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Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: HPE Discover 2026 kicks off: HPE Discover 2026 opens today at The Venetian in Las Vegas with the Partner Growth Summit, the partner-exclusive day that precedes the main conference. The General Session – “The Power of One” – is led by HPE channel head Simon Ewington and focuses on HPE’s unified partner strategy under the HPE Partner Ready Vantage program, spanning networking, cloud, and AI. This is the first Partner Growth Summit since HPE’s $14 billion Juniper Networks acquisition closed, and HPE is presenting partners with a fully unified portfolio story for the first time. ChannelBuzz.ca is on the ground all week: Tuesday’s Buzz will feature a full Partner Growth Summit recap, and In The Channel this week features a multi-part series with Jeremiah Jenson, HPE’s vice president of North America channel and partner ecosystem, covering the Discover announcements in depth. Cato Networks launches integration hub: Cato Networks has launched a new Technology Partner Program and a Platform Integration Hub, debuting with more than 100 out-of-the-box integrations with third-party security, cloud, and networking solutions. The SASE provider says the program is designed to simplify how partners and customers connect Cato’s platform with existing enterprise technology stacks. The move is significant for Canadian MSPs and MSSPs: a robust integration catalog reduces the custom API work that often slows deployment and increases delivery costs, making it easier to position Cato alongside the broader tools in a customer’s security environment. Checkmarx flags CISO compliance pressures: A new 2026 Future of Application Security Report from Checkmarx, based on a survey of more than 2,000 developers and CISOs, found that 95 per cent of CISOs report being pressured to suppress or delay compliance-related security issues when business deadlines loom. The research also highlights how AI-generated code is expanding the attack surface faster than many security teams can manage. For Canadian MSSPs, the data reinforces the value of independent, third-party security oversight – and the case for structured application security as a managed service. Dataminr and TD SYNNEX partner on AI cyber defense: Dataminr has signed a strategic distribution agreement with TD SYNNEX, making Dataminr for Cyber Defense available to more than 35,000 North American resellers. The platform combines external risk signals with internal telemetry to help security teams prioritize threats in real time. For Canadian partners already working with TD SYNNEX, the deal adds an AI-driven threat intelligence offering to the distributor’s security portfolio at a time when customers are asking for earlier warning around cyber risk. inforcer launches Microsoft 365 TDR platform: inforcer has launched inforcer Threat Detection and Response, a new platform that gives MSPs a single environment to manage detection, incident response, and reporting across the full Microsoft 365 estate – including Entra, Defender, Purview, Teams, and SharePoint. According to the company, the platform’s advantage is its existing policy and configuration context for each tenant, which it says allows the detection engine to separate real threats from alert noise. The product launched in early access at Pax8 Beyond last week. ConnectSecure introduces Patch 360: ConnectSecure has launched Patch 360, a patch management solution designed specifically for MSPs. According to the company, the platform gives MSPs more control over patch prioritization, testing, and approval workflows, and is designed to reduce deployment risk while accelerating patching across operating systems and third-party applications. NetRise launches Discovery Partner Program: Software supply chain security firm NetRise has launched the Discovery Partner Program for VARs, MSSPs, distributors, and systems integrators. The program provides partners access to the NetRise Platform, which analyzes compiled software artifacts – including binaries, firmware, and containers – to identify components and risks that may not appear in source-code scans or vendor-provided SBOMs. NetRise is positioning the program as a way for partners to address growing customer demand for independent software supply chain verification. Read Full Transcript This episode of The Buzz is brought to you by HPE Discover 2026. HPE Discover runs June 15 to 18 at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Discover what’s next at hpe.com/discover. Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Monday, June 15th, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. The biggest event on HPE’s calendar opens today at The Venetian Convention and Expo Center in Las Vegas, and ChannelBuzz.ca is on the ground for the full week. But before the main conference opens to the broader audience tomorrow, today belongs exclusively to the channel. The HPE Partner Growth Summit – the partner-only day that kicks off Discover week – is underway as you’re hearing this. The centrepiece is the General Session called “The Power of One,” led by HPE channel head Simon Ewington alongside a lineup of HPE senior executives. The name captures the message HPE is sending its partner ecosystem heading into the back half of 2026: one comprehensive portfolio, one unified program under HPE Partner Ready Vantage, and one integrated experience across networking, cloud, and AI. The afternoon breakout agenda is dense – covering GreenLake and hybrid cloud, Aruba networking with AI, monetizing accelerated compute and agentic workloads, and HPE’s evolving service provider story. It’s also worth noting the context: this is the first Partner Growth Summit since HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks cleared regulatory review and officially closed. Partners are getting their first look at a fully unified networking and compute story from a company that can now tell it cleanly. We’re bringing you the announcements as they happen all week.  In just a couple of hours on In The Channel, I’ll help you get ready for Discover, as I preview the event with the help of none other than Jeremiah Jenson, HPE’s vice president of North American channel and partner ecosystem.  Tomorrow on The Buzz, we’ll have all the news from Partner Growth Summit, and tomorrow’s In The Channel will also feature Jenson, as we take a deeper dive into the HPE’s partner programs and where he sees the biggest opportunities for the channel right now. Be sure to stick with us all week as we bring you full coverage from Vegas. Cato Networks is expanding its ecosystem with the launch of a new Technology Partner Program and a Platform Integration Hub. The SASE provider says the hub debuts with more than 100 integrations out of the box, offering streamlined connectivity with third-party security, cloud, and networking solutions. According to Cato, the program is designed to simplify how partners and customers integrate its platform with existing enterprise technology stacks, reducing friction and speeding up deployments. A vendor-led integration effort at this scale matters for the channel. As enterprise environments grow more layered and complex, MSPs rely on platforms that connect cleanly to an existing stack rather than requiring months of custom API work. Out-of-the-box integrations mean less time troubleshooting compatibility and more time delivering security outcomes to clients. It’s worth noting that Cato’s channel chief said earlier this year that seven out of ten deals the company closes are already partner-led. A stronger integration story could deepen that dependence on the channel by making it easier for MSPs and MSSPs to position Cato alongside the other tools in a customer’s security stack. A report released last week by application security vendor Checkmarx is putting hard numbers on a dynamic that security-focused channel partners have likely been seeing for some time. The 2026 Future of Application Security Report, based on a survey of more than 2,000 developers and CISOs, found that 95 per cent of CISOs say they have been pressured to suppress or delay compliance-related security issues when business deadlines loom. Compounding the problem: the adoption of AI-generated code is accelerating, which Checkmarx says is multiplying the attack surface in production environments faster than many security teams can manage. The business case for external, independent security oversight has rarely been clearer. When internal security leaders are being overruled on vulnerability management, an MSP or MSSP operating as a neutral third party – accountable to security outcomes rather than product launch timelines – steps into a genuine gap. The data also validates the case for application security as a structured managed service. As AI-generated code becomes standard in the development pipeline, organizations that can’t close that gap internally will need to find a partner who can. In Brief – Dataminr and TD SYNNEX have signed a distribution agreement that makes Dataminr for Cyber Defense available to more than 35,000 North American resellers through TD SYNNEX’s channel network.  Security vendor inforcer has launched inforcer Threat Detection and Response, a new platform designed to give MSPs a single environment to manage detection, incident response, and reporting for Microsoft 365.  ConnectSecure has introduced Patch 360, a patch management solution built specifically for MSPs that the company says reduces deployment risk while accelerating patching across operating systems and third-party applications.  NetRise has launched the Discovery Partner Program, targeting VARs, MSSPs, distributors, and systems integrators with software supply chain security capabilities built around compiled binary analysis rather than source code or vendor-provided SBOMs.  Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Pax8 Beyond26 – managed intelligence: Pax8 wrapped its annual Beyond conference in Salt Lake City on Tuesday with over 3,500 attendees including 200+ from Canada, centering the show on the transition from managed services to the Managed Intelligence Provider model. The headline announcement was Microsoft Agent 365 for Managed Intelligence – multi-tenant governance of agentic AI across MSP client environments through the Pax8 Agent Store, arriving in July – alongside the launch of the Managed Intelligence Provider Program, Voyager Alliance Rewards, and the Managed Intelligence Alliance. CEO Scott Chasin argued that as AI models commoditize, the trust MSPs have already built with clients is their primary competitive advantage going forward. Arrow Electronics global experience centers: Arrow introduced a network of global experience centers on Tuesday, built in close collaboration with channel partners in North America and Europe to reflect how partners actually go to market today. Facilities in the US and Sweden are fully networked to deliver a consistent design and testing experience regardless of location, and are designed specifically to help partners accelerate the move from AI and cloud evaluation into deployment and monetization. Mitel names new channel chief: Mitel has appointed Ben Macdonald as vice president of global channel go-to-market, bringing experience from Owl Labs, Poly, Juniper Networks, and Ekahau. The hire comes as Mitel’s own research shows 68 percent of businesses are running communications infrastructure more than seven years old, with 92 percent of modernizing organizations choosing an integrated-hybrid strategy – a dynamic the company says positions its 6,000-plus channel partners at the center of one of the largest communications refresh cycles in a decade. Cork Cyber wins Pax8 Startup Vendor of the Year: Pax8 recognized Cork Cyber at Beyond26 for its AI-native remediation platform built for MSPs, which remediates threats automatically, reduces ticket volume, and provides financial payback when risks slip through. The award was presented on the Beyond mainstage by Pax8 president Nick Heddy. Canada’s cloud market: A new report from the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, covered by CBC News, calls the Canadian cloud computing market “broken,” warning that Amazon, Microsoft, and Google control approximately 85 percent of the market. The report argues that even adding domestic sovereign alternatives will not fix the problem without interoperability standards, coining the term “maplewashed dependency” for the risk of trading one lock-in for another. Pentesting research: New research from Cobalt and Omdia finds that 53 percent of security leaders believe traditional penetration testing is now outdated, with demand growing for continuous, AI-assisted approaches. iCOUNTER leadership: iCOUNTER has appointed Joel Molinoff, formerly of BlueVoyant and CBS Corporation, as chief operating officer. DataStrike expansion: DataStrike has expanded its Linux managed services practice by hiring Jon Cain as senior Linux infrastructure engineer to meet growing client demand. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Thursday, June 11, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Pax8 wrapped its annual Beyond conference in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, and the event made a clear statement about where the distributor sees the managed services business heading. With more than 3,500 attendees – including over 200 from Canada – the show centered on what Pax8 is calling the Managed Intelligence Provider model, or MIP. The idea is that MSPs are no longer primarily managing infrastructure. The next phase of the business is orchestrating agentic AI and delivering outcomes that SMB customers cannot build on their own. The headline product announcement from the show was Microsoft Agent 365 for Managed Intelligence, which will give MSPs multi-tenant governance of agentic AI across their client base through the Pax8 Agent Store, arriving in July. Alongside that, Pax8 announced the Managed Intelligence Provider Program, the Voyager Alliance Rewards program, and the Managed Intelligence Alliance, all aimed at helping partners navigate that business model transition. CEO Scott Chasin’s central argument was that as AI models commoditize rapidly, the trust that MSPs have already built with their clients becomes the primary competitive differentiator. It’s a different kind of pitch than many vendors have been making this year, and the Canadian partner contingent at the show was among the largest regional groups in attendance. Distribution giant Arrow Electronics introduced a new set of networked global experience centers on Tuesday, and the design philosophy behind them is worth paying attention to. According to Arrow, the facilities in the US and Sweden were built in close collaboration with channel partners across North America and Europe, specifically around how partners actually go to market today, where they face constraints, and what slows them down. The two locations are fully networked, meaning the design and testing experience is consistent regardless of where the customer or partner is located. Arrow has operated various lab facilities over the years, but this iteration is explicitly oriented around solving the commercial and operational friction partners face in moving customers from AI and cloud evaluation into deployment. For solution providers working to differentiate on deep technical expertise and pre-sales capability, the ability to leverage distribution infrastructure at this level is increasingly part of the value equation. Mitel announced Tuesday that Ben Macdonald has joined the company as vice president of global channel go-to-market, making him the company’s new channel chief. Macdonald comes from Owl Labs, where he led the shift to a scalable B2B and enterprise channel model including strategic alliances with Microsoft and Lenovo. He has also held senior channel roles at Poly, Juniper Networks, and Ekahau. The appointment arrives at a moment Mitel describes as one of the largest communications refresh cycles in a decade. According to Mitel’s own research, 68 percent of businesses are currently running communications systems that are more than seven years old, and 92 percent of organizations actively modernizing are choosing an integrated-hybrid strategy. Macdonald’s specific background – building recurring revenue models out of historically transactional, hardware-centric businesses – aligns directly with what Mitel says it needs. For the more than 6,000 channel partners in Mitel’s ecosystem, including a significant number of Canadian resellers and MSPs with established UC practices, the appointment signals an intent to activate that market opportunity through the partner community. In Brief – Pax8 named Cork Cyber its Startup Vendor of the Year at Beyond, recognizing the MSP-focused AI remediation platform that remediates threats automatically and pays out financially when risks slip through. A report from the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project calls Canada’s cloud computing market “broken,” warning that Amazon, Microsoft and Google control 85 percent of the market and domestic providers risk creating what the report calls “maplewashed dependencies.” Cobalt and Omdia research finds that 53 percent of security leaders believe traditional penetration testing is now outdated. iCOUNTER appoints Joel Molinoff, formerly of BlueVoyant and CBS Corporation, as chief operating officer. DataStrike expands its Linux managed services practice by hiring Jon Cain as senior Linux infrastructure engineer. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we’re hearing from Josh Singh at Turning Point Technologies in Vancouver – it’s a conversation about running a single-vendor Dell practice, AI for SMB, and why backup is the last line of defense against ransomware. And if you haven’t heard it yet, yesterday on In The Channel I sat down with ESTI’s Earl Gosick on AI infrastructure, cyber resilience, and why Saskatchewan may be Canada’s next data center hub. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Kaseya MSP Success ecosystem: Kaseya has launched MSP Success, a unified growth initiative led by EVP of Channel Dan Tomaszewski and backed by a 140-person global team. The ecosystem consolidates three programs: MSP Success Digital Marketing (AI-powered lead generation, website, and SEO/AEO tools in Express and Pro tiers), MSP Success Peer (combining TruMethods Peer and Technology Marketing Toolkit into a single accountability network), and the Kaseya Community hub at MSPsuccess.com. The launch is framed around a finding from Kaseya’s own 2026 State of the MSP Report: 71% of MSPs say acquiring new customers is their single biggest challenge. Zscaler agentic AI security: Zscaler has announced major innovations to its Zero Trust Exchange platform at Zenith Live 2026, including three new capabilities for securing agentic AI: Zscaler AI Broker (securing MCP and A2A agent communications via an integrated Agent Registry), Zscaler Endpoint AI Security (detecting AI-related threats in browsers, plugins, and local tools), and Zscaler AI Access Graph (mapping identities, apps, and data sources in real time, powered by the Symmetry Systems acquisition). The company is positioning this as the industry’s first complete Zero Trust platform for Agentic AI. FlexPoint AI agents for MSPs: FlexPoint launched what it describes as the first AI-powered agents purpose-built for the MSP back-office, built into its AI-native accounts receivable platform. According to FlexPoint, the agents automate billing, collections, payment reconciliation, and client follow-up workflows, and are designed to integrate into existing MSP toolstacks without requiring additional administrative headcount. Kaseya State of the MSP Report context: The 2026 Kaseya State of the MSP Report finds 48% of MSPs rank AI as their top client need, while difficulty hiring skilled technicians has risen from 9% to 16% year over year, compounding the business development challenges MSP Success is designed to address. DTEX behavior intelligence: DTEX Systems has announced a new behavior intelligence tool built specifically for its partner ecosystem, using behavioral science and machine learning to flag anomalies that indicate potential insider risk or accidental data loss events. ConnectSecure Patch 360: ConnectSecure launched Patch 360, a centralized patch management platform purpose-built for MSPs, offering consolidated visibility across endpoints and third-party applications to streamline remediation workflows. Tumeryk and CSA AI Trust Score: Tumeryk has announced a collaboration with the Cloud Security Alliance on the RiskRubric v2 AI risk framework, now covering agentic AI and MCP servers, and has launched its AI Trust Score assessment service in beta. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, June 10, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Kaseya yesterday launched MSP Success, a unified growth ecosystem designed to tackle what its own research identifies as the managed service provider community’s single biggest problem. According to Kaseya’s 2026 State of the MSP Report, 71% of MSPs say acquiring new customers is their primary challenge. MSP Success is Kaseya’s answer – a three-pillar initiative that consolidates the company’s existing growth programs under one roof. The first pillar, MSP Success Digital Marketing, is a new platform offering conversion-focused websites, AI-powered search and answer engine optimization, local search visibility, automated lead generation, and access to a dedicated marketing specialist. The platform comes in Express and Pro tiers depending on scale. The second pillar, MSP Success Peer, unifies two programs Kaseya has operated separately until now – TruMethods Peer and Technology Marketing Toolkit – into a single global accountability network with quarterly in-person meetings across North America, EMEA, and APAC. The third pillar is the Kaseya Community hub at MSPsuccess.com, a centralized resource and learning portal. The initiative is led by Dan Tomaszewski, EVP of Channel, supported by a 140-person global team. In a sector where technical excellence is table stakes, this is a signal that Kaseya is investing meaningfully in the business side of running an MSP, not just the tooling. Zscaler yesterday used its Zenith Live 2026 conference in Las Vegas to announce what it describes as the industry’s first complete Zero Trust platform for Agentic AI. The announcement extends Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange to address a challenge traditional security tools were not designed to handle: autonomous AI agents that operate at machine speed, create ephemeral identities, and access sensitive data in ways that conventional perimeter and identity-based tools cannot fully see or control. The centerpiece of the announcement is Zscaler AI Broker, which secures agent-to-agent and MCP-based communications through an integrated Agent Registry that governs what each AI agent is permitted to access. Alongside that, Zscaler introduced Endpoint AI Security, targeting threats hidden in browsers, plugins, extensions, and local AI tools that many legacy endpoint products miss. A third new capability, AI Access Graph, powered by Zscaler’s earlier acquisition of Symmetry Systems, maps how identities, applications, and data sources connect across an enterprise to enable real-time policy enforcement and data lineage tracking. For MSSPs building managed AI security practices, this is a significant platform update from one of the key SASE and zero trust providers in the market. FlexPoint yesterday launched what it is positioning as the first AI-powered agents purpose-built for the MSP back-office. The company, which operates an AI-native accounts receivable platform for service providers, says the new agents are designed to automate the financial workflows that consume significant administrative time inside MSP operations – billing, collections, payment reconciliation, and client follow-up. According to FlexPoint, the agents integrate directly into existing MSP toolstacks and are designed to work without requiring dedicated back-office headcount. The core argument from FlexPoint is that MSP revenue growth often stalls not because of a shortage of clients, but because back-office operations don’t scale proportionally. That framing aligns with the theme emerging from Kaseya’s research and this morning’s news – that the constraint on MSP growth is increasingly on the business operations side, not the technical side. In Brief – Kaseya’s announcement follows its own 2026 State of the MSP Report, which also finds that 48% of MSPs rank AI as their top client need and that difficulty hiring skilled technicians has nearly doubled year-over-year. DTEX Systems announces a new behavior intelligence tool built for its partner ecosystem, designed to detect insider risk through behavioral analytics and machine learning anomaly detection. ConnectSecure launches Patch 360, a new patch management platform purpose-built for MSPs, offering a centralized view across endpoints and third-party applications. Tumeryk and the Cloud Security Alliance announce a collaboration on RiskRubric v2, an AI risk assessment framework that now covers agentic AI and MCP servers, with Tumeryk launching its AI Trust Score assessment service as part of the ecosystem. Later today on In The Channel, ESTI Consulting Services‘ Earl Gosick brings a Prairie data center perspective to a conversation about AI infrastructure, cyber resilience, and why the storage conversation is the one Canadian partners should be having right now. And if you haven’t heard it yet, yesterday’s episode features AWS Canada’s Martin Brazonet and CGI’s Dinesh Bhavsar on the launch of the AWS Partner Innovation Hub in Toronto – and why the gap between AI prototype and production is where the real partner opportunity sits. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: ConnectWise Platform: ConnectWise yesterday unveiled what it calls the industry’s first purpose-built platform for Predictive IT, unifying PSA, RMM, cybersecurity, automation, workflow orchestration, and native agentic AI into a single execution layer for managed services. CEO Manny Rivelo described it as a fundamental shift from reactive IT management to an AI-native operating model. The company also released new operational benchmark modeling based on a representative MSP with approximately $3M in annual managed services revenue, showing the productivity and economic impact it says AI-driven automation can deliver. Cavelo Cora AI Security Analyst: Kitchener, Ontario-based Cavelo has introduced Cora, an AI Security Analyst integrated into its data security posture management platform and positioned specifically for MSPs and MSSPs. Cavelo says Cora analyzes security telemetry and translates it into a guided remediation action plan in seconds, tailored by role. The tool targets the operational gap between risk visibility and actual remediation – without requiring additional headcount. Radiant Logic and Zscaler Partnership: Radiant Logic and Zscaler have announced a technology partnership aimed at solving the Day 1 access problem in mergers and acquisitions. By integrating RadiantOne’s identity data fabric with the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, the companies say acquiring organizations can securely connect newly onboarded employees to applications from the moment a deal closes, regardless of disparate identity systems. ConnectSecure Patch 360: ConnectSecure is launching Patch 360, a patch management platform built for MSPs that introduces pilot-first validation, risk-based prioritization using CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities and EPSS scoring, controlled rollouts with approval workflows, and integrated rollback – replacing what the company describes as a “deploy-and-hope” model with a “test-and-trust” framework. NTT DATA and Google Cloud: NTT DATA is expanding its AI partnership with Google Cloud, launching a dedicated Gemini Enterprise practice to help enterprise clients move AI deployments from pilot to production at scale. Descope Agentic Identity Hub: Identity platform Descope is announcing enhancements to its Agentic Identity Hub today, extending its tools for managing authentication and access for autonomous AI agents. Checkmarx CISO Research: Checkmarx has released research surveying more than 2,000 developers and CISOs, finding that 95 percent of CISOs report facing internal pressure to suppress software compliance findings. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, June 9, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. ConnectWise yesterday unveiled what it is calling the industry’s first purpose-built platform for the era of Predictive IT. The ConnectWise Platform brings together PSA, RMM, cybersecurity, automation, workflow orchestration, and native agentic AI into what the company describes as a single intelligent execution layer for managed services. CEO Manny Rivelo positioned it as a fundamental shift away from the labor-intensive, disconnected systems that have defined MSP operations for decades, toward what ConnectWise calls an AI-native operating model. To support the launch, the company released new operational benchmark modeling showing the productivity and economic impact it says AI-driven automation can have on MSP operations. In their model, a representative managed services firm with approximately three million dollars in annual revenue could see measurable transformation across their first stages of the Predictive Intelligence journey. This is a significant platform bet from one of the largest players in the MSP tooling market, and the framing around “Predictive IT” is clearly a narrative ConnectWise intends to own. In the security space, Kitchener, Ontario-based Cavelo has introduced Cora, an AI Security Analyst integrated directly into its data security posture management platform. Positioned specifically for MSPs and MSSPs, Cora functions as an AI agent that analyzes security telemetry to identify, prioritize, and recommend remediation steps for cyber risks across client environments. Rather than adding more alerts to the dashboard, Cavelo says the tool translates security data into a guided action plan in seconds, tailored to the specific roles of frontline technicians and senior security leaders. The development targets a well-documented operational gap between risk visibility and remediation – allowing service providers to reduce manual investigation time and offer clients clear, actionable intelligence without increasing headcount. Radiant Logic and Zscaler have formed a strategic partnership designed to address the Day 1 access challenges commonly found in mergers and acquisitions. By integrating RadiantOne’s identity data fabric with the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, the companies are aiming to eliminate the complex network and identity merge projects that typically stall productivity following a deal close. The joint solution allows acquiring organizations to securely connect newly onboarded employees to necessary applications from day one, regardless of disparate Active Directory or HR systems. In a market where M&A activity among IT service providers shows no sign of slowing, this integration offers a repeatable framework for reducing the downtime and cyber risk associated with bringing acquired entities onto a managed environment – which is a practical and recurring service challenge for many MSPs in the field. In Brief – ConnectSecure launches Patch 360, a patch management platform for MSPs built on pilot-first testing, risk-based vulnerability prioritization, and integrated rollback controls. NTT DATA expands its AI partnership with Google Cloud, launching a dedicated Gemini Enterprise practice to help organizations move deployments from pilot to production scale. Descope is announcing enhancements today to its Agentic Identity Hub, aimed at helping organizations manage access for autonomous AI agents. Checkmarx research of more than 2,000 developers and CISOs finds 95 percent of CISOs report facing pressure to suppress software compliance findings. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we have a conversation about the launch of the AWS Partner Innovation Hub in Toronto, with AWS Canada’s Martin Brazonet and CGI’s Dinesh Bhavsar on the challenge of moving AI from proof-of-concept to production. And if you haven’t heard it yet, check out our conversation with Earl Gosick from ESTI Consulting Services, recorded at Dell Technologies World, on why the AI story is really a storage story – that one is on the feed now. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: ASUS Canada Country Manager: ASUS Canada has announced the appointment of Vernon Coutinho as Country Manager for its System Business Group. Made ahead of the ASUS Business Summit 2026 in Toronto, the move underscores the company’s long-term growth ambitions in the commercial market as it accelerates its focus on AI-ready devices. 7AI PLAID ELITE Launch: Security vendor 7AI has launched PLAID ELITE, a fully managed, AI-native security operations solution. The platform uses agentic AI to autonomously complete the majority of investigations end-to-end, offering partners a way to scale security operations without increasing headcount. Guardz Appoints Channel Leader: SMB cybersecurity platform Guardz has appointed former Pax8 executive Danni Munro as its new Director of Channel Sales for the ANZ region. The hire reflects a broader global channel push by the vendor to help MSPs meet the accelerating demand for consolidated security services. ChannelNEXT Toronto: TechnoPlanet’s ChannelNEXT conference kicks off tomorrow in Toronto, gathering Canadian VARs and MSPs to tackle pressing channel challenges. The event will feature extensive discussions on the future of the channel ecosystem. ManageEngine Autonomous AI: ManageEngine is rolling out an autonomous AI push designed to streamline IT operations. The initiative aims to help MSPs handle increasingly complex environments with automated workflows. Tech Builders 2026: Global Startups will host the Tech Builders 2026 conference in Toronto on June 16, focusing on the new digital economy. The event will explore AI, venture capital, and Canada’s role as a global innovation hub. Tech Financing Adoption: Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada is urging the channel to embed financing into partnerships. Director of Technology Finance Jim Moschos believes this approach will help clients overcome the high upfront costs of complex technology implementations. CRTC Streaming Demands: The CRTC has officially ordered streaming giants like Netflix and Apple TV to boost their spending on Canadian content. The regulatory move is designed to support the domestic production industry. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, May 27th, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Yesterday, ASUS Canada announced the appointment of Vernon Coutinho as Country Manager for its System Business Group. The announcement, which came just ahead of the ASUS Business Summit in Toronto, reflects the company’s long-term growth ambitions in the Canadian commercial market. Coutinho, who brings nearly 30 years of industry experience, will oversee strategy and performance across consumer, gaming, and commercial segments. For Canadian MSPs, this signals a deepening of the ASUS partner ecosystem locally. The company is actively accelerating its focus on AI-ready commercial devices, bringing its consumer DNA into the workplace. According to ASUS, the goal is to elevate the business laptop experience by delivering devices that are secure, manageable, and enjoyable to use. Also on Tuesday, 7AI announced the availability of PLAID ELITE, a fully managed, AI-native security operations solution. The platform combines autonomous investigation by AI agents with expert oversight from 7AI security engineers, delivering a continuous, follow-the-sun security outcome. The company is positioning the tool as a way for organizations to protect their environments without needing to build or scale an internal operations team. What makes this relevant for the channel is the service model. Rather than relying entirely on human analyst shifts, PLAID ELITE’s coverage scales with investigation volume through agentic AI. 7AI noted that agents are now autonomously completing the majority of investigations end-to-end, allowing partners to drive security outcomes through technology rather than headcount. Cybersecurity platform Guardz has appointed former Pax8 executive Danni Munro as its new Director of Channel Sales for the Australia and New Zealand region. While this is an international appointment, Munro’s background in scaling Pax8’s operations underscores a broader channel push by Guardz. The company is actively deepening its partner relationships to meet accelerating demand from small and medium-sized businesses facing rising ransomware threats. This move highlights a continuing global trend where cybersecurity vendors are relying on seasoned channel veterans to help MSPs deliver consolidated security services to clients who lack the internal expertise to manage threats independently. In Brief – TechnoPlanet’s ChannelNEXT conference kicks off tomorrow in Toronto to address pressing partner challenges. ManageEngine says its new autonomous AI push will streamline IT operations for managed service providers. Global Startups is set to host the Tech Builders 2026 conference in Toronto on June 16. Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada is urging the channel to embed financing into partnerships to offset complex technology costs. The CRTC has ordered streaming platforms like Netflix and Apple TV to boost their spending on Canadian content. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we will be airing our conversation with Coro CEO Joe Sykora to discuss security stacks and the 2026 threat landscape. And if you haven’t heard it yet, be sure to check out yesterday’s episode featuring Nigel Brown, CTO of Microserve, for a practitioner’s take on AI readiness and tokenomics from Dell Technologies World. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Zscaler launches Project AI-Guardian: Zscaler announced a new initiative on Tuesday called Project AI-Guardian, partnering with global systems integrators Cognizant, EY, HCL, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro to help enterprises secure AI deployments. The program leverages Zscaler’s AI Protect portfolio – covering AI asset discovery, access controls for AI services, and real-time guardrails for AI infrastructure – to address what the company describes as the security blind spots created by autonomous AI agents acting with delegated permissions. According to CEO Jay Chaudhry, the initiative is designed to “ensure that AI adoption does not come at the cost of security.” Jamf names Beth Tschida CEO: Jamf named Beth Tschida as chief executive officer, effective immediately, on May 20. Tschida moves from interim CEO and former CTO to the permanent role, becoming the first woman to lead the company in its more than 20-year history. The appointment comes roughly four months after Francisco Partners completed its $2.2 billion acquisition of Jamf in January 2026; Tschida’s tenure as CTO saw Jamf’s security ARR grow 40 percent year over year to represent more than 30 percent of total revenue. Aura + TD SYNNEX: Aura Business has partnered with TD SYNNEX to bring its identity-centric BYOD security solution to MSPs through distribution. Aura debuted the offering at MSP Summit 2026, with Omdia research finding that demand for BYOD security among MSP clients is surging. SOCRadar AI agents: SOCRadar launched an AI Agent Marketplace and Identity Intelligence platform designed to help security teams automate detection and response against identity-driven attacks, positioning the agents as additions to existing security stacks. Akamai acquires LayerX: Akamai Technologies announced a definitive agreement to acquire browser security vendor LayerX, extending its workforce security strategy with browser-level visibility and governance over AI usage. Cisco Canada marketing: Jennifer Rideout has rejoined Cisco as head of Canada marketing, noting on LinkedInthat she is about a week into the new role. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Thursday, May 21, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. On Tuesday, Zscaler announced Project AI-Guardian – a formalized initiative that brings together six major global systems integrators under a common framework for securing enterprise AI deployments. The partners are Cognizant, EY, HCL, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro, and together they’ll leverage Zscaler’s AI Protect portfolio to deliver what the company describes as a full 360-degree view of an organization’s AI footprint. The program is designed to address what Zscaler calls the “agentic world” problem – the reality that AI models don’t just respond to queries anymore. They act autonomously, connect to data and apps, trigger downstream actions with delegated permissions, and in doing so, create blind spots that traditional security tools simply aren’t built to see. According to Zscaler’s CEO Jay Chaudhry, “AI adoption does not come at the cost of security” – and the GSI partnerships are meant to scale that posture across the largest enterprises in the world. The GSI framing is enterprise-scale, but the underlying framework – discover your AI assets, control who accesses AI services, secure what AI builds and runs – is a blueprint that maps directly onto the conversations solution providers at every level are already having with their clients. As more organizations ask harder questions about what’s actually running on their networks, the partners who have this conversation early will have an edge. Jamf named Beth Tschida as its permanent chief executive officer yesterday, effective immediately. Tschida has served as interim CEO since March, and before that was the company’s chief technology officer. She becomes the first woman to lead Jamf in its more than 20-year history. The announcement lands about four months after Francisco Partners completed its $2.2 billion acquisition of Jamf in January, taking the company private. Strosahl, who shepherded that transition, has stepped away. Brian Decker of Francisco Partners cited Tschida’s “technical depth, operational discipline, and strategic vision” in a statement. The headline number from her CTO tenure: Jamf’s security ARR grew 40 percent year over year under her watch and now accounts for more than 30 percent of total company revenue. Her stated priorities going forward include autonomous device management, opening the platform for third-party AI tools, and building out an AI governance layer – all of which signal where the product is heading. The Francisco Partners angle is worth a second look. The PE firm also owns SonicWall, BeyondTrust, and Boomi – a portfolio of security and integration assets that, taken together, creates interesting possibilities for cross-platform plays. Channel partners who move Apple devices, or who sell into environments where Apple is a growing presence, should keep an eye on where this leadership takes the product roadmap. In Brief – Aura Business partners with TD SYNNEX to bring its identity-centric BYOD security solution to MSPs through distribution. SOCRadar launches an AI Agent Marketplace and Identity Intelligence platform targeting identity-driven cyberattacks. Akamai announces a definitive agreement to acquire LayerX, a browser-based AI usage control and workforce security vendor. Jennifer Rideout has rejoined Cisco as head of Canada marketing. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, Anthony Tanoury from Dell Technologies joins me to talk about how distribution has become the primary on-ramp for mid-market AI, and what that means as Dell’s Modern Partner Platform takes shape. It’s the last of three conversations I had at Dell Technologies World this week and a good one to end on. And if you haven’t caught Wednesday’s episode yet, Rob Emsley from Dell makes the case that the backup is the target – and why data protection needs to be reframed as a full cyber resilience practice. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Dell PowerStore Elite and the reimagined data center: Yesterday at Dell Technologies World, Dell Technologiesintroduced Dell PowerStore Elite, a new enterprise storage platform delivering up to 3x performance over the prior generation and an industry-best 6:1 data reduction guarantee. The platform packs 5.8 petabytes into a single 3U chassis using standards-based E3 NVMe flash, and introduces Dell Cyber Detect, which identifies ransomware with 99.99% accuracy and pinpoints the last known clean copy for recovery. PowerStore Elite ships in July 2026; Cyber Detect for PowerStore follows in Q3. The broader Day 2 announcement also included 11 new PowerEdge servers, expanded Dell Private Cloud support for Broadcom, Microsoft, and Nutanix stacks, Dell PowerProtect One for simplified cyber resilience, and two new automation products: the Dell Automation Platform and Dell Automation Studio. Jeff Clarke’s tokenomics keynote: In Tuesday’s Day 2 keynote at DTW, Dell COO Jeff Clarke presented a set of ten fundamental shifts from the past year whose through-line is what he called tokenomics. The math: model prices fell 80% per token; token consumption is up 10x; GenAI software spend tripled. Net effect – AI is getting more expensive for most organizations, not less. Clarke illustrated the stakes with a concrete example: one developer running a single agentic use case on the public cloud can burn approximately $3,400 per day in token costs; the same workload runs at zero incremental cost on on-premises infrastructure. Clarke confirmed Dell moved its own operations to on-prem after internal token costs became untenable, and described work underway on what he called “token routing” – an orchestration layer that would automatically direct tasks to either a deskside AI workstation or data center hardware based on workload. He closed with three imperatives: know your token consumption, find your super users, and lead the operating model change or be disrupted by it. Intezer launches Amplify Partner Program: Intezer has officially launched its Intezer Amplify Partner Program, naming channel veteran Mark Daggett as vice president of global channels and alliances. The program formalizes Intezer’s channel investment as demand for AI-driven security operations grows and the talent gap in security operations continues to widen. According to Intezer, the program is designed to help MSSPs and solution providers step in where internal security teams lack the capacity to operationalize AI-powered alert triage and threat investigation, translating the company’s platform capabilities into managed and co-managed service offerings. Check Point agentic network security orchestration: Check Point announced an agentic network security orchestration platform on Monday designed to replace decades of rule-based complexity, reducing network policy management from months of manual effort to minutes of verified, automated action. The announcement is part of a broader Check Point push into agentic security capabilities across its Infinity platform. Zendesk unveils Autonomous Service Workforce: At its annual Relate conference, Zendesk announced the Autonomous Service Workforce, a product vision built around specialized AI agents priced per resolution rather than per seat. Key launches include a no-code Agent Builder, omnichannel coverage with shared context, and a real-time Quality Score applied to every interaction – human or AI. Riverbed extends Aternity AIOps: Riverbed has released new Aternity digital experience (DEX) capabilities positioning AIOps as proactive disruption prevention rather than reactive monitoring, giving IT teams predictive intelligence before end-user experience degrades. WinMagic brings zero trust to legacy OT: WinMagic has introduced Continuous Identity Assurance, a hardware-bound approach to endpoint identity that extends zero trust controls to air-gapped systems and legacy operational technology environments traditionally outside the reach of modern identity platforms. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, May 20, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Continuing coverage from Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, where yesterday’s Day 2 product announcements shifted the spotlight from the partner program to the infrastructure portfolio. The headline item was Dell PowerStore Elite, which Dell is positioning as a new class of enterprise storage platform built for what it calls an AI-era data center. According to the company, PowerStore Elite delivers up to three times the performance of the previous generation through software-driven improvements, and backs it all with what Dell describes as an industry-best 6:1 data reduction guarantee – up from 5:1 – a number it says carries real weight in today’s supply-constrained flash market. The platform packs up to 5.8 petabytes of effective capacity into a single 3U chassis using industry-standard E3 NVMe flash rather than proprietary drives, giving partners and their customers more flexibility on cost and sourcing. The cyber resilience angle is where it gets interesting for MSPs. Dell is introducing Dell Cyber Detect for PowerStore, which inspects data at the byte level and is positioned as being able to identify ransomware with 99.99% accuracy – surfacing the last known clean copy so organizations can recover fast. That capability will be available in Q3 2026. PowerStore Elite itself is set for global availability in July. The broader data center announcement also included 11 new PowerEdge servers spanning both air-cooled and liquid-cooled environments, expanded Dell Private Cloud support for Broadcom, Microsoft, and Nutanix software stacks, and two new automation products: the Dell Automation Platform, which pairs AI agents with a conversational interface for infrastructure deployment and management, and Dell Automation Studio for building custom, full-stack orchestration workflows. Nearly 20,000 customers already run PowerStore globally, and Dell is emphasizing that existing deployments can cluster with PowerStore Elite without disruption – a meaningful selling point for partners managing live customer environments. The second big story out of Las Vegas yesterday is one that deserves some unpacking. During his keynote, Dell’s chief operating officer Jeff Clarke laid out what he called ten fundamental changes in the past twelve months – and the thread running through the whole list is a single concept: tokenomics. The numbers Clarke presented tell a story that’s easy to miss if you only hear the headline. Model prices have fallen roughly 80% per token in the last year – sounds like great news. Except token consumption is simultaneously up ten times. And GenAI software spend has tripled in twelve months. The net effect is that AI is actually getting more expensive for most organizations, not less. Clarke made it concrete with a single example: one developer, one agentic use case, building a software tool. On the public cloud, that use case can run up roughly $3,400 a day in token costs. Running the equivalent workload on on-premises infrastructure with local models? Zero incremental dollars. Clarke went further and confirmed that Dell itself made the shift to on-premises AI after its own token costs became untenable – which is a different kind of endorsement than anything you hear from a keynote stage. He also flagged something worth watching: Dell is working on what he called token routing, an orchestration layer that would automatically determine whether a given task is better handled by a deskside AI workstation or by data center infrastructure. He was clear it’s still in development, but it signals where Dell sees the intersection of its PC and server businesses heading. Clarke closed his keynote with three actionable imperatives: know your token consumption, find your super users, and lead the operating model change or be disrupted by it. That first one is the real challenge for most organizations – and the one an MSP or trusted advisor can walk into and own. Away from Las Vegas now, and Intezer has officially launched its Intezer Amplify Partner Program, naming industry veteran Mark Daggett as vice president of global channels and alliances to lead the effort. The program formalizes the company’s channel investment at a moment when demand for AI-driven security operations is accelerating. Intezer’s pitch to the channel is essentially a gap-filling argument: internal security teams are drowning in alert volume while the talent required to triage and investigate those alerts remains in short supply. The Amplify program is designed to equip partners to step into that gap, delivering Intezer’s automated alert triage and threat investigation capabilities as a managed or co-managed offering. The appointment of a dedicated channel VP is the clearest signal yet that Intezer is treating the channel as a primary route to market, not a secondary one. Partners building out managed security or MSSP practices looking to differentiate around AI-augmented SOC capabilities have another option worth a closer look. In Brief –  Check Point launches an agentic network security orchestration platform it says collapses months of manual policy work into minutes of verified action.  Zendesk unveils its Autonomous Service Workforce at the Relate conference, introducing per-resolution AI agent pricing and a no-code Agent Builder.  Riverbed announces new Aternity digital experience capabilities designed to shift AIOps from reactive visibility to proactive disruption prevention.  WinMagic introduces Continuous Identity Assurance, anchoring identity verification in hardware to extend zero trust protocols to air-gapped and legacy OT environments.  Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, still from the show floor at Dell Technologies World, I sit down with Rob Emsley, director of cyber resilience marketing at Dell Technologies, on why 97% of cyber attacks now specifically target the backup infrastructure – and what it actually means to build a resilience strategy around the concept of the minimum viable company. And if you haven’t heard yesterday’s episode yet, check out my conversation with Alan Ashby, Dell’s senior director of Americas data center presales and specialty sales, on the practical infrastructure realities of the AI boom – from a deskside AI workstation for an SMB to consolidating 13 legacy servers into one. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: The AI supply chain squeeze: Yesterday, we brought you a special mid-day look at the new partner platform and AI Factory announcements from Dell Technologies World. But if you look past the glitz of the main stage, there was a sobering reality check delivered during the partner-specific keynote. Pete Trizzino, president of global sales at Dell Technologies, warned partners that supply constraints are officially back. Driven by voracious hyperscaler demand for AI infrastructure, the squeeze on GPUs, CPUs, and memory is tightening rapidly. In fact, Trizzino warned that the supply chain issues we are starting to see now could be significantly worse in 2027. For Canadian MSPs and VARs, this is the klaxon sounding for hardware lifecycle planning. Partners need to be having capacity conversations with their clients today, locking in orders, and potentially leveraging IT financing to bridge the gap while hardware makes its way through a congested supply chain. CIRA targets the MSP model: Closer to home, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is preparing to launch a new channel-oriented product platform at the ChannelNEXT conference in Toronto later this month. Led by channel executive Tim Brien, the upcoming platform marks a dedicated pivot toward a managed service provider model. As Canadian organizations face an increasingly complex threat landscape complicated by strict data privacy regulations like Law 25 and PIPEDA, the demand for sovereign, domestic cybersecurity infrastructure is accelerating. By embracing a multi-tenant channel model, CIRA aims to provide Canadian solution providers with a localized alternative for DNS and enterprise security services, removing the administrative friction of scaling broad deployments. PraisonAI zero-day and Operation Ramz: In the cybersecurity space, threat actors are actively exploiting a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in PraisonAI (CVE-2026-44338). The zero-day flaw was targeted within hours of its disclosure, meaning anyone building agentic AI pipelines with the framework needs to apply patches immediately. On a positive note, INTERPOL has announced the results of Operation Ramz, a massive cybercrime crackdown across 13 countries in the Middle East and North Africa that resulted in 201 arrests and the seizure of dozens of malware and phishing servers. In Brief: Lumina emerges from stealth: Cybersecurity startup Lumina has officially launched an AI-native platform designed to reduce alert noise by 87 percent across cloud, identity, and endpoint environments. With security operations centers overwhelmed by false positives, Lumina is using AI to automatically triage and contextualize threats, freeing up analysts to focus on genuine incidents. Nordian and Starlink partner up: Connectivity provider Nordian has signed a reseller agreement with Starlink to embed high-speed satellite internet directly into industrial equipment. Targeted at the agriculture, mining, and transportation sectors, this allows Canadian edge deployments in remote areas to maintain constant connectivity, enabling real-time telemetry and predictive maintenance. Noah Labs builds local AI: Software developer Noah Labs is building Sentinel, an AI-native integrated development environment designed to run 100 percent on-device. As data sovereignty becomes critical, Sentinel allows developers to build and test AI models locally, removing the risk of exposing sensitive proprietary data to public cloud APIs during the development phase. NSF’s deep-tech initiative: The United States National Science Foundation has announced a $1.5 billion X-Labs initiative to fund deep-tech research. The massive influx of capital is expected to heavily influence cross-border commercialization and innovation in North America, focusing on autonomous systems, quantum networking, and advanced materials. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, May 19, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Yesterday, we brought you a special mid-day look at Dell’s new Modern Partner Platform and the massive expansion of the Dell AI Factory. But if you look past the glitz of the main stage, there was a very sobering reality check delivered during the partner-specific keynote. Pete Trizzino, president of global sales at Dell Technologies, took the stage to warn partners that supply constraints are officially back. Driven by the voracious hyperscaler demand for AI infrastructure, the squeeze on GPUs, CPUs, and memory is tightening rapidly. In fact, Trizzino warned that the supply chain issues we are starting to see now could be significantly worse in 2027. For Canadian MSPs and VARs, this is the klaxon sounding for hardware lifecycle planning. If you are waiting until the quarter a client needs a server refresh, you are going to be too late. Partners need to be having these capacity conversations with their clients today, locking in orders, and potentially leveraging IT financing and distribution partners to bridge the gap while hardware makes its way through a congested supply chain. Closer to home, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, or CIRA, is preparing to launch a new, heavily channel-oriented product platform later this month at the ChannelNEXT conference in Toronto. Led by channel executive Tim Brien, the upcoming platform marks a dedicated pivot toward a true managed service provider model for the national internet registry. For years, Canadian organizations have faced an increasingly complex threat landscape complicated by strict data privacy regulations like Law 25 and PIPEDA. The demand for sovereign, domestic cybersecurity infrastructure is accelerating. By embracing a multi-tenant channel model, CIRA aims to provide Canadian solution providers with a localized alternative for DNS and enterprise security services. The new program is designed to allow channel partners to self-provision services, exert granular control over technical deployments, and scale enterprise-grade security offerings to their small and medium-sized business clients. Ultimately, this move is intended to remove the administrative friction associated with scaling broad deployments, allowing partners to integrate CIRA capabilities directly into their existing recurring revenue security stacks. In the cybersecurity space, it has been a busy 24 hours. First, a major warning for developers and security teams working with autonomous agents: threat actors are actively exploiting a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in PraisonAI, tracked as CVE-2026-44338. The zero-day flaw was targeted within hours of its disclosure, meaning anyone building agentic AI pipelines with the framework needs to apply patches immediately. On a more positive note, INTERPOL has announced the results of Operation Ramz, a massive, coordinated cybercrime crackdown across thirteen countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The first-of-its-kind operation resulted in 201 arrests and the disruption of major cybercrime networks, including the seizure of dozens of malware and phishing servers that have been targeting businesses globally. In Brief: Cybersecurity startup Lumina emerges from stealth today with an AI-native platform designed to reduce alert noise. Connectivity provider Nordian has signed a reseller agreement with Starlink to embed high-speed satellite internet into industrial equipment. Software developer Noah Labs is building Sentinel, an AI-native integrated development environment designed to run entirely on-device. And the United States National Science Foundation has announced a 1.5 billion dollar X-Labs initiative to fund deep-tech research. Full details and expanded stories on all of our In Brief items can be found in the show notes or the blog post at ChannelBuzz.ca. Later today on In The Channel, we have more from Las Vegas. I’ll be sitting down with Alan Ashby, Dell’s senior director of Americas data center presales, to break down the practical realities of the AI infrastructure boom for mid-market partners. And if you haven‘t heard yesterday’s episode yet, that’s probably because there wasn’t one, because outside of Dell Technologies World, it was Victoria Day back home. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: HPE unifies distribution model: Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced a major shift in its distribution strategy, naming Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX as its two global distributors. The move transitions HPE to a unified distribution model designed to deliver greater consistency and operational support for partners worldwide, accelerating enablement across the vendor’s networking, cloud, and AI portfolios. N-able names new innovation and AI chiefs: Managed services software provider N-able has expanded its executive leadership team, announcing the appointments of Robert Johnston as Chief Innovation Officer and Nicole Reineke as Chief AI Officer. The new roles are intended to reinforce the company’s focus on business resilience and embed advanced AI automation directly into its platform ecosystem. HYCU turns backup data into security intelligence: Data resilience vendor HYCU launched HYCU aiR, an AI-native solution that transforms backup data into actionable security intelligence, allowing MSPs to run rapid security posture checks across a prospect’s environment. By reading backup data as a security intelligence layer, partners can deliver overlapping intelligence as a natural extension of backup contracts. CIRA prepares sovereign channel platform: The Canadian Internet Registration Authority will officially unveil a new channel-based cybersecurity platform for MSPs at the upcoming ChannelNEXT event in Toronto. The move provides Canadian IT providers with a homegrown, sovereign option for DNS firewalling and cybersecurity awareness training. Object First launches backup monitoring cloud: Object First has launched a new cloud platform designed to help partners monitor and manage distributed data backups across their client environments. Plugable names CRO to build B2B channel: Peripherals maker Plugable has expanded its B2B strategy with the appointment of Matthew Dargis as Chief Revenue Officer. Dargis is tasked with building out a new field sales organization to capture enterprise market share. Keeper Security updates MSP program: Keeper Security has introduced its 2026 MSP Partner Program, rolling out a new tiered discount structure based on annualized revenue. MTech Cyber launches SMB assessment tool: Montreal-based MTech Cyber has released a new assessment platform, Can104.com, to help IT providers validate security protections for small business clients. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Friday, May 15, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced a major shift in its distribution strategy yesterday, naming Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX as its two global distributors. The move transitions HPE to a unified distribution model designed to deliver greater consistency and operational support for partners worldwide. According to the vendor, this structure will be anchored by these two global leaders but complemented by regional and specialist distributors to maximize partner capabilities. The change signals a streamlined approach to enablement, with HPE expecting the unified model to drive additional investments in partner resources across its full portfolio. This includes helping distributors build deeper expertise in high-demand areas like networking, cloud, and AI. For Canadian IT solution providers, a simplified global distribution tier could mean more predictable engagements, faster quoting, and improved access to cross-sell opportunities, particularly within the HPE Networking portfolio, as priorities evolve across different customer sizes and industries. Managed services software provider N-able has expanded its executive leadership team, announcing the appointments of Robert Johnston as Chief Innovation Officer and Nicole Reineke as Chief AI Officer. The dual appointments highlight a strategic pivot toward embedding artificial intelligence and advanced automation directly into the company’s platform ecosystem. N-able noted the new roles are intended to reinforce the company’s focus on business resilience and innovation as IT providers face increasingly complex cyber and operational challenges. Designating a dedicated Chief AI Officer is a notable step in the MSP software space, signaling that AI is moving from a roadmap feature to a core architectural priority. IT solution providers running their practices on N-able can expect a more aggressive rollout of AI-driven capabilities designed to streamline technician workflows and improve automated threat response. Data resilience vendor HYCU launched HYCU aiR yesterday, an AI-native solution that transforms backup data into actionable security and compliance intelligence. Rather than relying on point solutions for data security posture management or insider risk, aiR allows organizations to query their existing backup data across dozens of SaaS applications to identify sensitive data exposure, identity drift, and unmonitored AI agent activity. For managed service providers, this alters the backup conversation. Partners can use the platform to run rapid assessments across a prospect’s environment, identifying compliance exposures within days. According to the company, midmarket customers are often priced out of standalone security tools that cover a fraction of the estate. By reading backup data as a security intelligence layer across more than 100 workloads, partners can deliver overlapping intelligence as a natural extension of backup contracts, providing a tangible way to govern shadow AI and secure data pipelines. In Brief – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority will unveil a new channel-based cybersecurity platform for MSPs at the ChannelNEXT event in Toronto later this month. Object First has launched a new cloud platform designed to help partners monitor and manage distributed data backups. Peripherals maker Plugable has expanded its B2B strategy with the appointment of Matthew Dargis as Chief Revenue Officer to build out a new field sales organization. Keeper Security has introduced its 2026 MSP Partner Program with a new tier-based discount structure tied to annualized global revenue. Montreal-based managed service provider MTech Cyber has released an assessment platform designed to help IT providers validate security protections for small business clients. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we’ll feature a conversation with Lenovo’s global partner ecosystem head Jeff Taylor and Canada channel chief Craig Taylor on the vendor’s massive incentive consolidation and the shift to services-led revenue. And if you haven’t heard it yet, on yesterday’s episode of In The Channel, we sat down with ESET’s Cameron Tousley and Pedro Kertzman to discuss why cyber threat intelligence belongs in the MSP practice. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

The Catechism provides an overview on how Jesus grants the Church the ability to forgive sins through both Baptism and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Fr. Mike doubles down on the revelation that there is no sin that Jesus can't forgive—and no one is disqualified. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 976-987. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

