Podcast appearances and mentions of Doug Green

HP Builds AI-Powered Collaboration Ecosystem for the Hybrid Workplace, Podcast “AI is changing collaboration by helping IT teams see, manage, and improve the entire workplace experience.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Brian Phillips, Director of Product Marketing at HP Inc., about HP's InfoComm 2026 announcements and the company's expanding vision for AI-powered enterprise collaboration. The conversation focuses on how HP is bringing together meeting room technology, personal productivity tools, AI-enabled management, and workplace analytics into a more unified collaboration ecosystem. At the center of that strategy is the HP Workforce Experience Platform, or WXP, which is designed to give IT teams a broader view across devices, rooms, applications, and user experiences. Phillips discusses how WXP, together with Poly Lens and new AI-powered capabilities such as Room Visualizer AI, helps organizations move beyond basic device management. Instead of simply monitoring endpoints, IT teams can gain more actionable insight into how rooms are configured, how devices are performing, and how collaboration spaces can be improved. The podcast also covers HP Poly Studio Room Compute, VideoOS 5.1, and Poly DirectorAI, technologies designed to make hybrid meetings more engaging and equitable. These tools help meeting participants be seen and heard more clearly, whether they are in the room, working from home, or joining from another location. Beyond the meeting room, HP is also expanding its personal workspace portfolio with products such as the Poly Focus 6 Series Bluetooth headsets and the HP Collaboration Keyboard. Phillips explains how these devices fit into the larger HP collaboration strategy by supporting productivity wherever employees work. For MSPs, channel partners, and enterprise IT leaders, the message is clear: workplace collaboration is moving toward integrated ecosystems, AI-powered insights, and better experiences for both users and IT teams.  

NCTC and ACA Connects on The Independent Show, AI, Mobility and the Future of Independent Providers, Podcast As The Independent Show approaches, NCTC and ACA Connects say broadband, cable and communications providers are facing a fast-changing market where agility, collaboration and confidence matter more than ever. “The conversations never end. You just have to be agile.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Grant Spellmeyer, President and CEO of ACA Connects, and Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC, about The Independent Show and the evolving landscape for independent broadband, cable and communications providers. The discussion looks at the issues now shaping the independent provider community, including AI, mobility, network evolution, bundling, policy, competition and changing customer expectations. Borrelli notes that independent providers continue to have an important advantage: they know their communities. Their local presence, customer relationships and ability to respond quickly remain powerful differentiators. At the same time, those providers are operating in a more competitive environment, with fixed wireless, satellite, larger providers and new service models entering markets that were once less contested. Spellmeyer discusses the policy work ACA Connects is doing in Washington, including advocacy on behalf of smaller and independent operators as federal and regulatory decisions continue to affect broadband investment, competition and deployment. Borrelli also explains how NCTC helps members access the content, technology, solutions and shared expertise they need to compete more effectively. The conversation highlights the importance of collaboration across the independent provider ecosystem, especially as members consider new opportunities in mobility, AI-enabled services and bundled offerings. The Independent Show will bring these conversations together in one place, giving providers an opportunity to compare notes, learn from peers, meet technology and content partners, and return home with practical ideas for growth. For independent providers, the message is clear: the market is changing quickly, but they do not have to navigate that change alone. With the right partnerships, tools and strategy, local providers can continue to compete, serve their communities and build for the future.

“The intelligent worker is the person who can balance knowledge with the use of AI tools,” says Iain Sinnott of the Cloud Communications Alliance. In this Technology Reseller News podcast for TR Publications and the Cloud Communications Alliance, Doug Green speaks with Iain Sinnott, European Development Chief of the CCA, about AI, human capability, dyslexia, governance and the changing nature of work. The conversation begins with Sinnott's blue glasses, which he says became a useful icebreaker during COVID-era video meetings. But the discussion quickly turns to something deeper: how AI can help people with dyslexia and other challenges bring more of their talent into the workplace. Sinnott explains that dyslexia has shaped how he works, learns and sells. While reading and writing have often been difficult, his oral memory and problem-solving skills have been strengths. AI tools, he says, are now helping reduce the impact of some of those weaknesses. “I think in 41 years of business, I am now more efficient and less challenged than I've ever been,” says Sinnott. But Sinnott also warns that AI must remain a tool guided by human responsibility. He says users must challenge AI, verify its work and avoid becoming overly dependent on it. “We are responsible for making sure that this remains a positive tool, not a negative tool,” says Sinnott. The podcast also explores AI governance, data sovereignty and security, especially in the European market. Sinnott says organizations need guardrails that protect data and manage risk, while still allowing employees the freedom to experiment, explore and improve workflows. That balance, Sinnott argues, may lead to the rise of the “intelligent worker”: someone who can find information, challenge it, apply it and combine human judgment with AI-enabled tools. The conversation also addresses the risk that companies may use AI only as a cost-cutting tool. Sinnott cautions that replacing junior roles too quickly could damage the long-term development of future senior talent. “The human brain isn't replaceable,” says Sinnott. “But some of the tasks we ask it to do are.” Sinnott also discusses the work of the Cloud Communications Alliance in Europe, where sovereignty, communications policy, national security and critical infrastructure have become increasingly important issues. He says the CCA has a role to play in convening conversations and helping members develop thoughtful strategies that embrace innovation while protecting essential communications systems. Learn more about the Cloud Communications Alliance at www.cloudcommunications.com.  

TERRA Members Now Part of ITAD Association, Podcast, “For our membership that we have really been blessed with over the last seven years since we started this endeavor, we found them a good home,” Napoli said TERRA founder Stephen Napoli says the move gives members “a good home” while bringing two important communities together in the electronics reuse, recycling and ITAD ecosystem. In a special ASCDI podcast, Doug Green spoke with Stephen Napoli, president and founder of TERRA, about a milestone moment for the ITAD community: TERRA's members are now becoming part of ASCDI — The ITAD Association. The move brings approximately 80 TERRA companies into ASCDI, joining two communities that have long worked in the same orbit: ITAD, electronics reuse, e-scrap, certified recycling and the circular economy. Napoli said TERRA will cease operations, but its members will move into ASCDI with continuity, visibility and a larger industry platform. “For our membership that we have really been blessed with over the last seven years since we started this endeavor, we found them a good home,” Napoli said. Napoli founded TERRA to give certified electronics recycling and ITAD companies a stronger voice. The organization helped promote the value of certification, especially around standards such as R2 and e-Stewards, and worked to help customers understand why responsible reuse and recycling matter. As Napoli explained, certified ITAD and recycling companies do more than process used equipment. They protect data, support reuse, keep electronics out of landfills, advance the circular economy and help make sure equipment is handled in ways that protect both people and the environment. Asked why ASCDI — The ITAD Association was the right next home for TERRA members, Napoli pointed to ASCDI's long-standing reputation, advocacy and history in the technology reuse market. “They've been in this space for a long time and they have a very good reputation,” Napoli said. “They do a very good job of advocating for people that are in this space, which is what we've been doing. So it really was a natural fit.” Napoli described the transition as bittersweet. TERRA began as an idea seven years ago and grew into a community of certified and allied companies across the electronics recycling and ITAD landscape. Now, he said, that work can continue through a larger association. “I'm forever grateful,” Napoli said. “And really happy that it's just not coming to an end, that I'm able to pass it along to the benefit of them and to another organization in the space to make this industry stronger.” The conversation also reflected the personal side of the ITAD community. Napoli said that while companies in the space may compete, there is also a family quality to the industry, with many people sharing a common commitment to reuse, responsible recycling and doing the right thing with technology at the end of its first life. “I found a gem,” Napoli said, reflecting on his entry into the industry. “It has been the joy of my career to be part of it.” Visit ASCDI — The ITAD Association to learn more.

SmarTrak.ai Turns Cisco Data Into Partner Growth, Podcast Cisco 360, AI, refresh cycles, and multivendor migration are creating new openings — and SmarTrak.ai says partners have a timely opportunity to grow more strategically. “We help them manage their practice, grow their practice, and increase their profitability around it,” says Ted Lee of SmarTrak.ai. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, recorded following Cisco Live, Doug Green speaks with Ted Lee of SmarTrak.ai about the company's expanding role in helping Cisco partners turn Cisco data into actionable business intelligence. Lee describes SmarTrak.ai as a platform built to help Cisco partners manage their Cisco practice by ingesting data from Cisco APIs and other sources. The goal, he says, is to give partners better visibility into customer environments, including hardware assets, software, services, service contracts, subscriptions and enterprise agreements. For end customers, SmarTrak.ai provides visibility into Cisco infrastructure and spending, helping organizations optimize their environments while giving partners a more strategic way to support long-term customer retention. The discussion focuses heavily on Cisco 360, one of the major themes at Cisco Live. Lee says SmarTrak.ai announced a Cisco 360 module designed to help partners understand how they can perform under the program, identify opportunities to improve their scores, and increase profitability with Cisco. “We announced at Cisco Live that we had a 360 module that we are releasing that gives predictability into how they can perform, how to optimize it,” Lee says. “Since we have their entire estate with every one of their customers globally, we can then give them opportunities with which they can raise their scores in order to increase their profitability with Cisco.” Lee also points to a larger market moment for Cisco partners. With major refresh cycles, end-of-life events, new AI-enabled products and changing customer infrastructure requirements, partners have an opportunity to move from reactive selling to more strategic planning. SmarTrak.ai is also putting that intelligence directly into the hands of sales teams. The company announced a mobile application designed for sellers and solutions engineers who are meeting customers in the field, giving them access to forward-looking intelligence around sustainability swaps, end-of-life replacements, AI replacement SKUs and other Cisco-driven opportunities. “Sales reps are not sitting at their desks,” Lee says. “These partners are out with their customers, and we are putting this wealth of intelligence in the hands of their sales reps and their solutions engineers.” The podcast also covers SmarTrak.ai's multivendor migration capabilities. Lee notes that customer environments are rarely Cisco-only. Partners often encounter Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Aruba, Ruckus, HPE and other installed platforms. SmarTrak.ai's migration platform allows partners to ingest those install bases and build forward-looking roadmaps for when it may make sense to replace other platforms with modern Cisco solutions. Lee says the platform can help customers budget, help partners quote more effectively, and help move opportunities toward higher-level Cisco buying programs such as enterprise agreements. The conversation also touches on audit readiness. Lee says SmarTrak.ai has helped partners pass CX Expert and advanced audits by providing the visibility and health scoring needed to support certifications, partner status, rebates and incentives. “We are a full Cisco practice engine to help them take advantage of the wealth of data and opportunity in front of them and turn it into revenue and profitability with the end customers,” Lee says. AI is also part of the SmarTrak.ai story. Lee says the company was founded in early 2023, as large language models were becoming more widely accessible, and recognized an opportunity to use AI against Cisco's large data universe. SmarTrak.ai is SOC 2 Type II and is pursuing ISO 27001 certification, Lee says, emphasizing that the company is “security first” while using AI to help partners analyze data faster and identify new sales opportunities. Lee describes the result as “agentic lifecycle intelligence,” enabling partners to generate forward-looking Cisco practice plans, budgets, replacement strategies, enterprise agreement eligibility, and takeover opportunities across large customer bases. “One of our customers has nearly 10,000 Cisco customers,” Lee says. “They can view any customer in the world with a few clicks of their mouse, and they can create a five-year forward-looking internal or external Cisco practice plan.” The podcast offers a look at how SmarTrak.ai is positioning itself as a Cisco partner growth platform: helping partners make Cisco data more usable, make customer conversations more strategic, prepare for Cisco 360, manage refresh cycles, and turn infrastructure intelligence into recurring revenue opportunities. Learn more at smartrak.ai.

