracuda MSP's director of product management discusses the security journey for managed service providers in 2022 and previews what's to come this year in this edition of the podcast.

Find out why Cisco is so bullish on managed services and what it's doing to maximize the opportunity for partners in this edition of the podcast.

ESET's Tony Anscombe outlines what all goes into a cyber resilience plan and how solution providers can build them for customers in this edition of the podcast.

Find out all about the channel opportunity around Microsoft Teams Rooms in this video and podcast from Ingram Micro Canada and Microsoft.

Ingram Micro Canada country chief executive Bill Brandel reviews the year that was 2022 and gives his thoughts on what's to come for the channel in 2023 in this edition of the podcast.

Avaya Canada's Allan Mendelsohn joins us on the podcast to discuss the CRTC's new guidance for optimizing 9-1-1 calls in multi-line environments and what solution providers need to know about them.

ESET's Tony Anscombe tells solution providers why they may need cyber insurance, what to tell their customers about the topic, and how to wrap services around insurance in this edition of the podcast.