When we show devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, we fulfill her prophecy that “all generations will call me blessed.” The Catechism clearly shows us how such devotion does not compete with devotion to God, but in fact fosters adoration of God. Fr. Mike declares that the better we know Mary, the better we know Jesus, and the more we love Mary, the more we love Jesus. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 971-975. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: SonicWall is making its Gen 8 security platform available in virtualized environments for the first time with the launch of the NSv XS, a subscription-based virtual firewall purpose-built for MSPs and MSSPs delivering managed security to small and distributed environments. The NSv XS supports VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, KVM, AWS, Azure, and Proxmox and ships in three service tiers designed around recurring revenue models. The top tier adds co-managed security from SonicWall’s SonicSentry NOC team plus embedded cyber warranty coverage through Cysurance. SonicWall’s 2026 Cyber Protect Report found high and medium severity attacks surged 20.8% last year, and with 52% of enterprises now running most of their infrastructure in the cloud, the NSv XS is explicitly designed to close that gap. Huntress and specialty insurance firm Acrisure have launched a new cyber insurance program offering eligible organizations access to Cyber or Tech E&O policies with no deductible and a streamlined application process. Organizations running qualifying Huntress Managed EDR and ITDR solutions may benefit from simplified underwriting – demonstrating active security posture translates to better insurance terms. The two companies are positioning the program as a response to growing AI-driven cyber threats and an alternative to the traditionally complex process of securing adequate cyber coverage. Intruder has released its 2026 Attack Surface Management Index, based on anonymized data from 3,000 customers. The headline number: 26% of organizations have exposed MySQL databases, a known target for ransomware and data extortion. Midmarket companies in the 5,000-10,000 employee range take an average of 56 days to remediate exposures – nearly four times slower than small enterprises. Banks closed gaps in an average of 11 days; insurance and pharma firms averaged more than 40. The report frames this against the emergence of autonomous AI models capable of independently discovering zero-day vulnerabilities – which makes a 56-day remediation window a meaningful risk. ThreatDown has launched identity threat detection and response for MSPs, adding credential-based attack detection to its managed security stack. ITDR joins ThreatDown‘s existing endpoint protection capabilities as attackers increasingly target identity infrastructure rather than devices directly. Cycode has announced new capabilities for AI-driven development, declaring “shift left is dead” and repositioning its application security platform around the AI development lifecycle. The move reflects a broader rethinking of where security fits as AI-generated code accelerates development velocity and introduces new risk vectors. Toronto-based MSP roll-up AYCE Capital has acquired a cybersecurity advisory firm to anchor a portfolio-wide center of excellence in vCISO and managed security operations. The move signals a push to build differentiated security capabilities across its MSP portfolio rather than sourcing them piecemeal. MSPAlliance has launched new service lines under its Cyber Verify program, expanding the compliance and assurance framework available to managed service providers. The additions give MSPs more structured pathways to demonstrate security and operational maturity to enterprise and regulated-industry clients. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, May 13, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. SonicWall yesterday announced the NSv XS, a new virtual firewall extending its Gen 8 platform to cloud environments, with managed service providers and MSSPs as the primary target. The product allows partners to deploy firewall security wherever customer workloads run – public cloud, private cloud, branch offices, and distributed infrastructure – under a management model designed for multi-tenant operations. According to SonicWall, the NSv XS carries the same Gen 8 security engine found in its physical appliances into a lightweight virtual form factor, which the company says closes a growing gap as customer environments increasingly span both physical and cloud boundaries that legacy appliances can’t follow. The announcement is a practical one for the channel: a cloud-native firewall with the Gen 8 engine that can be managed centrally simplifies both the sales conversation around security coverage and the operational overhead of delivering it across heterogeneous customer environments. Also yesterday, Huntress announced a partnership with insurance firm Acrisure to connect cybersecurity posture directly to cyber insurance outcomes for eligible organizations. Under the program, customers running the Huntress managed security platform can access Cyber and Tech Errors and Omissions policies through Acrisure with no deductible – with policy terms tied to the customer’s verified security posture rather than a generic underwriting baseline. According to Huntress, the program is built on the premise that organizations that have actually deployed layered security controls should not be underwritten at the same rates as those that haven’t. The arrangement is worth watching for solution providers who have been looking for cyber insurance integrations that go beyond co-marketing – this one appears to operationalize the connection between managed security delivery and insurance terms in a way that could strengthen both the MSP’s value proposition and the client’s risk profile. Intruder rounded out a busy Tuesday by releasing its 2026 Attack Surface Management Index, drawing on anonymized data from 3,000 organizations to assess how quickly companies are identifying and closing their exposed attack surfaces. The headline finding: more than one in four organizations still have MySQL databases exposed and accessible from the internet – a foundational configuration risk that the report says reflects a broader struggle to maintain visibility over sprawling and distributed infrastructure. According to Intruder, the data shows that human remediation is falling further behind the pace of automated exploitation, a trend the company calls the “Mythos Era” – a period in which attacker tooling has measurably outpaced defender workflows. The report gives solution providers a concrete, data-backed framework to bring into client conversations, particularly for customers still relying on point-in-time scanning rather than continuous monitoring. In Brief –  ThreatDown yesterday launched an identity threat detection and response platform, extending its security stack to cover credential-based attacks across Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, and Active Directory.  Cycode is declaring “shift left is dead,” releasing new agentic development lifecycle security capabilities designed to protect AI-driven software pipelines from code generation through deployment.  Toronto-based AYCE Capital yesterday announced the acquisition of a cybersecurity advisory firm to anchor a portfolio-wide security center of excellence.  MSPAlliance last week added Service Lines to its Cyber Verify platform, letting MSPs map audited controls directly to the services they deliver for cleaner, client-ready compliance reporting.  Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we’re sitting down with Steve Petryschuk from Auvik to dig into their 2026 IT Trends Report and what the data reveals about the gap between AI ambition and AI maturity in managed services. And if you haven’t heard it yet, yesterday’s episode is a good one – Joel Abramson from Top Down Ventures joins me to discuss the close of their C$38 million MSP-focused founders fund and why they believe managed service providers are the primary delivery vehicle for AI to the small and mid-market. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

When the Supreme Court released their decision to limit the scope and scale of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in late April, Amy knew she wanted to dig into the political and legal repercussions with someone who is well-versed in both of those areas. She immediately turned to Sean Trende, a senior analyst at RealClearPolitics and a lawyer who has deep expertise in redistricting law. In fact, back in 2022, Sean was one of two special masters assigned to draw Virginia's congressional maps. He's also an astute analyst of political trends and elections. It doesn't hurt that Sean lives in Ohio - a key epicenter for the battle for the Senate this year.As fate would have it, we recorded this just a couple days before the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the Virginia map voters had approved earlier this spring. While we weren't able to address it directly, we did discuss the possibility of this very scenario and its broader impact on the U.S. House map for 2026. Amy's goal for the interview was to look past the immediate impacts in 2026 and ask what impact of the tit-for-tat redistricting wars could be on our politics in the near and far term. We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, May 6. Check out our Redistricting Tracker: www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/redistricting/2025-2026-redistricting-tracker-how-many-seats-could-flip-0Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.**Listen to our weekly podcast Editors Roundtable**Find it on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/editors-roundtable/id1765349026Find it on Substack: https://thecookpoliticalreport.substack.com/s/editors-roundtable

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Top Down Ventures closes C$38M Founders Fund I: Top Down Ventures has announced the final close of its Founders Fund I at $38 million Canadian, oversubscribed against its original target. According to the firm, this is the first institutional fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and AI for the MSP ecosystem, backed by more than 100 MSP operators including Pax8. The fund’s first exit – zofiQ to ConnectWise – returned 5.3x the invested capital in roughly six months. Canada now second globally for ransomware, Fortinet reports: New data from Fortinet‘s 2026 Global Threat Landscape Report and its companion 2026 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report show Canada has moved from third to second globally for ransomware attacks, with 374 organizations extorted and 17 billion total cyberattacks recorded in 2025. According to Fortinet, AI-accelerated threats are compressing time-to-exploit by two to four times, while 47 percent of Canadian IT leaders cite a cybersecurity skills shortage as a top cause of breaches. Barracuda: one in three emails now malicious or spam: Barracuda‘s 2026 Email Threats Report, based on analysis of 3.1 billion emails, finds that 48 percent of malicious email activity is phishing, 34 percent of organizations experience account takeover at least monthly, and 70 percent of malicious PDFs now hide phishing links inside QR codes. According to Barracuda, attackers are shifting toward stealthier, trust-based tactics designed to bypass traditional filters, creating growing demand for layered email protection and automated response. Calian completes Computex acquisition: Ottawa-based Calian Group has officially completed its acquisition of U.S. managed service provider Computex. The deal expands Calian’s American IT services footprint and adds to its cybersecurity capabilities. Crogl begins private rollout of AI SOC platform: Crogl has initiated a private rollout of its new AI-powered SOC platform, positioning it to help service providers automate threat response and reduce alert fatigue for lean security teams. Pax8 and NinjaOne announce MSP partnership: Pax8 and NinjaOne have announced a partnership starting as a referral motion, giving MSPs a path to RMM and unified IT operations tools while the companies work toward future marketplace integration. TD SYNNEX secures reserved NVIDIA GPU access for MSPs: TD SYNNEX has arranged reserved NVIDIA GPU capacity for channel partners through a deal with Nebius AI Cloud, giving MSPs a route to AI infrastructure services without buying hardware or competing with hyperscalers for supply. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, May 12, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Top Down Ventures has announced the final close of its Founders Fund I, pulling in 38 million Canadian dollars and oversubscribing its original target. According to the firm, this is the first institutional fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and artificial intelligence for the managed service provider ecosystem, which it values as a roughly 1 trillion dollar global IT services category. The fund is backed by a limited partner base of more than 100 MSP operators, including distribution giant Pax8. Top Down noted that closing the fund in the current economic environment was a challenge, but the oversubscription signals clear institutional interest in the MSP software space. The firm also pointed to its first exit as a proof point – zofiQ, an agentic AI platform for MSP service desks, was acquired by ConnectWise just six months after Top Down’s initial investment, returning 5.3 times the invested capital. Having dedicated institutional capital purpose-built for the ecosystem means the next generation of MSP tooling gets funded by people who actually understand the problem. For solution providers thinking about where the platform wars are heading over the next five years, this fund is part of that story. New data released yesterday by Fortinet paints a stark picture of Canada’s position in the global threat landscape. According to the company’s 2026 Global Threat Landscape Report and its companion 2026 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report, Canada has moved from third to second globally in ransomware attacks, with 374 Canadian organizations extorted last year. Total cyberattacks against Canadian targets surged to 17 billion in 2025, up from 13.7 billion the year before. Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs says the time-to-exploit for critical vulnerabilities is now running two to four times faster than it was, driven by threat actors deploying agentic AI to accelerate reconnaissance and execution. The skills picture compounds the problem: 47 percent of Canadian IT leaders cited a lack of cybersecurity talent as a top cause of breaches, and 49 percent say they struggle to hire staff with specific AI security experience. That combination – faster attacks, a shrinking talent pool – is exactly the kind of environment where a strong MSP security practice becomes a business necessity for SMB clients, not a nice-to-have. Derek Manky, chief security strategist and global vice president of threat intelligence at FortiGuard Labs, called it an “industrialized defense” challenge. New research from Barracuda released this morning adds another dimension to the threat picture. Based on an analysis of 3.1 billion emails, the company’s 2026 Email Threats Report finds that one in three emails is now malicious or unwanted spam. According to Barracuda, 48 percent of malicious email activity is phishing, 34 percent of organizations experience account takeover at least once per month, and 90 percent of high-volume phishing campaigns now use phishing-as-a-service kits. Perhaps most notable for the managed services conversation: 70 percent of malicious PDFs now hide phishing links inside QR codes, a tactic specifically designed to bypass traditional email filters. Barracuda positions the core finding as a shift in attacker strategy – away from noisy malware and toward stealthier, trust-based techniques that use compromised accounts and familiar file formats to slip past defenses. The report identifies growing demand for layered email and identity protection combined with automated response, which points directly to an opportunity for service providers helping customers with lean IT teams who are already stretched managing alert volume. In Brief – Calian Group has completed its acquisition of U.S. managed service provider Computex, expanding the Ottawa-based firm’s American footprint and cybersecurity capabilities. Crogl has begun a private rollout of its AI-powered SOC platform, positioning it to help service providers automate threat response and cut alert fatigue. Pax8 and NinjaOne have announced a partnership starting as a referral motion, giving MSPs a path to RMM and unified IT operations tools while the companies work toward future marketplace integration. TD SYNNEX has given MSPs reserved access to NVIDIA GPU capacity through a deal with Nebius AI Cloud, letting channel partners deliver AI infrastructure services without buying hardware or competing with hyperscalers for GPU supply. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, I sit down with Joel Abramson, managing partner at Top Down Ventures, to go deeper on the Founders Fund close – the LP flywheel strategy, the zofiQ exit, and what it means for the companies building the next generation of MSP software. And if you missed it yesterday, check out my conversation with Steven Kiss, partner and national ServiceNow practice leader at EY Canada, on what building Canada’s first ServiceNow elite partner teaches you about what is coming next in the agentic enterprise. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

The Catechism further unpacks the communion of saints and shows us how the Church lives in communion with those members who have passed on to eternal life with Christ in heaven. If you're listening to this podcast and you're not Catholic—or if you still have questions about the communion of saints—Fr. Mike has a word for you. This is your family, interceding on your behalf that you might receive the fullness of Faith here on earth. Today's readings are from Catechism paragraphs 954-962. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

This "In Brief" section reviews all that we have learned in recent episodes. In the Church, “the faithful" refers to clerics and the laity with various callings in each. Fr. Mike explains how God calls every human being to unity with him. No matter our vocations, we must surrender our lives to the Lord and participate in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly offices of Christ. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 934-945. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Integris, a managed AI and IT services firm backed by OMERS Private Equity, has announced its intent to acquireFirst Focus, the largest managed service provider serving small and midsize businesses across Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is designed to extend Integris’ geographic reach while accelerating delivery of AI-enabled managed services across regions. For the channel, the transaction is a clear expression of the platform MSP consolidation trend playing out globally through private equity – and for Canadian observers, the OMERS connection is notable: the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System is the PE backer driving this international build-out. Cybersecurity vendor NeuShield has announced a partnership with Ontario-based MSP Data Guards to deliver instant ransomware recovery services to clients. In a documented real-world use case, the companies reported restoring more than 6.2 terabytes of encrypted data in just fifteen minutes – a recovery window NeuShield says would have taken more than five days using traditional backup methods. By integrating NeuShield Data Sentinel into its managed security stack, Data Guards can offer one-click recovery of corrupted data and storage-layer protection against ransomware and file tampering, reflecting a broader market shift as solution providers move beyond prevention and detection to guarantee client data remains continuously recoverable without system rebuilds. ThreatLabs Europe, the research arm of ThreatDown, has discovered threat actors weaponizing AI agent skills to deliver the GachiLoader infostealer. Attackers are using a fake OpenClaw AI agent skill as a lure to inject the Rhadamanthys infostealer directly into memory, leveraging the Polygon blockchain for command and control to bypass traditional perimeter defenses. The malware harvests cryptocurrency wallets, browser credentials, Telegram messages, and password manager contents. The discovery is a direct warning for the channel: as non-human identities proliferate in client environments, identity and access management practices must now account for the vulnerabilities introduced by AI agents – not just human users. In brief: Sublime Security has launched its first formal channel partner program and announced a move to a 100 percent channel sales model, with dedicated reseller and MSSP tracks. The agentic email security platform uses a rules-plus-AI approach it says catches attacks that signature-based tools and generic AI products miss. Konica Minolta has announced the spring 2026 launch of the AccurioPress C5080 Series, a new line of digital production presses designed for high-volume commercial printing environments. Forescout has launched Mission:Possible, the company’s biggest channel partner tour in 25 years, spanning more than 90 cities globally between May and September. The immersive events are built around hands-on IT, OT, IoT, and industrial security challenges, with the goal of sharpening partner positioning around zero trust and continuous threat exposure management. Microsoft 365 E7 goes generally available today at $99 per user per month, bundling Microsoft 365 Copilot, the Entra Suite, and advanced compliance capabilities in a single commercial tier. Microsoft’s Q3 earnings this week confirmed Copilot has crossed 20 million paid seats – E7’s launch signals the next phase of the AI licensing conversation for solution providers. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Friday, May 1, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Integris, a managed AI and IT services firm backed by OMERS Private Equity, has announced its intent to acquire First Focus, the largest managed service provider serving small and midsize businesses across Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is designed to extend Integris’ geographic footprint while accelerating delivery of secure, scalable AI capabilities across regions. For the channel, it’s a clear example of the platform MSP consolidation trend playing out globally – and for Canadian observers specifically, it’s worth noting that OMERS, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, is the private equity backer driving this international build-out. Cybersecurity vendor NeuShield has announced a partnership with Canadian MSP Data Guards to deliver instant ransomware recovery services to clients. In a real-world use case that highlights the collaboration, the companies reported successfully restoring more than 6.2 terabytes of encrypted data in just fifteen minutes. According to NeuShield, this compares to more than five days that would have been required using traditional backup methods. By integrating NeuShield Data Sentinel into its managed security stack, Data Guards can offer one-click recovery of corrupted data and protection at the storage layer against ransomware and file tampering. The partnership underscores a broader trend in the market, as solution providers increasingly move beyond prevention and detection to ensure client data remains continuously recoverable without the need to rebuild systems from scratch. ThreatLabs Europe, the research arm of ThreatDown, has discovered that threat actors are now weaponizing AI agent skills to deliver the GachiLoader infostealer. According to the company, attackers are using a fake OpenClaw AI agent skill as a lure to inject the Rhadamanthys infostealer directly into memory. The attack utilizes the Polygon blockchain for command and control instructions, allowing it to bypass many traditional perimeter defenses to harvest cryptocurrency wallets, browser credentials, Telegram messages, and password managers. As malicious actors increasingly exploit the expanding footprint of non-human identities, the discovery serves as a clear warning to the channel. IT professionals must ensure comprehensive identity and access management practices account for the vulnerabilities introduced by AI agents operating within client environments. In Brief –  Sublime Security plans to go 100 percent channel Konica Minolta has announced the spring 2026 launch of its AccurioPress C5080 Series for digital production environments.  Forescout goes on Mission:Possible partner tour And finally, today's the day for the launch of Microsoft 365 E7  Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we continue our coverage from SAS Innovate 2026, as we talk to SAS global channel chief John Carey about four years building out the channel program for the analytics company, the increasing role of MSPs, and how his own goals for the partner portion of the company's revenues are evolving. And if you haven’t heard it yet, yesterday’s episode featured my chat with SAS Canada leader Ryan MacDonald on the state of the AI opportunity in Canada, the role of partners, and why the value of SAS may be hidden to some customers. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Has the divisive rhetoric of President Trump's administration irrevocably changed America's reputation in the eyes of its allies and adversaries? Former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove and guest co-host Baroness Ayesha Hazarika sit down with Democratic US Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire to discuss how US foreign policy has shifted during Trump's second term. Beginning with In Brief, Sir Richard and Ayesha examine the history of UK royalty visits to the US from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles II, and the strategic importance of these visits for maintaining the “special relationship” between the US and UK. Then, Senator Shaheen argues that Trump's lax approach to Putin and Russia undermines support for Ukraine, emphasizing that a win for Ukraine is a win for the West. She criticizes the administration's China strategy, warning that the withdrawal of aid and allyship by America has put China in a position to fill the vacuum. The Senator also warns about the growing relationships between members of the “axis of resistance”—China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—citing their increased cooperation as why America maintaining its historic alliances with NATO countries and beyond is so critical for a stable world. In this episode: 03:02 – King Charles' first official state visit to the US 13:50 – The fragility of the US-UK relationship 17:04 – Allies and adversaries behind the scenes 19:07 – Russia, Ukraine, and the Iran war 21:51 – Putin and the G20 25:10 – What's next in the Iran war? 24:49 – The blockade ‘game of chicken' at the Strait of Hormuz 32:39 – US and China relations 36:22 – China's rare earth dominance 39:26 – NATO defense spending 42:22 – One Decision: Will Iran negotiations be successful?  45:15 – Sir Richard and Ayesha discussion Hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove (former MI6 Chief) and Baroness Ayesha Hazarika (Member, House of Lords). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australian teenager Jake Cannon took another step forward in his career with a breakout EMX250 victory at the 2026 MXGP of Trentino this past weekend, the Venum Bud Racing Kawasaki rider going 2-2 for the overall. In this In Brief podcast interview, 18-year-old Cannon speaks about his latest success, spending a second season with the French team, and what he's able to take from his European pathway.