Steve Brock, Senior Vice President of Sales at Airsys Cooling Technologies, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, about a growing infrastructure challenge that is often overlooked: cooling. As AI workloads, 5G deployments, and increasingly dense telecom equipment drive power consumption higher, Brock explained why efficient thermal management is becoming as important as the computing infrastructure itself. Airsys has specialized in mission-critical cooling for more than 30 years, serving telecom operators, modular data centers, and edge infrastructure around the world. Brock noted that the industry has moved beyond simply installing air conditioners in telecom shelters. Today’s operators are demanding intelligent systems that combine variable-speed technology, economizers, advanced controls, and predictive maintenance to reduce energy consumption while maintaining reliability. “Remove the thought process from 10 or 15 years ago that cooling was an afterthought,” Brock said. “Let’s spend time on the most efficient solutions.” The discussion explored how AI and next-generation wireless networks are changing infrastructure requirements. As 5G evolves and AI workloads move closer to the edge, telecom shelters and remote network sites are becoming significantly more power-dense. That creates new cooling challenges in locations where maintenance is difficult and uptime is essential. Brock explained that operators are increasingly looking for longer-lasting equipment, better energy efficiency, and systems capable of identifying maintenance needs before failures occur. Brock also described Airsys’ continued investment in manufacturing and customer support, including its new 300,000-square-foot production facility in Woodruff, South Carolina, where products are designed, manufactured, and customized for customer requirements. Combined with global manufacturing operations, parts availability, and hands-on training programs for contractors and channel partners, Airsys is focused on supporting mission-critical environments where reliability is paramount. Learn more about Airsys: https://airsysnorthamerica.com/

“The regulatory environment is actually forcing everybody to take some action,” says Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. In this Technology Reseller News podcast for the Cloud Communications Alliance, Doug Green speaks with Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, about a new reseller opportunity around YouMail Protective Services. Quilici says YouMail's mission is to protect phone numbers. While YouMail is widely known for its consumer app that blocks robocalls, scam texts, spam calls and unwanted voicemail, the company is now bringing that intelligence to telecom providers, enterprises and resellers. YouMail Protective Services uses data from consumer reports, app activity and the National Spam Reporting Center to help carriers and enterprises see what is happening with phone numbers from the outside. Quilici says this gives providers a broader view than traditional honeypot-based monitoring. “Bad guys will target real consumer mobile phones,” says Quilici. “They'll never show up anywhere else.” The podcast outlines four core services: Score, a phone number reputation service; Watch, which monitors carrier networks from the outside; an enterprise version of Watch for call centers and business numbers; and Quash, which helps disrupt bad actors impersonating brands. For resellers, Quilici says the opportunity is to add YouMail Protective Services to existing carrier offerings, including phone numbers, SIP trunking, compliance tools and robocall mitigation services. The services can be white labeled and integrated through an API into existing dashboards. “This is a natural extension of more monitoring, more compliance,” says Quilici. Implementation can be simple. Quilici says Watch can begin with something as basic as an SPC code, allowing YouMail to provide feedback on calls associated with that carrier identity. More advanced integrations can include phone number lists, CDRs and API connections. Quilici says demand is being driven by regulation, compliance exposure and the growing need for carriers to demonstrate that they are taking robocall mitigation seriously. “You can't just point and say it's somebody else's problem,” says Quilici. For resellers and MSPs, YouMail Protective Services offers a new way to help carriers and enterprises protect phone numbers, improve compliance and identify bad behavior earlier. Learn more or request a demo at youmailps.com.

“If you don't give feedback, you're not helping them improve,” says Julie Thiel of TTS Company. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Julie Thiel of TTS Company in the latest installment of an ongoing series on leadership, hiring and better management practices. This episode focuses on one of the most common leadership challenges: the feedback conversations managers often delay. Thiel says many managers avoid these conversations because they hope the issue will resolve itself, they do not want to create awkwardness, or they simply do not know how to begin. But waiting has a cost. Small performance issues can become repeated habits, and repeated habits can become larger organizational problems. Thiel says managers may also become increasingly frustrated, while employees are left unclear about what needs to change. “One small action becomes ten small actions, which becomes a big problem,” says Thiel. Thiel recommends a practical rule of thumb: if something happens once, give the employee some room. If it happens twice, there may be a knowledge or skill gap. By the third time, the manager needs to address it. The conversation also offers a simple preparation framework for managers before giving feedback: What specifically needs to improve? Why does it matter? What support can I provide? What does success look like? Thiel says feedback should not be viewed as criticism. Done well, it is a way to help the employee succeed, strengthen trust and build a better team. “It really does build trust because people know where they stand,” says Thiel. The podcast also discusses how managers can protect the relationship while giving feedback. Thiel encourages leaders to stick with observable facts, assume positive intent, listen as much as they talk, and ask questions such as, “What am I missing?” TTS Company helps growing companies get HR and people issues off the plate of CEOs and founders, while also supporting larger HR teams with projects and added capacity. Thiel also previews The Vault, a leadership development community designed to provide practical, ongoing support for technology leaders. Learn more at thettscompany.com  

Spirent: 6G Is Coming Sooner Than Expected, Podcast, Pre-commercial 6G trials could begin in 2028, with commercial deployments arriving as early as 2029 “Six G leaders are now going to be judged on how resilient the network is, how adaptive, how quickly it can recover from an issue,” says Stephen Douglas of Spirent, a Keysight company. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Douglas about the accelerating 6G timeline and why service providers may need to begin planning for 6G business models sooner than many expected. For years, 2030 was widely viewed as the point when the industry would begin looking seriously at 6G. Douglas says that assumption is changing. Pre-commercial 6G demonstration systems are now being discussed for 2028, with the first commercial 6G equipment and operator deployments potentially emerging in the mid-to-late 2029 timeframe.   The shift is being driven by rapid movement in standards, including 3GPP work on 6G radio, core network architecture, security, APIs, application enablement, management, orchestration and AI-based operational support. Douglas says this creates a compressed window for operators, vendors and ecosystem partners to test, validate and prepare for a new network generation that may arrive sooner than expected. The podcast also looks at how 6G may differ from previous mobile generations. Rather than treating AI as an add-on, Douglas describes 6G as an AI-native network architecture, where AI is built into operations, orchestration, security, APIs and even the radio layer itself. “What you're seeing is a big shift, and AI is at the heart of that,” Douglas says. “That big shift is moving from an AI-assisted network to an AI-native network.” That could allow networks to predict congestion, reconfigure network slices, detect threats, expose capabilities to third parties in real time and support new AI-driven services at the edge. A major theme of the discussion is monetization. The 5G era delivered important technology advances, but many operators struggled to translate those advances into new revenue. Douglas argues that 6G gives service providers an opportunity to avoid repeating that pattern by developing new services, ecosystems and pricing models during the deployment phase, rather than waiting until after the network is built. The conversation highlights several emerging 6G opportunity areas, including AI and communication, integrated sensing and communication, ubiquitous connectivity, immersive communication, massive communication and hyper-reliable low-latency communications. Douglas points in particular to integrated sensing, where the network could support services that use radio infrastructure to understand objects, environments and movement while also carrying traditional communications traffic. Douglas also discusses the growing role of edge AI. As more AI inference moves from centralized data centers toward edge locations, devices and regional infrastructure, operators may have an opportunity to participate more directly in the AI economy. Instead of acting only as transport providers for AI traffic, service providers could support sovereign AI, low-latency inference, industrial computer vision and other AI-as-a-service models. The key message for operators is that they do not need to wait for 6G to begin preparing. Douglas says 5G Advanced can serve as a bridge, allowing operators to test business models around sensing, edge compute, AI services and network-based awareness today, while building a roadmap toward 6G. The winners in the 6G era, Douglas says, may not simply be the providers with the fastest networks. Success may be defined by intelligence, sensing and resilience — and by the ability to turn 6G capabilities into services that customers are willing to pay for from day one. Learn more at keysight.com.

By Doug Green “The telecom industry is really in a state of need to migrate and evolve into a new state,” says Joe Dechant, Vice President of Product Transformation at TNS. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Dechant about why communications service providers are rethinking voice infrastructure as legacy switching environments age, maintenance costs rise and specialized telecom expertise becomes harder to find. “Voice is still mission critical,” Dechant notes, and that means modernization has to happen without disruption. CSPs are under pressure to support modern services such as UCaaS and CCaaS, but they also need to protect the reliability customers expect from core voice services. Dechant discusses how TNS Voice Transit and Hosted Cloud Connect give providers a managed path away from aging infrastructure, helping them simplify operations, reduce complexity and move toward more flexible, cloud-based architectures. The conversation is not just about replacing old switches. It is about giving CSPs a foundation for trusted, secure and scalable communications. #Telecom #TechnologyResellerNews #CSP #VoiceInfrastructure #CloudCommunications #UCaaS #CCaaS #ManagedServices #NetworkModernization

Fornix: Are Vendors Getting What They Should from Marketing Development Funds?, Podcast “We are too close to the problem. Help us audit what we're doing because we probably aren't getting what we think we're supposed to be getting.” That is how Fornix CEO Charlene Ignacio describes the question many vendors are asking as they move into Q3 and Q4 planning. Marketing Development Funds are supposed to help vendors and partners drive growth, build market awareness and reach the right channel audience. But Ignacio says many companies may not have a clear enough view of how those dollars are actually being used, measured or translated into partner impact. In this podcast, Doug Green, publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Ignacio about Marketing Development Funds, channel execution and the need for a more disciplined look at what is working and what is not. As Channel Partners recedes into the rearview mirror and ChannelCon and other MSP events approach, the conversation focuses on how vendors can use this midyear moment to reassess their MDF strategy before the second half of 2026 gets away from them. Ignacio says Fornix is helping vendors step back, audit their channel activity and better understand whether their programs are delivering the results they expect. That includes looking beyond activity alone and asking whether campaigns, partner outreach and MSP engagement are actually moving the needle. The discussion also looks at the MSP audience Fornix serves: business owners who are trying to get out of the day-to-day seat of handling sales, marketing, PR and business development on their own, so they can focus more directly on partners, technology and preparing their businesses for AI. Learn more at Fornix: https://fornixmarketing.com/

By Doug Green “We want to do for assets what CRM did for customer records.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Tim Harris, CEO of SoloTruth, about the company's new asset relationship management platform for enterprises and the opportunity it creates for asset-intensive organizations, MSPs and channel partners. Harris says SoloTruth bridges the gap between the physical assets a company owns and the financial system of record, typically the ERP system. The goal is to make sure that what a company actually owns is accurately reflected in its books. SoloTruth calls this asset relationship management, or ARM. Just as CRM evolved from a system for tracking contacts into a broader platform for managing customer relationships and the sales cycle, SoloTruth aims to provide a 360-degree view of enterprise assets. The podcast explores a common problem in asset-heavy businesses: asset drift. A company may purchase a forklift, server, laptop, piece of telecom equipment or other capital asset, but over time that asset may be moved, misplaced, retired or replaced without the financial system being updated. Harris says this creates “ghost assets,” which no longer exist but remain on the books, and “zombie assets,” which exist in the field but are not reflected in the ERP. For companies with large fixed-asset bases, the financial implications can be significant. Harris notes that for many manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, telecom and banking organizations, fixed assets can represent one of the largest categories on the balance sheet. Yet many companies only get an accurate view of those assets during periodic audits. SoloTruth combines IoT-derived location data, including RFID and GPS technology, with human inspection data captured through a mobile app. That combination gives companies better visibility into both where an asset is located and what condition it is in. Harris says those two factors are critical to useful life, depreciation schedules, valuation, maintenance planning and proof of existence. The company recently won an award for its approach, which combines IoT-based location tracking with human condition capture. Harris says that combination can help organizations keep their books in order continuously, rather than waiting for an annual audit or emergency review tied to financing, collateral, or M&A activity. Harris says SoloTruth typically looks at payback period as the key customer metric. For companies with $100 million in fixed assets, he says the platform can generate roughly $1.5 million to $4 million per year in cost savings, with a payback period often below six months. The podcast also looks at the channel opportunity. Harris says MSPs and channel partners already have relationships with customers and are often involved in placing assets into enterprise environments. SoloTruth can give partners a way to extend that relationship by helping customers track, inspect and manage assets after deployment. For enterprises, the message is clear: better asset intelligence can reduce unnecessary capital spending, improve maintenance planning, support financing and M&A activity, and help ensure that the financial system reflects the real operating environment. Learn more at solotruth.com  

By Doug Green “Voice is its own modality.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Anoop Dawar, Chief Strategy Officer at Deepgram, about the infrastructure behind the voice AI economy and why production-grade voice agents require more than a strong demo. Dawar says Deepgram is a real-time AI infrastructure company focused on helping machines understand human speech. The company's roots are in machine learning and end-to-end deep learning, applied to one of the hardest problems in AI: understanding hundreds of languages, thousands of dialects, accents, intonation, vocabulary changes and real-world speech patterns. For decades, Dawar says, humans have learned to speak machine through keyboards, programming languages, interfaces and apps. Deepgram's mission is to reverse that pattern by helping machines learn to understand people. The conversation explores why voice AI is different from text-based AI. Voice agents must understand not only words, but tone, emotion, background noise, accents, timing and conversational context. A word such as “hello” may carry different meaning depending on how it is spoken. Dawar says it is relatively easy to build a voice AI demo in a controlled environment. The real challenge is making voice agents work in production. A restaurant drive-through, for example, may include freeway noise, trucks, music, children talking in the background and legacy audio equipment. In that environment, real-time voice AI has to understand the speaker immediately and respond correctly, with no opportunity to edit or revise the interaction after the fact. “Real-time voice is unforgiving,” Dawar says. “There is no do-over.” The podcast also looks at AI drift and the difference between deterministic software and probabilistic AI systems. Traditional systems produce predictable results. Voice AI systems, by contrast, operate in a world where language, customer behavior, environments and models can change. That means production systems must be monitored, tested and improved continuously. For MSPs, channel partners, contact center providers, CPaaS providers and customer experience platforms, Dawar says voice AI should be understood as infrastructure, not simply as an application. Real-time voice agents depend on network performance, audio quality, data center infrastructure, latency, packet loss, jitter, speech recognition, language models and text-to-speech working together. Looking ahead, Dawar sees a world of 24/7 AI agents working across voice, text, image and video. Voice will be a major part of that future, but it requires dedicated attention and infrastructure because it carries nuance that text alone cannot capture. For Deepgram, the goal is to help developers, enterprises and partners build production-grade voice agents that work reliably in the real world, not just in the lab. Learn more at deepgram.com  

By Doug Green “When prevention has failed, what are you going to do?” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Josh Howell, Healthcare CTO at Rubrik, about Rubrik's recognition as an American Hospital Association Preferred Cybersecurity Provider and the growing need for cyber resilience in healthcare. Howell says traditional backup systems were built for IT recovery, not modern ransomware attacks. Rubrik is designed for immutable data protection, helping healthcare organizations recover even if attackers gain high-level access inside the network. The podcast explores why cybersecurity is now a patient care issue. When hospital systems go offline, care continues, but delays in lab results, diagnostics, appointments and treatment can create real clinical risk. AI is also changing the threat landscape. Howell says defenders are using AI to classify and respond to threats, while attackers are using AI to move faster and exploit vulnerabilities more effectively. The discussion also covers Rubrik Agent Cloud, which helps organizations place guardrails around AI agents and recover quickly if agentic AI causes damage or exposes sensitive data. Howell says Rubrik focuses on “day two” resilience: what happens after prevention fails. For healthcare leaders, the message is clear: strong security matters, but hospitals also need a recovery strategy that can protect operations and patient care when attacks get through. Learn more at rubrik.com  

By Doug Green “Communication in the absence of details creates anxiety.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Harold Hardaway of Voix House about what leaders often miss when rolling out AI. Hardaway says many organizations treat AI as a tooling decision, when it is really a change management challenge. Giving employees access to AI does not automatically create adoption, competence or business value. Leaders need to explain what is changing, how teams should use the technology and what success looks like. The conversation also explores why AI adoption should be local and team-specific. Instead of trying to transform everything at once, organizations should identify specific workflows, test AI in practical ways, and build from what works. Hardaway says AI can help draft content, messages and plans, but drafting is rarely the real bottleneck. The harder work is leadership alignment. “Draft was never the bottleneck. Alignment was,” Hardaway says. The podcast also looks at customer experience. AI can support routine updates and proactive communication, but in moments of consequence, customers often need a human in the loop. For MSPs, service providers and enterprise leaders, the message is clear: successful AI rollout requires communication, governance, leadership alignment and room for teams to learn. Learn more at voixhouse.com  

By Doug Green “Governance is absolutely necessary. It's no longer optional.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Rajesh Kari, Senior Director of Products and Solutions at Versa Networks, about the emerging security challenges created as agentic AI moves into live network and security operations. Kari says Versa Networks is a leader in SASE, offering a unified platform that brings together networking, security and operations across enterprise infrastructure. As AI becomes more embedded in operations, Versa is focused on a new zero trust challenge: controlling not only users and devices, but also the hidden AI-driven sub-actions that can touch production systems. Kari explains that agentic AI is different from traditional AI because it can take action on behalf of users. Rather than simply answering a prompt or returning information, an agent may break a task into sub-queries, call APIs, use credentials, access systems and make changes inside the infrastructure. Those hidden sub-queries can create risk if organizations cannot see, validate and govern what the agent is doing. “People build agents. They know what the objective of the agents are,” Kari says. “But under the hood, what the agent actually deploys, which APIs it accesses, and what kinds of authorization and authentication it leverages can be unknown.” The podcast explores how this creates new exposure for enterprises, MSPs and channel partners. If an AI agent gains access to credentials or production systems, organizations need constant verification, validation and governance around each action. Kari says agentic AI can also hallucinate or generate unnecessary sub-queries, creating additional security and operational risk. Versa is addressing this through Versa Verbo and its Zero Trust MCP architecture. Verbo is designed to help network practitioners gain visibility, management and analytics through natural language interactions. Instead of searching through hundreds of alerts or dashboards, operators can ask questions about outages, performance issues, configuration changes, security incidents and branch health. The Zero Trust MCP architecture extends that capability by applying governance and access control to AI-driven actions. Kari says this enables AI models and agents to query Versa infrastructure securely, while maintaining controls around authentication, authorization, APIs and operational workflows. For MSPs and channel partners, Kari sees an important opportunity. Many organizations want to deploy AI quickly but do not have the internal capability to build governance infrastructure around it. Partners that develop practices around policy architecture, deployment, ongoing governance and human-in-the-loop approval can help customers adopt agentic AI more safely. Kari says AI operations copilots are becoming standard in SASE and network platforms. Network teams, infrastructure managers and executives increasingly want to use natural language to understand the health of their infrastructure instead of relying only on dashboards. But as those tools become more powerful, governance becomes the deciding factor in adoption. “If the agent has gained access into certain files or visuals which has violated any particular compliance standards, it becomes the responsibility of the organization to prove it,” Kari says. For Versa, the message is clear: agentic AI can simplify operations and accelerate decision-making, but it must be governed from the beginning. Zero trust principles need to be built into every AI agent connection. Learn more at www.versa-networks.com  

By Doug Green “Running a business, running a network, is really about making good decisions. And to make good decisions, you have to base that on good data.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Jezzibell Gillmore, General Manager and Vice President, Service Provider at Kentik, about how AI workloads, rising data volumes and infrastructure complexity are creating new operational challenges for service providers. Gillmore describes Kentik as a network intelligence company that uses NetFlow, SNMP, synthetic testing, streaming telemetry and data enrichment to provide actionable insights for organizations that rely on networks to run their businesses. As networks generate more data than humans can easily interpret, Kentik helps service providers understand what traffic means, where it is coming from, where it is going, and how it affects customers, performance and profitability. The conversation focuses on the growing infrastructure demands associated with AI. Gillmore says the industry is preparing for a significant rise in AI-driven traffic, particularly east-west traffic between servers and data centers. While the full impact has not yet arrived, service providers are already seeing signs of what may be ahead as GPU deployments, data center power demands and high-capacity interconnect requirements continue to grow. Gillmore notes that service providers will face pressure not only from higher traffic volumes, but also from the physical realities of network expansion. Adding capacity is not always as simple as turning up another wavelength. Providers may need to plan new fiber routes, obtain permits, expand conduit capacity and manage the long timelines associated with physical infrastructure. The podcast also explores where service providers are likely to encounter operational blind spots. Gillmore says resiliency is moving from a “good to have” to a mission-critical requirement. At the same time, traditional observability tools were built for an earlier era and may not provide enough visibility into encrypted traffic, hybrid cloud, east-west AI traffic, GPU-to-GPU telemetry and increasingly complex routing environments. For Gillmore, the shift is from passive observability to actionable network intelligence. Traditional tools may show what happened over the last 30 days, but AI-era networks require near real-time insight that can help operators make better decisions immediately. She also points to a growing skills challenge. Many of the engineers who helped build the internet are retiring, while newer engineers may be strong in automation and code but have less deep operational experience. Machine-assisted insight can help bridge that gap by giving teams clearer guidance and better context. For service providers, the message is clear: AI-driven demand will require better visibility, stronger resiliency and more intelligent operations. Gillmore says providers should begin by identifying gaps in their networks and evaluating how network intelligence can improve efficiency, customer experience and business value. Learn more at kentik.com  

By Doug Green “The best learning is actually to learn by doing.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Carlos Pereira, Cisco Fellow and Chief Architect, Customer Experience, about Cisco IQ and how Cisco is using AI, lifecycle intelligence and customer experience to help enterprises better understand, secure and future-proof their environments. Pereira says Cisco IQ reflects a broader shift in how customer experience is being delivered. At Cisco, CX is not treated as something that begins after a product is deployed. It spans the full lifecycle: land, adopt, expand and renew, with support embedded throughout. That lifecycle view is especially important because more than 95% of Cisco's business is indirect through partners, and more than half of Cisco's revenue is recurring. Cisco IQ, which became generally available in April, is designed to give customers visibility across the Cisco assets they own, including devices that may be approaching or past end of sale or end of support. Pereira notes that many Cisco products remain in production for years because they are reliable, but long-running environments can create risk if older software, unsupported assets or unpatched vulnerabilities remain in place. With Cisco IQ, customers can see more of their environment, understand lifecycle status, assess security exposure and receive AI-driven insights tied to their own deployments. Pereira says that visibility becomes more important as AI accelerates the speed of both operations and threats. “The speed has changed because the adversary is now faster than what you think your ability to move,” Pereira says. The podcast also looks at how Cisco IQ fits with Cisco Cloud Control, announced at Cisco Live. Pereira explains that Cisco Cloud Control brings product operations together through an agentic interface, while Cisco IQ focuses on lifecycle visibility, entitlement, assets, security assessments, performance and operational insight. Together, the two offerings reflect Cisco's effort to combine AI-driven operations with full lifecycle intelligence. A major theme of the conversation is future-proofing the enterprise. Pereira says Cisco IQ can help customers identify assets that may pose security or operational risks, including devices past last day of support or software exposed to newly discovered vulnerabilities. Cisco IQ can also support assessments around emerging concerns such as quantum readiness, including hardware, software and cryptographic materials. Pereira also discusses why Cisco designed Cisco IQ to support multiple deployment models from the beginning. Cisco IQ can run as SaaS, on-premises tethered, or on-premises air-gapped. That matters for customers with government, sovereignty, security or isolation requirements who still need AI-driven insight without compromising deployment constraints. For partners, Cisco IQ creates a new way to engage customers around lifecycle management, security posture, renewals and modernization. Instead of waiting for problems to emerge, partners can use Cisco IQ to help customers understand what they have, where risks exist and how to prioritize action. Looking ahead, Pereira says the second half of 2026 will be less about AI hype and more about applying AI to business workflows with measurable ROI. In areas such as security and identity operations, the need for speed, visibility and lifecycle intelligence will only increase. Pereira encourages Cisco customers with support entitlements to begin using Cisco IQ directly at iq.cisco.com. Because Cisco IQ includes personalized, AI-driven documentation and insights, he says the best way to understand the platform is to self-onboard and begin using it. Learn more at cisco.com Cisco IQ: iq.cisco.com  

By Doug Green “Infrastructure is increasingly becoming a control point for AI enablement and productivity.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Shashi Kiran, Chief Marketing Officer at Nile, about why infrastructure is moving back to the center of enterprise strategy, budgeting and AI readiness. Kiran says Nile is modernizing enterprise networks with what it describes as the world's most secure network delivered as a service. The company provides wired and wireless local area networking for mid-size and large enterprises, with security built in and operations managed across the lifecycle. The conversation focuses on a growing reality for enterprises: AI may appear to live in applications, cloud platforms and user devices, but its success depends on the infrastructure underneath. As organizations rethink AI adoption, infrastructure decisions are becoming long-term strategic decisions again. Unlike software, Kiran notes, infrastructure cannot simply be changed overnight. Network decisions often shape cost, security, agility and business performance for years. A poor infrastructure choice can become a drag on the rest of the organization's technology investment. Kiran says this is driving renewed interest in network as a service. In the modern model, he says, network as a service is not simply a managed provider operating someone else's technology. Instead, Nile builds, owns and operates the technology, giving customers a single accountable partner across the full value chain. For Nile, the focus is the enterprise edge: campuses, branches, users, devices, IoT and, increasingly, AI agents. Kiran says that part of the network has often been overlooked while much of the industry focused on data centers and cloud. Yet it is also where complexity, operational cost and security exposure are often highest. Nile's approach is built around simplifying that environment. Kiran describes a clean-slate architecture with wired and wireless connectivity, zero trust principles, identity-based authentication, security built in, and autonomous operations. Nile also backs its service with performance SLAs and financial penalties. Kiran says the results can include lower complexity, faster change management, reduced breach exposure and significant savings. He says customers typically see cost reductions of 30% to 50% at a minimum, along with faster deployment and change cycles. As enterprises plan for the next several years, Kiran says infrastructure will become even more important as organizations work to become more AI-native. The companies that move away from legacy models and adopt more agile infrastructure approaches will be better positioned to support AI, improve productivity, reduce cost and strengthen security. Learn more at nilesecure.com  

Expereo: Enterprises Are Racing Into AI, But the Network Still Has to Carry the Load, Podcast, “AI is no longer a debate. Enterprises are already using it. The question now is whether the network is ready to support what comes next,” says Marek Wasilewski of Expereo @Doug Green “AI is no longer a debate. Enterprises are already using it. The question now is whether the network is ready to support what comes next,” says Marek Wasilewski of Expereo. In this Cisco Live 2026 podcast, Doug Green speaks with Marek Wasilewski of Expereo about the company's 2026 Enterprise Horizons report and what it reveals about enterprise AI adoption, network readiness and the growing pressure on global connectivity. This is one of several Cisco Live podcasts worth revisiting after the initial wave of show coverage. The conversation provides interesting insights into how AI is changing the network conversation for enterprises, service providers and channel partners. According to Expereo's research, 92% of enterprises are using AI in some form, while 30% are already using it extensively. At the same time, 70% are investing in AI without carefully measuring ROI. That combination creates both opportunity and risk: enterprises are moving quickly, but many are still building on networks that were not designed for the scale, performance and resilience demands of AI-driven operations. Expereo, a global Network-as-a-Service provider, helps enterprises simplify and manage connectivity across complex international environments. In the podcast, Wasilewski explains why AI success depends not only on models, applications and cloud platforms, but also on the underlying network that connects users, data, workloads and business locations. For channel partners, MSPs and enterprise technology leaders, the message is clear: AI is making the network strategic again. Connectivity is no longer just plumbing. It is becoming a core part of digital transformation, customer experience, automation and business continuity. The conversation also explores how enterprises can think more clearly about AI investment, how global connectivity strategies are changing, and why network visibility, flexibility and reliability will matter even more as AI moves from pilot projects into production environments. Learn more: expereo.com

By Doug Green “We want everybody to be a spam reporter.” In this special Cloud Communications Alliance and Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, about the launch of the National Spam Reporting Center, a new consumer-facing resource designed to make it easier to report spam, scam calls, robotexts, and other suspicious communications. The new site, spamreporters.com, is intended to give consumers one simple place to report unwanted or fraudulent communications. Quilici says the problem today is confusion. If a consumer receives a text, robocall, or email impersonating a bank, retailer, insurance provider, or government agency, it is not always clear where that person should go or who should be notified. YouMail created the National Spam Reporting Center to simplify that process. Consumers can go to spamreporters.com, upload a screenshot or report, and YouMail can then use that information to help identify patterns, alert carriers, and support faster action against abusive campaigns. “The key thing is we act on them,” Quilici says. The podcast explores how these reports can benefit multiple groups. Consumers get a simple reporting path. Carriers can receive evidence about numbers or campaigns that may need to be shut down. Banks, e-commerce companies, insurers, and other frequently impersonated brands can gain better visibility into abuse targeting their customers. Quilici points to current scam activity around health insurance, Medicare, preapproved loans, and impersonation campaigns as examples of where consumer reporting can provide important signals. In some cases, consumer reports can help distinguish between legitimate communications and suspicious campaigns. The discussion also looks at the challenge facing legitimate businesses. Many organizations depend on calls and texts to reach customers about appointments, service updates, reminders, and other important matters. But when those calls are mislabeled as spam, consumers do not answer. That has led some legitimate businesses to use large pools of numbers in an effort to reach customers, a technique that can resemble the behavior of scammers. Quilici says better reporting and faster analysis can help reduce that confusion, protect consumers, and improve the ability of legitimate businesses to reach customers. YouMail does not expect the National Spam Reporting Center to eliminate the entire scam and spam problem. The goal is to reduce the damage by moving faster, using consumer-submitted reports, carrier relationships, and YouMail's existing data to identify abuse and support action before larger enforcement processes run their course. For service providers, enterprises, brands, and consumers, the message is clear: spam and scam prevention improves when more people can report what they are seeing and when that information can be acted on quickly. Learn more at spamreporters.com Learn more about YouMail at www.youmail.com  

By Doug Green “AI can be perfect, but it can't care.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Dan Rochon, author of Teach to Sell: Why Top Salespeople Never Sell and What They Do Instead, about trust, influence, and why the best sales conversations begin with teaching rather than pitching. Rochon says Teach to Sell is about ethical influence. For MSPs, service providers, technology resellers, and channel partners, that means moving beyond product-first selling and becoming a guide who helps customers understand their own needs, problems, and desired outcomes. The conversation comes at a time when AI is changing how buyers are approached, how salespeople prepare, and how marketing messages are created. Rochon says AI can help with research and preparation, but it cannot replace the human connection that creates trust. “Technology can give us more information than ever before,” Rochon says. “But only human beings can give us trust.” Rochon outlines a sales approach built around rapport, deeper questions, and active listening. Instead of telling a customer what their problem is, the salesperson should guide the customer to discover it. He argues that the product or service should be presented as the bridge between the customer's pain and the result they want to achieve. For channel partners and MSPs, Rochon's message aligns closely with the long-running idea of becoming a trusted advisor. Customers do not simply need another vendor selling tools, subscriptions, or services. They need someone who understands their business, asks the right questions, and helps them make better decisions. The podcast also explores renewals and recurring revenue. Rochon says salespeople should not be afraid to revisit customers when they believe their product or service is genuinely helping. Maintaining an existing customer is often easier than winning a new one, but it still requires confidence, communication, and a commitment to guiding the customer. Rochon says Teach to Sell is designed for people who are tired of pitching and want better conversations, shorter sales cycles, stronger trust, and more consistent revenue. Learn more at www.teachtosellbook.com  

By Doug Green “Everything is fighting for your attention.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Gerry Christensen, trusted industry strategist at ICA AI, about the future of business-to-consumer communications, AI-powered voice solutions, and how enterprises, carriers, MSPs and channel partners can prepare for a post-agentic AI communications environment. Christensen says ICA AI is focused on making it easier for consumers and businesses to engage with the calls and messages they actually want, while filtering out the unwanted traffic. The company uses AI, including deterministic AI, to help determine whether a call should be allowed through, blocked, or handled through an AI-powered interaction layer. The conversation looks ahead to a future where AI is increasingly used for outbound calls, contact center interactions, appointment setting, collections, notifications and even person-to-person communications. Christensen says AI-to-AI interactions are likely to become more common, where one person's AI assistant may interact with another person's AI assistant before a human conversation ever takes place. That future, he says, will require governance, transparency and trust. Consumers may accept AI-driven communication, but they will want to know when AI is being used and whether the entity behind the call can be trusted. “What matters is, do you trust who's calling you?” Christensen says. The podcast also explores the risks of AI being used by bad actors. Agentic AI can automate useful workflows, but the same capabilities can also be used to create more convincing fraud, impersonation and scam attempts. Christensen says that is why solutions such as ICA AI will become increasingly important as AI-powered communications become more common. For enterprises, the implications are significant. Contact centers, collections teams, healthcare organizations, appointment-setting operations and customer service groups may all use AI to reach consumers more efficiently. At the same time, they will need systems that help ensure legitimate calls get through while unwanted or harmful traffic is blocked. Christensen describes ICA AI's current approach in three parts: allow calls that should go through, block known bad calls, and use AI to handle the middle ground where additional screening or interaction is needed. That middle ground may become especially important as consumers increasingly rely on their own AI tools to manage communications. For MSPs, channel partners and carriers, Christensen says there is also an opportunity. ICA AI is developing channel partnerships and licensing its technology to carriers, creating a path for providers to bring AI-powered call protection and engagement tools to their customers. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in communications, Christensen says the industry needs to prepare now. The future may include dynamic AI-to-AI exchanges, more intelligent call handling, and new ways for consumers to control their attention. But that future will also demand trust, accountability and stronger protections against abuse. Learn more at icatrusted.ai  

Network Is Hot Again: Stackpane's Sarbjeet Johal on Cisco Live, AI Infrastructure and Systems Economics, Podcast, Johal brings a unique mix of technical, business, and economics experience to the discussion @Doug Green, Publisher, Technology Reseller News “The network is hot again because a lot more data is traversing on it, and a lot more data will traverse on it,” says Sarbjeet Johal of Stackpane. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Sarbjeet Johal, Founder and CEO of Stackpane, technology analyst, cloud strategist and go-to-market specialist, about why the network has moved back to the center of the enterprise technology conversation. Johal brings an unique mix of technical, business and economics experience to the discussion. A veteran of VMware, Oracle and Dell EMC, Johal has spent decades building and deploying enterprise systems, advising technology providers, and helping buyers understand cloud strategy, infrastructure modernization and digital transformation. At Cisco Live, Johal says the biggest theme was simplification. Cisco, he argues, is working to reduce infrastructure complexity for customers operating across public cloud, on-premises systems, AI workloads and increasingly distributed environments. That includes a renewed focus on infrastructure as code, platform control, and AI-assisted tools such as Cisco IQ, which Johal says can help customers and partners troubleshoot, configure and operate Cisco environments more effectively. The conversation then turns to Johal's recent observation that “the network is hot again.” His point is that AI, real-time systems, digital services, autonomous agents, and API-driven interactions are all placing new demands on network performance. As more data moves across enterprise systems, latency, memory, compute, and connectivity become more strategically important. Johal notes that during AI inference, latency is especially critical, making the network, chips, CPUs, and memory all part of the same infrastructure story. Johal also frames the issue through systems economics. Enterprises are not simply buying more technology for the sake of modernization. They are being forced to ask whether cloud, AI, on-prem infrastructure, and automation actually pencil out in terms of total cost of ownership, return on investment, and operational value. For MSPs, channel partners, and technology providers, that creates an opportunity to help customers make better architecture decisions, not just consume more tools. The podcast closes with a look ahead to a future conversation on token economics, AI infrastructure costs, and where MSPs and channel partners can find real business opportunity as enterprise technology becomes more automated, more data-intensive, and more dependent on resilient network infrastructure. Editor's note: This podcast was recorded at Cisco Live in Las Vegas and is being posted later. With time, the conversation has become even more notable. Johal's central point — that the network is “hot again” — has only gained relevance as AI, automation, cloud infrastructure and real-time digital services continue to place new pressure on enterprise networks. Learn more: Stackpane at stackpane.com

By Doug Green “AI is generating code, but it's not generating secure code.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Jonathan Kozimor, Vice President of Channel Americas at Checkmarx, about the company's next-generation SAST engine and the growing opportunity for MSPs and channel partners in application security. Kozimor says software development has changed dramatically. Developers are producing more code, AI is accelerating that process, and traditional security models are struggling to keep up. The old approach of writing code, scanning it, and fixing issues later is no longer enough. Checkmarx's new SAST engine is designed to reduce noise, false positives, and lack of context by helping teams focus on the vulnerabilities that matter most. “The industry does not need more vulnerability data,” Kozimor says. “Security teams already have plenty of findings. What they need is intelligence, and they need faster fixes.” The podcast also explores findings from recent Checkmarx research, including the gap between security awareness and execution. Kozimor notes that many organizations understand the risks, but still struggle to operationalize security at the speed of modern development. Looking ahead, Kozimor says AppSec must become more automated, more intelligent, and more deeply embedded in the development lifecycle. AI will play a role, but it must be paired with governance, security policy, and human oversight. For channel partners, the opportunity is clear. Customers need help modernizing AppSec, managing change, and embedding security into development workflows without slowing innovation. “This is where the partner ecosystem is fundamental to customer success,” Kozimor says. Learn more at www.checkmarx.com

By Doug Green “We're absolutely on the path, and we're not talking five, six, seven years. We're talking in the next 18 to 24 months.” In this episode of the Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Josh Kindiger, COO and co-founder of Grokstream, about the company's new L1 Agent and what it means for the future of AI-driven network and IT operations. Grokstream is the company behind Grok, an AI-powered predictive agent platform for network and IT operations. The platform comes out of the event intelligence and AIOps space and is designed to help operations teams identify, triage, and resolve recurring issues more efficiently. Kindiger says Grokstream recently released its first role-based agent, the L1 Agent, in beta. The full production release is expected in Q2. The agent is already being used with customers to prove out real-world capabilities. Because many organizations remain cautious about AI-driven automation, Grokstream is starting with low-risk, repeatable use cases. In many operations centers, Kindiger notes, the same incidents occur repeatedly, sometimes accounting for as much as 70% of activity. The L1 Agent is designed to recognize those patterns and guide operators through triage and resolution. For example, if a recurring issue requires a service restart, the system can recommend or automate that step. If a pattern points to a commercial power outage at a site, the agent can help avoid unnecessary dispatches while monitoring backup power systems. Kindiger says the goal is not to remove human oversight immediately, but to build trust through guardrails, staged automation, and operator control. Low-risk automations can be handled end to end, while higher-risk actions may require human approval. The podcast also explores the broader opportunity for enterprises, MSPs, and CSPs. Kindiger says service providers and managed service providers face growing pressure to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and differentiate in competitive markets. AI-driven operations can help them respond faster, lower manual workload, and deliver better service outcomes. The long-term direction is clear: autonomous network operations are coming. Kindiger says companies should begin now because foundational work is needed before they can fully benefit from automation. For MSPs and CSPs, he says the urgency is even greater. Cost pressure is shaping renewals and new customer wins, and AI-powered operations may become a competitive advantage. Learn more at www.grokstream.com

“What this industry needs is a fundamentally different approach, not probabilistic, deterministic,” says Gerry Christensen, Plus Trusted Industry Strategist at ICA AI. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Christensen about ICA AI's Plus Trusted platform, an AI-based communications assistant designed to help manage unwanted, suspicious and trusted calls. Christensen explains that Plus Trusted is built around three basic call treatments: block known bad calls, interrogate questionable calls using AI, or allow trusted calls to pass through normally. The platform uses caller behavior, number reputation and the relationship between the calling and called parties to determine whether a trusted relationship exists before the phone rings. While ICA AI can use probabilistic AI in gray-area situations, Christensen says the company emphasizes deterministic AI because many calls can be handled based on known patterns and trusted relationships. The discussion also looks at the growing threat of AI-enabled robocalls, voice cloning and social engineering. Christensen says that as bad actors use AI to automate and personalize attacks, users and organizations will need AI-based protection on their side of the call. For UCaaS providers, MVNOs, MSPs and channel partners, Christensen says Plus Trusted creates a new opportunity to help customers reduce unwanted calls while preserving legitimate communications. The platform is designed to interoperate with existing carriers and communications platforms. “We consider ourselves Switzerland,” Christensen says. “You don't have to be on a specific UCaaS platform. You don't have to have a specific carrier.” Visit icatrusted.ai.

“If your AI agent failed today, would you know before your customers do?” asks Sophie Cheng, Chief Marketing Officer at Sinch. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Cheng about Sinch's new research on what the company calls the “AI production paradox.” While many enterprises have moved beyond AI pilots, the bigger challenge is keeping AI agents reliable once they are live. Cheng says Sinch surveyed more than 2,500 global enterprise executives and found that 62% already have AI programs in production. But 74% also reported having to roll back a live AI agent because of operational reliability issues, including exposed data, hallucinations, tone-of-voice problems, auditability gaps and compliance concerns. The discussion focuses on why AI agents often perform well in controlled testing, but encounter problems when exposed to real customer interactions. Cheng says enterprises need stronger governance, clearer guardrails and communications infrastructure that can support secure, reliable, multichannel customer engagement. “More monitoring means more failures are detected,” Cheng says. “It does not mean more failures are created.” Cheng also explains why infrastructure is becoming central to enterprise AI strategy. If messages are not delivered, channels cannot be connected, or customer context cannot move across SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, voice and email, AI-powered customer engagement can break down before the model itself becomes the issue. For enterprises operating across markets, industries and regulatory environments, Cheng says Sinch helps provide the communications foundation needed to support scale, compliance and customer experience. Visit sinch.com.  

“If you're not moving forward, you're moving backwards,” says Elie Katz, CEO of National Retail Solutions. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Katz about National Retail Solutions, its relationship with IDT, and the continuing opportunity for telecom resellers, MSPs and channel partners to serve independent retailers. Katz explains that National Retail Solutions was built to help independent merchants gain access to the tools they need to compete, including point-of-sale systems, credit card processing, cash advance, payroll and related business services. The company now serves more than 35,000 locations. Katz says NRS grew out of IDT's long-standing relationship with independent retailers, many of which were already selling telecom products. That connection helped NRS recognize that small merchants needed practical, easy-to-use technology to remain competitive as e-commerce, delivery, AI and digital payments reshape retail. The discussion also looks at the importance of local stores in their communities. Katz says independent retailers often have close relationships with their customers, giving them a level of service and flexibility that larger chains may not offer. For telecom resellers and channel partners, Katz says the retail community remains a strong opportunity. Many already have relationships with small businesses and can add value by bringing them technology and services that help them operate more efficiently. Katz also discusses NRS retailer networking meetups, which bring merchants and business partners together to share ideas, learn from one another and identify new opportunities. Learn more at NRSplus.com.  

“Trust is built through very small moments,” says Julie Thiel of TTS Company. In this Telecom Reseller podcast, Doug Green speaks with Thiel about how MSPs, channel partners and growing technology businesses can strengthen leadership, retention and performance through everyday interactions with employees. Thiel says HR is often misunderstood as paperwork, compliance or “the fun police.” In reality, she says, effective people practices are about leadership and helping businesses grow. For smaller entrepreneurial companies, that means building trust with employees through regular conversations, follow-through, recognition and simple moments of human connection. The discussion focuses on the idea that leadership is not built only through major decisions or formal speeches. It is built through small, repeated actions: asking how someone is doing, remembering what matters to them, listening a little longer, and making time for regular one-on-one conversations. Thiel says those small moments can make difficult conversations easier later, whether a manager needs to give feedback, address a client issue or ask an employee to take on new responsibilities. When trust already exists, employees are more likely to hear feedback constructively and bring forward ideas, concerns and opportunities. For MSPs and channel companies that may not be able to compete with larger employers on compensation alone, Thiel says relationship-building can become a competitive advantage. Smaller businesses can often offer flexibility, development opportunities and direct access to customers in ways larger organizations cannot. The conversation also connects leadership and trust to company value. Thiel says businesses with stable teams, low turnover and developing leaders are better positioned for growth, succession and potential acquisition. Learn more at thettscompany.com.

Wipro Brings Enterprise Perspective to Cisco Cloud Control, Podcast Wipro's Uday Kiran discusses what Cisco's new platform means for enterprise customers, global partners and the shift to unified, AI-ready operations By Doug Green “Cisco Cloud Control unifies all of these domains.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, recorded virtually during Cisco Live, Doug Green speaks with Uday Kiran of Wipro about Cisco Cloud Control and what the announcement means when viewed from the front lines of enterprise transformation. For Wipro, the announcement represents a logical evolution in Cisco's portfolio. Kiran says enterprise customers are often managing separate domains across networking, security and observability. Those domains have historically operated as “multiple islands,” creating complexity for IT teams that need visibility, speed and control across distributed environments. Wipro brings a global systems integrator's view to the conversation. The company serves enterprise customers in more than 64 countries, has more than 250,000 employees, works with more than 1,000 enterprise customers, and has partnered with Cisco for more than 30 years, according to Kiran. That scale gives Wipro a practical view of what customers are asking for now. Enterprises are not simply looking for another dashboard or another tool. They are looking for ways to simplify operations, improve resilience, bring security and networking closer together, and make AI useful inside complex production environments. Cisco Cloud Control is important because it points toward a more unified operational model. Instead of treating network, security and observability as separate disciplines, the platform is designed to bring those areas together. For partners such as Wipro, that creates a larger opportunity than product deployment. It creates a consulting, integration and managed services opportunity around helping enterprises modernize operations, rationalize toolsets, and prepare for AI-enabled infrastructure. The discussion also reflects a broader Cisco Live theme: AI is moving from concept to operations. As enterprises adopt agentic AI, infrastructure must become more observable, more secure and more automated. Wipro's role is to help customers make that transition in real environments, where legacy systems, global operations and business continuity all matter. In this podcast, Kiran offers a partner's view of Cisco Cloud Control: not just what was announced, but why it matters to enterprise customers trying to turn fragmented IT operations into a more unified, intelligent and resilient operating model.

Centaris Helps SMBs Bring AI Into the Business Without Letting Risk Come Along for the Ride, Podcast, According to Centaris, 86% of SMB workers are using AI tools, with 80% bringing their own tools into the workplace. At the same time, 80% of leaders cite leakage of sensitive data as their main concern. By Doug Green “We think there's a tremendous opportunity for us to shine where we've thrived for years.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Mike Nowak, Chief Revenue Officer at Centaris, about the challenges small and midsize businesses are facing as AI adoption moves faster than many IT and security programs can manage. Centaris provides cybersecurity and managed IT services for small and midsize organizations, with a focus on the Great Lakes region and companies with roughly 50 to 5,000 employees. The company works across key verticals including manufacturing, healthcare and financial services, where security, compliance and operational continuity are central business concerns. The conversation focuses on a problem that is becoming urgent for SMB leaders: AI is already inside the organization, whether or not it has been formally approved. According to Centaris, 86% of SMB workers are using AI tools, with 80% bringing their own tools into the workplace. At the same time, 80% of leaders cite leakage of sensitive data as their main concern. That creates a new challenge for MSPs, IT leaders and business owners. The question is no longer whether employees will use AI. They already are. The question is whether companies can create a secure, consistent and manageable way to use AI without exposing customer data, intellectual property or regulated information. Nowak outlines Centaris' role in helping organizations move from uncontrolled AI experimentation to structured deployment. For many smaller companies, AI adoption is happening at the employee level first. Staff members are using publicly available tools to write, summarize, research and automate work. That can create productivity gains, but it can also create risk when sensitive information is pasted into tools that are not governed by company policy. Centaris is positioning its AI and cybersecurity work around practical deployment. Rather than treating AI as a separate technology trend, the company sees it as part of the broader managed services and cybersecurity conversation. SMBs need policies, training, tool selection, identity controls and security frameworks that match the way employees are already working. The podcast also looks at the broader cybersecurity posture of the small and midmarket. These organizations face many of the same risks as larger enterprises but often lack the same internal resources. That makes consistent managed security, compliance guidance and trusted IT leadership especially important. Centaris is also in growth mode. Nowak says the company is looking to expand across the Great Lakes footprint, particularly in areas where it already has experience and vertical expertise. “The ones that we're looking for and where we're looking to expand is really the Great Lakes footprint,” Nowak says. “We think there's a tremendous opportunity for us to kind of shine where we've thrived for years.” The acquisition strategy is focused on fit and execution. Centaris is interested in organizations that align with its strengths in manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and cybersecurity-driven managed services. The company works with larger clients and clients in other regions, but Nowak emphasizes that Centaris is careful about ensuring it can execute well before expanding. For MSP owners, the message is direct: Centaris is open to conversations with firms that may be considering their next step. For SMB leaders, the message is equally clear: AI is already arriving inside the business, and the time to secure and standardize that adoption is now. Centaris can be reached through LinkedIn, at info@centaris.com, or through the Centaris website. Learn more at centaris.com.

Ryan Rose of Learn with Cisco outlines refreshed CCNA, CCIE and Cisco U. programs designed to prepare networking professionals for AI-driven infrastructure “I get to help people grow their careers,” says Ryan Rose of Learn with Cisco. “I get to help people learn new things.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Ryan Rose of Learn with Cisco about Cisco's latest updates to its certification and training portfolio, including refreshed CCNA and CCIE programs, expanded Cisco U. learning resources, and new AI-focused training designed to help networking professionals stay current as infrastructure evolves. Rose describes his role at Cisco as one of stewardship. Cisco's certification program has been a fixture in the networking industry for roughly 30 years, and Rose says the goal is to make sure the program continues to reflect the skills people actually need in the field. “What we've done and what we announced is really our intention of how we evolve both CCNA and CCIE,” says Rose. A central theme of the conversation is that AI is changing the skills map for networking professionals, but it is not replacing the need for core networking expertise. Instead, Rose explains that professionals will need to understand how to use AI tools effectively, evaluate AI-generated recommendations, and combine automation with sound technical judgment. The updates include a refreshed CCNA blueprint, new AI-related training in Cisco U., and changes to the CCIE Practical exam that reflect how AI tools are beginning to show up in real-world network operations. For partners, MSPs, resellers and enterprise IT teams, the message is clear: AI fluency is becoming part of the networking skill set. Rose also points to Cisco U. as a practical learning platform for professionals who need to build new skills while continuing to work in the industry. Rather than treating certification as a one-time milestone, Cisco is emphasizing continuous learning, hands-on training and career development. For the channel community, the certification updates arrive at a moment when customers are asking more from their technology partners. AI-ready infrastructure, secure operations, automation and resilient networks all require people who understand both the fundamentals and the new tools entering the market. In this podcast, Rose outlines how Cisco is refreshing its learning and certification programs to help professionals prepare for that future. Learn more at Cisco U. and Learn with Cisco.

Qumulo and Cisco Launch Bridge-to-Cloud Architecture to Help Enterprises Beat the Flash Crunch at Cisco Live 2026 By Doug Green “Capacity extends to the cloud instantly. Users and applications never know that the systems have been extended into the cloud.” At Cisco Live 2026, Doug Green spoke with Brandon Whitelaw of Qumulo about the company's new Bridge-to-Cloud architecture with Cisco, a solution designed to help enterprises respond to one of the most urgent infrastructure challenges of the AI era: fast-growing data workloads, constrained flash supply, longer hardware lead times and rising demand for high-performance storage. Qumulo describes itself as an accelerated data company. In the podcast, Whitelaw explains that Qumulo helps organizations store and manage mission-critical file and object data across data centers, edge environments and the major public clouds. The goal is to unify those datasets into a consistent, AI-enabled data fabric that can support both today's high-performance applications and tomorrow's AI pipelines. Qumulo's customers include autonomous driving companies, media and entertainment organizations, special effects shops, sports broadcasters, life sciences organizations, genomic research teams, hospitals, public sector agencies and government entities. The common thread is data: large, high-capacity, high-performance datasets that must be available, protected and ready for use. The Cisco announcement focuses on Cloud Native Qumulo Enterprise combined with Cisco Unified Computing System through Qumulo's Cloud Data Fabric. The solution is designed to let enterprises extend file workloads from on-premises Cisco UCS infrastructure into the cloud without forcing a disruptive migration, application refactoring or a rebuild of existing workflows. For enterprise IT teams, the problem is practical. AI infrastructure demand is reshaping the market for memory and NVMe systems, creating pressure on traditional capacity planning. Instead of waiting months for new hardware or overprovisioning all-flash systems, Qumulo and Cisco are offering a bridge: keep trusted on-premises infrastructure in place while extending selected workloads into the cloud as needed. Whitelaw says the architecture gives enterprises a way to free up on-premises infrastructure for the most critical applications, while using cloud capacity to handle growth, burst demand and AI-readiness. The result is a hybrid model that is not simply about cloud migration. It is about operational flexibility. The solution also positions enterprise data for AI and analytics. Qumulo says CNQ Enterprise includes Cloud Data Fabric and NeuralProtect and can run on Cisco UCS on-premises as well as across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The architecture is intended to make enterprise datasets available for AI pipelines into services such as Microsoft AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock and Google Vertex AI. For Cisco partners, service providers and enterprise IT teams, the message from the podcast is clear: hybrid cloud is becoming a pressure-release valve for data infrastructure. The Bridge-to-Cloud model offers a way to gain capacity relief, preserve application continuity, support elastic scale and prepare data for AI without forcing customers into a disruptive replatforming project. Qumulo CNQ Enterprise is available now for deployment on Cisco UCS on-premises infrastructure and across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and OCI. It is also available through Cisco for simplified enterprise procurement. Qumulo is exhibiting at booth 4018 at Cisco Live 2026 in Las Vegas. Learn more at: https://qumulo.com/product/cisco/

MetTel's Max Silber discusses how connected laptops, multi-carrier SingleSIM connectivity, and lifecycle management can reduce endpoint friction for enterprise IT teams. By Doug Green, Technology Reseller News In a Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Max Silber, Vice President of Mobility and IoT at MetTel, about a growing enterprise challenge: keeping laptop fleets connected, secure, and manageable as employees work across offices, homes, customer sites, and the road. The conversation centers on MetTel's Connected Laptop as a Service, or CLaaS, a new offering designed to help enterprise IT teams reduce the time, labor, and complexity involved in laptop deployment and ongoing management. MetTel announced the service as a multi-carrier, agnostic connected laptop offering powered by SingleSIM, giving organizations a way to deliver connected devices without forcing every endpoint into a single-carrier model. Silber explains that the connected laptop has become more than a convenience feature. For many organizations, it is now part of a larger mobility and security strategy. When users depend on public Wi-Fi, hotel networks or unsecured local connections, the enterprise inherits risk and inconsistency. By delivering laptops with always-on cellular connectivity, MetTel is positioning CLaaS as a way to improve both user experience and IT control. A key theme of the podcast is lifecycle management. Instead of asking internal IT teams to image, ship, activate, track and replace devices manually, MetTel's approach uses the MetTel Customer Portal and fulfillment capabilities to move more of that work into a managed service model. Devices can be requested through the portal, shipped directly to users and provisioned with connectivity and customer-specified management tools. For channel partners, MSPs and enterprise technology advisors, the discussion points to a broader opportunity. Laptop management is often treated as a hardware procurement issue, but Silber frames it as a mobility, connectivity and operational resilience issue. As hybrid work matures, the need for secure, predictable and centrally managed endpoint connectivity is becoming part of the larger managed services conversation. MetTel's SingleSIM approach is designed to support data-only devices across carrier networks, devices and geographies. That matters for distributed organizations because a single network may not perform consistently in every region, facility or remote-work location. A multi-carrier model can give enterprises more flexibility while reducing the friction of managing multiple carrier relationships. The podcast also highlights the practical pressure on IT departments. Enterprise leaders are asking for faster deployment, better security and greater employee productivity, while IT teams are already managing large numbers of endpoints. CLaaS is presented as one way to relieve that burden by combining device logistics, activation, connectivity, support and replacement into a more streamlined service. Silber also discusses the role of virtual warehousing and fulfillment. MetTel stages and ships connected laptops from its facilities, helping enterprises standardize configurations and accelerate deployment at scale. The result is a model that treats laptop connectivity as part of the enterprise network, not as an afterthought added after purchase. For Technology Reseller News readers, the key takeaway is that enterprise mobility is moving beyond phones and tablets. The laptop itself is becoming a managed, connected endpoint, and that creates new conversations for service providers, channel partners and advisors serving distributed enterprises. Key takeaways Connected laptops are becoming part of the enterprise mobility and security stack. MetTel's CLaaS offering is designed to reduce the operational burden of laptop deployment, activation, support and replacement. SingleSIM gives enterprises a multi-carrier approach for data-only devices across locations and networks. The service can help organizations reduce dependence on unsecured public Wi-Fi. For channel partners and MSPs, connected laptops create a new managed mobility conversation with enterprise customers. Learn more Visit MetTel's Connected Laptop as a Service announcement: https://www.mettel.net/press/mettel-delivers-connected-laptop-as-a-service/

Weave Brings AI Into the Front Office for Healthcare Practices, Podcast, Rather than replacing the human relationship between patient and provider, AI can help practices respond faster, capture missed opportunities and manage routine communications more efficiently. The result is a better experience for patients and a more sustainable operating model for busy practices By Doug Green “Healthcare always has this very interesting intersection between human care and technology,” says Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, opening a conversation with Abhi Sharma, Chief Technology Officer at Weave, about how AI is changing the way small and medium-sized healthcare practices communicate with patients. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Sharma outlines how Weave is helping healthcare providers use AI to reduce administrative burden, improve responsiveness and create a more connected patient experience. For many practices, the front office remains one of the most pressured parts of the business, balancing phone calls, appointment reminders, payments, follow-ups and patient questions while also trying to deliver a personal experience. Sharma explains that Weave's approach is focused on practical AI that supports the daily workflow of healthcare offices. Rather than replacing the human relationship between patient and provider, AI can help practices respond faster, capture missed opportunities and manage routine communications more efficiently. The result is a better experience for patients and a more sustainable operating model for busy practices. The conversation also explores how AI can help healthcare organizations modernize without losing the personal touch that matters so much in care delivery. For technology resellers and service providers, the discussion points to a growing opportunity around communications, automation and workflow tools designed specifically for vertical markets such as dental, medical, veterinary and other appointment-based healthcare services. Learn more at https://www.getweave.com/

Julie Thiel of TTS Company explains why MSPs need to treat retention as a business-building discipline, not a last-minute response to resignations “Turnover doesn't start when someone leaves,” says Julie Thiel of TTS Company. “That's just when you get the wake-up call.” In this episode of Technology Reseller News, Doug Green is joined again by Julie Thiel of TTS Company for the latest conversation in an ongoing series designed to help MSPs understand the human resources side of building a stronger business. The discussion focuses on a common issue for growing MSPs: employee turnover. But rather than treating turnover as something that begins when an employee gives notice, Thiel argues that the warning signs often appear much earlier. Retention, she explains, is tied to leadership, employee experience, culture, communication, expectations and whether team members see a future inside the organization. For MSPs, the stakes are especially high. Losing a strong technician, account manager or operations leader can disrupt customer relationships, reduce service quality and put added strain on the rest of the team. Turnover is not only an HR problem. It can become a customer experience problem, a profitability problem and even a business valuation problem. Thiel says MSP owners should think about retention as part of building equity in the company. A stable, engaged team helps create better customer outcomes and a stronger operating model. That means leaders need to pay attention before someone starts looking elsewhere. The conversation also explores the limits of compensation alone. Thiel notes that while another employer can always offer more money, pay is not the only factor that keeps people in place. “Anyone can offer more money,” Thiel says. “I've gone to jobs where I made a lot more money and it was a terrible experience. It was combat pay.” Her point is that MSPs need to make it harder for good employees to leave by building an environment where people feel valued, supported and connected to the mission of the business. More money may get someone's attention, but a healthy workplace can be the deciding factor in whether they stay. TTS Company, originally founded as Thiel Talent Strategy, works with businesses on the people side of growth. Thiel says her goal is to make HR less intimidating for business owners who may know they need help but are unsure where to begin. “I want HR to not seem so scary,” Thiel says. “We're non-scary HR.” Learn more at thettscompany.com.

Convoso Brings Outbound Sales, Compliance and Spam-Risk Management to Salesforce, Podcast, Convoso works with several hundred businesses across industries including insurance, home services and lead generation. Hakimi says the company's goal is to help these organizations connect with leads faster, improve conversion rates and reduce customer acquisition costs By Doug Green “You have the NICEs of the world, Five9s, Genesys, and they all do it. Great companies. The only challenge is they're not really purpose-built for outbound and for sales,” says Nima Hakimi, CEO of Convoso. In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Nima Hakimi joins Doug Green to discuss Convoso's new app for Salesforce AppExchange and the gap the company is working to fill for revenue teams, business development centers and contact centers that depend on outbound calling for customer acquisition. The story is really about the changing outbound calling environment. For companies that rely on the phone to acquire customers, success is no longer just about dialing more leads. It is about reaching the right prospects, avoiding being mislabeled as spam, protecting caller reputation and staying compliant while still giving sales teams the speed and visibility they need. Hakimi describes Convoso as an outbound sales platform built for BDC revenue teams and contact centers. The platform brings together high-performance dialing, campaign management and number management into what he calls a revenue-generating engine for organizations that rely on calling to reach and convert leads. Convoso works with several hundred businesses across industries including insurance, home services and lead generation. Hakimi says the company's goal is to help these organizations connect with leads faster, improve conversion rates and reduce customer acquisition costs. The Salesforce connection is central to the conversation, but the larger issue is what happens after a sales team decides to call. Many organizations already use Salesforce, already have a contact center platform and already run outbound campaigns. The challenge is that outbound sales has become more complicated. Teams must reach prospects efficiently while avoiding spam labeling, protecting caller reputation and remaining compliant in an increasingly scrutinized calling environment. That is where Convoso sees its opportunity. By integrating with Salesforce, the company is positioning its platform as a purpose-built outbound layer for teams that need more than basic click-to-call or CRM logging. For sales-driven contact centers, the challenge is not simply making more calls. It is managing campaigns, improving answer rates, maintaining clean number practices, staying within compliance requirements and turning outbound activity into measurable revenue. For resellers, service providers and technology advisors working with revenue teams, the message is clear: outbound sales still matters, but it requires a different toolset than traditional inbound support. Convoso is making the case that Salesforce users need a platform designed specifically for that environment. Learn more: https://www.convoso.com/  

Grokstream: Predictive and Agentic AI Moves IT Operations Toward Self-Healing, Podcast, Grokstream's platform is designed to operate from signals, not noise. The system fuses telemetry across domains, learns continuously from operational data and human feedback, and creates a unified source of truth for IT operations. That allows teams to move beyond correlation and toward understanding what is happening, why it is happening and what should be done next. By Doug Green Grokstream says the next generation of IT operations will not be built around more dashboards, more rules, or faster alert routing. It will be built around AI that can learn, reason, remember, recommend and eventually act with governed autonomy. “Agentic AI must be governed by design,” said Josh Kindiger, CEO of Grokstream. “Predictive intelligence is powerful, but safe, explainable autonomy is what drives real adoption.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Doug Green speaks with Josh Kindiger, Co-Founder and COO of Grokstream, about how the company is helping MSPs, CSPs and enterprise IT organizations move from reactive operations toward predictive, self-healing IT environments. The conversation comes as Grokstream advances its Grok L1 Agent, a new role-based agent designed for frontline IT operations teams. The L1 Agent is intended to reduce alert noise before incidents reach the queue, provide intelligent summaries, identify likely root causes, recommend next-best actions and trigger approved remediations inside tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and existing IT workflows. For service providers and enterprise operations teams, the problem is familiar. More tools often mean more alerts, but not necessarily more clarity. Traditional rules-based AIOps platforms can help with deduplication and routing, but they often stop short of true incident compression, causal reasoning and prevention. Grokstream is taking a different approach by combining classical machine learning, causal intelligence and generative AI into a single cognitive AI layer. Kindiger explains that Grokstream's platform is designed to operate from signals, not noise. The system fuses telemetry across domains, learns continuously from operational data and human feedback, and creates a unified source of truth for IT operations. That allows teams to move beyond correlation and toward understanding what is happening, why it is happening and what should be done next. A central theme of the podcast is the difference between AI that summarizes and AI that reasons. Grokstream argues that true agentic AI is not simply an LLM attached to a workflow. It requires memory, context, policy guardrails, procedural intelligence and the ability to improve over time. In Grokstream's model, agents begin as assisted tools, then move toward trusted operators and eventually toward predictive autonomous systems. The first practical on-ramp is the L1/NOC environment, where many organizations see the fastest measurable impact. Grokstream says its approach can deliver 2–3x more incident compression beyond traditional deduplication and rules-based correlation, while reducing L1 workload by more than 50% through noise compression, guided resolution and fewer unnecessary escalations. The timing is significant. Grokstream recently announced that Cirion Technologies selected the Cognitive Grok AI platform to support AI-driven predictive operations across Latin America's digital infrastructure. That deployment highlights the growing demand for systems that can detect emerging issues across network, transport and infrastructure layers before customer-facing impact occurs. For MSPs, CSPs and enterprise IT leaders, the message is clear: operational scale cannot be achieved simply by adding more people or more monitoring tools. The next step is an intelligence layer that can unify data, predict impact, explain cause and support governed automation. Grokstream is positioning Grok as that layer: a predictive and agentic AI platform that helps operations teams reduce noise, prevent incidents, improve engineer experience and move toward self-healing IT operations. Learn more at https://grokstream.com/ Related Grokstream Stories on Telecom Reseller Grokstream's Cognitive Grok® AI Platform Selected by Cirion Technologies to Power AI-Driven, Predictive Operations Across Latin America's Digital Infrastructure https://telecomreseller.com/2026/05/20/grokstreams-cognitive-grok-ai-platform-selected-by-cirion-technologies-to-power-ai-driven-predictive-operations-across-latin-americas-digital-infrastructure/ Grokstream Announces Grok® L1 Agent to Advance Predictive and Agentic AI for IT Operations https://telecomreseller.com/2026/04/06/grokstream-announces-grok-l1-agent-to-advance-predictive-and-agentic-ai-for-it-operations/ More Grokstream coverage on Telecom Reseller https://telecomreseller.com/?s=grokstream/

TICE Group Turns Returns, Trade-Ins and Resale Into Recovered Value, ASCDI Podcast. TICE Group designs and operates recovery systems for brands and retailers running trade-in, returns, and resale programs at scale. “Any extra dollar I can bring them back is a dollar that goes to profitability — not actually profit, viability,” says Guennael “G” Delorme of TICE Group. “Those returns do have a cost, and we all pay those costs.” In this ASCDI podcast, Doug Green speaks with Guennael of TICE Group about the hidden economics of retail returns, trade-ins, and resale programs. The conversation explores how returns can damage already-thin merchant margins, how those costs ultimately flow back to consumers, and why recovery systems can make a material difference for retailers, brands, and the broader circular economy. Delorme argues that the issue is not simply what happens after a product comes back. It is how much value can be recovered, how efficiently the process can be managed, and whether returns become a margin drain or a strategic recovery opportunity. The discussion also marks TICE Group's growing involvement with ASCDI, as the association continues to expand its coverage beyond traditional ITAD into adjacent areas of recovery, reuse, resale and lifecycle value. For merchants and brands, the opportunity is clear: better recovery can protect value, support profitability and help build more sustainable business models. Learn more at https://tice-group.com.

Most hunters overlook the simple hacks that can elevate tree stand safety, comfort, and efficiency—until now. In this episode, seasoned bowhunter Doug Green from Indiana reveals the gear tricks, setup strategies, and safety hacks that can transform your hunting game, especially if you're balancing mobility with knee issues or chasing big deer on public lands.John, who's recovering from knee surgery and adapting his tactics, joins Doug to unpack the real-world solutions that make hunting more comfortable, safer, and more successful. From choosing the right climbing sticks with grip and bite to mastering quick, silent setup routines that save you time and noise, this episode dives deep into the details that matter—like why double-step sticks like the XOP X2 could be your gamechanger this season.You'll discover: The comparison between traditional ladders, saddle-specific stands, and hybrid options for all-day comfort How to select the best sticks and accessories for safety, low noise, and quick deployment Proven methods for securing gear and optimizing mobility with minimal weight The underrated importance of high-quality hooks, straps, and accessories to avoid frustration and injury Creative setup hacks that allow seamless gear transfer, leaving more time for that perfect shot If you're serious about hunting smarter, safer, and more comfortably—whether you're a weekend warrior or a dedicated run-and-gun pro—this episode is your insider guide. Learn from a seasoned veteran who refuses to settle for mediocre gear or inefficient setups, and take your hunting to the next level.Perfect for saddle hunters, mobile hunters, or anyone looking to maximize their setup while minimizing noise and risk—this is essential listening for the modern hunter. Gear up with these insider tips and stay a step ahead of the herd next season.Doug Green is an experienced hunter from Indiana specializing in mobile setups and gear optimization. His insights stem from years of both out-of-state adventures and hunted-out private land, making him a trusted voice for focus on mobility, comfort, and safety in the tree.Whether you're looking to upgrade your stand, refine your sticks, or simply hunt smarter, this episode is packed with the tactical tips that will keep you safer and more comfortable afield. Hit play now and hunt with confidence. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Deterministic AI Sets the Roadmap for Safer Communications, ICA AI Podcast. Rather than sending every word of every conversation into a large language model, Christensen describes a model where much of the decision-making is based on known patterns, trusted relationships, keywords, context, policy, and call behavior. In sensitive verticals such as financial services, healthcare, legal services, and government, that can be especially important because communications may involve private data, personally identifiable information, account details, medical information, or other sensitive content By Doug Green “As AI gets more powerful, the question is not simply whether it can answer a prompt. The question is whether it can be trusted in the communications path,” says Gerry Christensen, associate founder of ICA AI. “For high-security communications, deterministic AI is not just different. In many cases, it is necessary.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Gerry Christensen of ICA AI joins Doug Green to define an important distinction that is becoming central to the future of AI-powered communications: probabilistic AI versus deterministic AI. The conversation is less about a single product announcement and more about setting out a roadmap. Christensen explains why most people experience AI through probabilistic systems, including large language models that generate answers based on patterns, probabilities and prompts. Those tools can be powerful, but they can also hallucinate, miss context, or create outputs that sound confident while being wrong. For communications providers, MSPs, UCaaS providers, MVNOs and telecom resellers, Christensen argues that this distinction matters because voice networks are entering an era where AI will be used on both sides of the call. Legitimate businesses will use AI in contact centers. Bad actors will use AI to scale fraud, spoofing, robocalls and deepfake-style attacks. Consumers and enterprises will increasingly need AI to help determine which calls should get through, which calls should be challenged, and which calls should be blocked. ICA AI, short for Intelligent Communications Assistant, is built around that problem. Christensen describes the platform as an AI-based assistant that can support outbound calling and, perhaps more importantly, inbound call handling. The goal is to allow trusted calls from colleagues, friends, family and legitimate businesses to pass through, while filtering unwanted or suspicious calls. The core idea is determinism. Rather than sending every word of every conversation into a large language model, Christensen describes a model where much of the decision-making is based on known patterns, trusted relationships, keywords, context, policy and call behavior. In sensitive verticals such as financial services, healthcare, legal services and government, that can be especially important because communications may involve private data, personally identifiable information, account details, medical information or other sensitive content. Christensen gives the example of a financial services call. A probabilistic AI system might need to listen broadly and process the conversation through an LLM to determine intent. A deterministic system, by contrast, can look for specific markers of trust or risk: whether the caller is known, whether the call matches expected behavior, whether suspicious phrases appear, or whether the interaction moves toward unusual requests such as gift cards, new account instructions or other red flags. That approach, Christensen says, also has implications for cost, latency and scale. If most decisions can be made deterministically, the system does not need to rely on a distant AI data center for every interaction. That can reduce exposure of sensitive data, lower dependency on token-heavy AI processing, and support faster call-handling decisions. Christensen says ICA AI's approach relies on deterministic AI for roughly 85% to 95% of transactions. He connects that idea to Zipf's Law, the linguistic principle that a relatively small portion of language often carries much of the meaning. In communications, that means many call-handling decisions may not require open-ended AI interpretation. They may require the right data, the right rules, and the right deterministic understanding of what matters in the moment. The roadmap Christensen lays out is not anti-LLM and not anti-probabilistic AI. Instead, it is a layered model. Probabilistic AI can still be used when needed, especially when a conversation falls outside known patterns or requires deeper interpretation. But for high-security, high-volume communications, Christensen argues that deterministic AI should carry more of the load. For MSPs, channel partners and telecom providers, the message is direct: AI call management may become a new category of value-added service. As agentic AI increases the volume and sophistication of automated calls, enterprises and consumers will need tools that can help them determine whether a call is authentic, legitimate and safe. Christensen compares the coming environment to an arms race. AI will make fraud more scalable, but AI can also make communications more defensible. The providers that begin testing, integrating and understanding these capabilities early may be better positioned to offer customers a practical answer to a growing trust problem in voice communications. “Everybody is going to need to have an AI-based solution for consumers to handle inbound calls,” Christensen says. “In the world of agentic AI, it is conceivable that networks could be plastered with AI-generated calls.” Learn more: ICA AI: https://icai.ai/

“When you need these systems, they have to work 100% of the time,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD. “Our solution doesn't just meet the old copper standard — it exceeds it.” In part 35 of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about the hardware architecture powering modern POTS replacement and why reliability remains the most important requirement for life-safety communications. The discussion focuses on TELCLOUD's purpose-built POTScast 8 and POTScast 2 devices, which support eight and two analog lines respectively. Designed specifically for POTS replacement, the units support applications including fire alarms, elevators, emergency phones, security systems, fax lines, SCADA systems, and other legacy communications still dependent on analog connectivity. Jacoby explains that traditional copper phone lines historically delivered both dial tone and power directly from the carrier's central office, making them highly reliable during outages. TELCLOUD's approach replaces that infrastructure with a more resilient, modern design featuring battery backup, multiple WAN paths, LTE and 5G connectivity, and remote monitoring capabilities. Each POTScast unit includes a built-in 24-hour battery backup with optional expansion capability, along with support for multiple WAN connections including fiber, satellite, and cellular. TELCLOUD also supports Power over Ethernet deployments, allowing cellular routers from providers including Digi and ATEL to be placed up to 250 feet away from telecom closets where signal strength is stronger. Jacoby noted that TELCLOUD originally relied on existing analog telephone adapters but ultimately engineered its own hardware platform after determining that available solutions did not meet the company's performance standards for mission-critical deployments. “These devices are designed to sit in that telco room for the next 20 years,” Jacoby said. The episode also explores how TELCLOUD combines hardware, platform services, monitoring, field services, and channel support into a fully managed POTS replacement offering delivered through reseller partners globally. The “Shots” segment of the podcast featured Casa 1560 Private Selection Extra Añejo, a tequila aged more than three years in oak barrels and described by Jacoby as having notes of dark chocolate, dried fruit, and oak. For more information, visit telcloud.com or call 844-900-2270.

“These are purpose-built devices,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD. “They're UL listed, certified, tested, and designed specifically for this business.” In the latest episode of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about the hardware that makes modern POTS replacement possible. Jacoby showcases two TELCLOUD devices: the POTScast 8 LTE PC228 LTE, which supports eight analog lines, and the POTScast 2 LTE PC222 LTE, which supports two. Both are designed to support legacy and life-safety systems such as elevators, fire alarms, security systems, fax lines, SCADA applications, modems, and emergency phones as copper lines are phased out. The POTScast platform combines analog support with modern LTE and WAN connectivity, including broadband, Wi-Fi as WAN, satellite, and cellular. Each device includes 24-hour battery backup, helping ensure that critical communications continue even when building power fails. Jacoby also explains TELCLOUD's modular design. Because cellular signal is often weak inside telecom rooms, TELCLOUD supports Power over Ethernet, allowing routers from partners such as Ericsson, Peplink, Digi, InHand, ATEL, and Seego to be placed up to 250 feet away for better reception. The episode closes with the Shots segment, featuring Herencia Historico Grand Reserve Extra Añejo, a five-year-aged, small-batch tequila from Jalisco presented in a distinctive handcrafted bottle. For more information, visit telcloud.com or call 844-900-2270.

On tonight's show, we're coming to your from Green's Dependable Hardware in Russellville, Alabama, as John Duncan of Haleyville joins me to share the incredible story of receiving the gift of life through the late Jolene Sims' kidney donation. It's a powerful reminder of how one selfless decision can impact so many lives. You'll also hear from Matt & Laura McDuffa along with Doug Green as they talk about an upcoming community play at the The Historic Roxy Theatre in Russellville and what it means for the local community. Real stories. Real people. Real impact. News That Unites!™️

Chitra Nawbatt, author of The CodeBreaker Mindset™ and creator and host of The CodeBreaker Mindset™ show, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the workforce—and why leaders need to rethink long-held assumptions about jobs, productivity, and human potential. Nawbatt challenged the common narrative that AI alone is responsible for job displacement, suggesting instead that many workforce changes were already underway and are now being accelerated by technology. “AI isn't creating the disruption—it's exposing and accelerating decisions that were already in motion,” she explained. The conversation focused on the need for a new mindset—what Nawbatt calls the “CodeBreaker Mindset”—which encourages individuals and organizations to adapt, question assumptions, and embrace continuous learning. Rather than viewing AI as a threat, she emphasized the importance of understanding how to work alongside it, leveraging its capabilities while strengthening uniquely human skills such as creativity, judgment, and empathy. Nawbatt also discussed how businesses must rethink talent strategies, moving beyond traditional roles and job descriptions to more fluid, skills-based approaches. This shift requires leaders to invest in upskilling and to create cultures that support experimentation and innovation. As AI continues to transform industries, Nawbatt's perspective offers a clear message: success will depend less on resisting change and more on developing the mindset to navigate it effectively. Learn more about The CodeBreaker Mindset™: https://www.chitranawbatt.com/

“Think of it as the easy button—if you don't want to deal with the complexity, we can take care of it for you,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD. In the latest episode of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about a critical but often overlooked element of POTS replacement: billing, compliance, and selling the service—not just the infrastructure. As legacy copper lines are phased out globally, businesses must replace POTS lines that support life-safety and mission-critical systems such as fire alarms, elevators, security panels, and emergency phones. While much of the conversation has focused on technology and deployment, Jacoby explains that billing and regulatory compliance can be just as important—and just as complex. Because POTS replacement services fall under telecommunications regulations, partners who wish to bill customers directly must meet strict requirements, including registering as a 499 filer with the FCC and implementing sophisticated tax and billing engines capable of calculating and remitting federal, state, and local telecom taxes correctly. Jacoby notes that many partners initially underestimate this complexity. “You can't just mark it up and bill it,” he explains. “You have to be a registered telco, and you have to get the taxes right.” For organizations not prepared to take on this responsibility, TELCLOUD offers a streamlined alternative. Through its full-service, white-label model, TELCLOUD acts as the registered telecom provider, handling billing, tax compliance, and reporting on behalf of the partner. This allows MSPs and trusted advisors to focus on customer relationships while remaining fully compliant. For partners already operating as telecom providers, TELCLOUD also supports a wholesale model that allows them to manage billing independently. The approach reinforces TELCLOUD's core strategy: enabling partners to sell a fully managed service, rather than navigating the complexities of infrastructure, regulation, and billing on their own. At the same time, the partner retains full ownership of the customer relationship, ensuring continuity and long-term account growth. As copper shutdowns accelerate, Jacoby emphasizes that the opportunity extends across the entire channel—from experienced telecom providers to MSPs entering the space for the first time. With flexible engagement models and built-in compliance support, TELCLOUD is helping partners quickly bring reliable POTS replacement solutions to market. The episode concludes with the series' signature Shots segment, where Jacoby highlights Cenote Reposado, a traditionally crafted sipping tequila praised for its quality and accessibility—continuing the series' blend of telecom insight and tequila appreciation. For more information, visit telcloud.com or call 844-900-2270.

“Some of them have been around for over a hundred years and it's antiquated technology.” That was how Rob Garry, founder of The POTS Box, described the legacy POTS line problem in a recent Technology Reseller News podcast with Doug Green. It was a concise way of capturing both the age of the infrastructure and the urgency of the opportunity now facing partners and customers alike. Garry made clear that this is not a narrow or fading issue. Instead, he presented POTS replacement as a broad-based managed services opportunity for resellers and partners serving organizations that still depend on legacy copper lines for critical functions. As he explained, “We've put together a managed service for replacing old POTS lines… and we've put a program in to enable resellers and partners to do it with their end user customers.” That combination of need and enablement is what makes the market significant. Many businesses and facilities continue to rely on old analog lines for systems that cannot simply be ignored or switched off. In many cases, the infrastructure behind those services is not just old, but rooted in an earlier era of communications. As Doug Green noted during the interview, some of these systems reflect technologies that date back nearly a century. The conversation positioned The POTS Box as a practical answer to that reality. Rather than treating POTS replacement as a one-off hardware transaction, the company has built a managed service approach designed to simplify the transition away from copper while helping partners deliver that change to their customers in a structured way. That matters for the channel. POTS replacement is not just a matter of removing obsolete technology. It is an opportunity to solve a real operational problem for customers while creating ongoing value through service, support, and modernization. For partners, that means a chance to step into a pressing need with a solution that is understandable, necessary, and tied to long-term infrastructure change. The interview also served as a useful reminder that, while much of the technology industry's attention is currently focused on AI and cybersecurity, there are still major opportunities in helping customers address older foundational systems that no longer fit current realities. POTS replacement remains one of those opportunities: concrete, urgent, and widely relevant across many customer environments. For partners looking for a broad-based opportunity with real-world customer impact, Garry's message was straightforward. The need is still here, the infrastructure is still aging, and the market for replacement remains active. Learn more: The POTS Box: https://thepotsbox.com/

David Turner, Vice President of Global Number Intelligence at TransUnion, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, about the company's new Digital Business Profile solution and its role in helping small businesses improve visibility, accuracy, and trust in an AI-driven search environment. Turner explained that while large enterprises have long benefited from sophisticated SEO and digital presence tools, small businesses have lacked affordable, easy-to-use solutions. TransUnion's Digital Business Profile addresses this gap by providing a centralized portal where businesses can input and manage their core information—hours, services, locations, and more—and distribute it across approximately 80 platforms. “It really comes down to simplicity and affordability—giving even the smallest business the ability to be properly represented,” Turner said. The conversation highlighted how the rise of AI-driven search is reshaping digital discovery. Instead of relying on a handful of major platforms, AI systems now pull data from a wide range of sources, making consistency across all listings critical. TransUnion's platform ensures that verified, trusted data is distributed broadly, improving both search accuracy and business rankings while reducing the burden on business owners. Trust and security are central to the solution. Turner noted that inaccurate or fraudulent listings—such as keyword stuffing or fake business identities—can harm both consumers and legitimate businesses. By verifying business identities and maintaining trusted integrations with major platforms, TransUnion helps protect users while preserving business reputations. This approach also aligns with the company's broader trusted communications initiatives, including branded calling and robocall mitigation. TransUnion is bringing the solution to market through both direct channels and partnerships, including telecom providers and MSPs that can bundle the service into their offerings. By combining identity management, search visibility, and trusted communications, the Digital Business Profile represents a new step in extending enterprise-grade capabilities to the small business market. Learn more about TransUnion: http://www.transunion.com/business

Jason Byrne, SVP of Marketing at Crexendo, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, during the Channel Partners Conference & Expo about the company's growth strategy, brand evolution, and continued momentum in the channel. Byrne highlighted Crexendo's strong positioning in the cloud communications space, driven by its NetSapiens platform and a partner-centric model that empowers service providers to build and scale their own offerings. He emphasized that marketing plays a critical role in supporting partner success, helping them differentiate in a crowded market and effectively communicate value to end customers. “Our focus is on enabling partners to grow—both through technology and through strong, consistent messaging,” Byrne said. The conversation explored how Crexendo is investing in brand awareness and partner enablement, providing tools and resources that help partners accelerate sales and expand their reach. By aligning marketing initiatives with partner needs, the company is creating a more cohesive go-to-market strategy. Byrne also noted the importance of community within the Crexendo ecosystem, where partners collaborate, share best practices, and contribute to ongoing innovation. This collaborative approach strengthens the overall value of the platform and helps drive sustained growth. As discussions at Channel Partners continue to focus on differentiation and partner-led growth, Crexendo is positioning its marketing and platform strategy as a foundation for long-term success in the evolving cloud communications landscape. Learn more about Crexendo: https://www.crexendo.com/