“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” The Catechism uncovers how the Holy Spirit truly builds up the whole Church in the name of Jesus. Fr. Mike dives into the incredibly diverse gifts that the Holy Spirit gives up for the building up of the Kingdom—the charisms. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 797-810. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

As Pakistan steps into its role as peace broker, is India being left in the cold? Former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove and international journalist Rosanna Lockwood are joined by lecturer in South Asian Studies at Yale, Sushant Singh, to unpack this dramatic shift in South Asian and Middle Eastern geopolitics. Starting with In Brief, Sir Richard and Rosanna look at how the Iran and US blockades of the Strait of Hormuz are putting the global energy economy in peril. They also discuss the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire in relation to the stability of Lebanon's government, as well as whether secret US talks with Cuba will lead to military or economic intervention in the country. Then, Singh explains the unexpected rise of Pakistan as mediator for peace talks between Washington and Tehran, the diminishing influence of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi globally and at home, and how balancing its relationships with China and Russia may come at the cost of eroding India's alliance with the US. In this episode: 03:36 – Standoff in the Strait of Hormuz 08:00 – Latest on the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire 13:53 – Cuba is back on Washington's radar 18:43 – Sushant Singh introduction 19:30 – Pakistan's surprise mediator role 23:00 – Explaining India's ‘dalal' remark 25:42 – Modi's weakening at home 27:59 – Muslim-Hindu divide in India 28:56 – Modi's Pakistan dilemma 30:18 – Pakistan's Middle East reclassification 32:04 – The growing irrelevance of the Quad 34:08 – India's dependence on Russia 39:39 – Erosion of US-India relationship 44:04 – India's Israeli ties 48:19 – Risks for Pakistan as a mediator  51:21 – One Decision: Can India and Pakistan start talking again? 53:01 – Sir Richard and Rosanna discussion Read more: Pakistan's Peacemaking Is a Setback for India Hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove (former MI6 Chief) and Rosanna Lockwood (International Journalist). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The US has moved critical missile defenses and troops from East Asia to the Middle East. With America's resources stretched thin, is this the ultimate strategic opportunity for China? Former UK Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace and Times Radio political editor Kate McCann sit down with former advisor to President Obama and Georgetown University Director of Asia Studies Evan Medeiros to explore what he calls China's strategy of “calculated neutrality” – protecting Beijing's economic interests while avoiding direct conflict with the United States. First, for In Brief, Sir Ben and Kate discuss the US's thinking behind blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Lord George Robertson's scathing critique of UK foreign policy, and whether Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's defeat signals the beginning of the end of “strong man” populist politics. Later, Medeiros examines China's balancing of its economic interests in both Iran and the Gulf countries, China's Iranian oil “loophole” via the UAE, and if the Iran war is deepening fractures in Western alliances, potentially upending the global rules-based order. In this episode: 02:05 – US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz 04:59 – Frustration amongst Gulf states 06:45 – UK Role, and Lord George Robertson's warning to the UK 12:16 – Does Orban's defeat signal the end of “strong man” politics? 15:39 – Evan Medeiros introduction 17:04 – Defining China's “calculated neutrality” 18:28 – Is China above the fray of war? 19:32 – Balancing leverage with Iran and the Gulf states 24:03 – Is Beijing arming Iran? 27:45 – China's Iranian oil loophole 28:54 – China: Displacing vs. replacing the US 32:25 – Why China avoids regional wars 36:54 – One Decision: China's vision for a post-American world order 42:08 – Sir Ben and Kate discussion Hosted by Sir Ben Wallace (former UK Defence Secretary) and Kate McCann (Political Editor at Times Radio). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Americans have a pretty dismal view of Congress. Lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate are seen as ineffective and a much diminished power under President Trump. Last year, for example, Congress passed a record low number of laws while President Trump issued the most executive orders in modern history. Paul Kane, a veteran Capitol Hill reporter and one of its smartest chroniclers recently wrote a column for the Washington Post in which he argued that “Congress needs a major course correction or else it will slide into a permanent state of weakness that further empowers the presidency.”To find out whether Congress is indeed headed for irrelevance, Amy checked in with Molly Reynolds, vice president and director of governance studies at Brookings. Her work focuses on Congress and how congressional rules and procedure affect policymaking. Molly has a more nuanced opinion about the state of the modern Congress and helps put its dysfunction into context. Amy and Molly also talk about what a potential flip in congressional control in 2027 would mean for President Trump and for legislating overall. We recorded this conversation on Tuesday, April 7. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.**Listen to our weekly podcast Editors Roundtable**Find us Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/editors-roundtable/id1765349026Find us on Substack: https://thecookpoliticalreport.substack.com/s/editors-roundtable

The Catechism wraps up its discussion surrounding Article 5 of the Creed (“He descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead”) and asks the question, “What does Jesus' resurrection mean for me?” Fr. Mike points out that Christ's resurrection proves—definitively—that he is the only begotten Son of God. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 651-658. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

This week, Julian Evans on two books exploring the link between food and war in Ukraine; and Lily Herd introduces this issue's In Brief reviews.'Strong Roots: A Ukrainian family story, interrupted', by Olia Hercules'Bread and War: A Ukrainian story of food, bravery and hope', by Felicity SpectorIn Brief: 'Postcards, translators and Esperanto pioneers', by Guilherme Fians, Bernhard Struck and Claire Taylor; 'Rapture of the deep', by Robert Irwin, completed by Andrew Crumey; 'Here comes the sun', by Bill McKibben; 'Queens at war', by Alison Weir; 'Interrupted journeys', by Adrian Potter; 'Literature and epistemic injustice', by Sarah Colvin; 'Invading the American canon', by Muireann Maguire; 'Nabokov and the Russian diaspora', by Bryan KaretnykProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have arrived at another nugget day, or In Brief day, for the paragraphs on the mysteries of Christ's life. On today's “mystery nugget” day, Fr. Mike recounts the significance of Christ's obedience to the Father and our own obedience to God's will. He also emphasizes the importance of reflecting on the mysteries of Christ's life by reading and meditating on the Gospels and praying the Rosary. Today's readings from the Catechism are paragraphs 561-570. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

For those with any lingering doubts or questions, the Catechism offers five reasons for Mary's perpetual virginity. Fr. Mike digs into each reason and explains what each of them means for us as spiritual sons and daughters of our Immaculate Mother. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 502-511. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Amy has long been an admirer of this week's guest, The Wall Street Journal's chief economics commentator Greg Ip. She finds his insights into how our economy functions to be thoughtful as well as approachable. It's also why she thought he'd be the perfect person to talk with about the central disconnect we've seen in perceptions of our economy over the last few years - namely that the markets and Wall Street suggest everything is going great. Meanwhile American consumers are saying the economy is not great, at all. They also talk about AI, why Greg thinks it's not likely to have a huge impact on our jobs, but why it's potentially contributing to Americans' generally pessimistic views of their economic futures. Of course, the war with Iran is adding its own economic uncertainty to the mix. So they start the conversation there. We recorded this on Wednesday, March 11th. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.**Listen to our weekly podcast Editors Roundtable**Find us Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/editors-roundtable/id1765349026Find us on Substack: https://thecookpoliticalreport.substack.com/s/editors-roundtable

We have arrived at the “nugget day” or the In Brief for the sections on The Father and Original Sin. Fr. Mike reiterates the important idea that every human person is good, but every human person is also broken. This brokenness and inclination towards sin is called concupiscence. However, as St. Paul reminds us “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). Fr. Mike concludes with the sentiment of hope that we believe that the world has been established and set free by God's love. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 413-421. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In the beginning, humans were in friendship with God and in harmony with creation. The Catechism unfolds this harmony and introduces us to the “original justice” that our first parents lost in sin. Fr. Mike reminds us that, although our original callings to leisure, love, and labor have been twisted by sin, they are renewed in Christ. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 374-384. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

There is a solidarity among all of God's creatures because all are oriented to give glory to God. We learn that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, sanctifying it and blessing it. Fr. Mike tells us that all creatures were made with a view to the Sabbath, created for the worship and adoration of God. We are all called to the sacred task of worshiping God and nothing else should take precedence over it. We end with an “In Brief” review of all we have learned in recent sessions about the physical world, the spiritual world, angels, and creation. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 344-354. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In this “In Brief” section of the Catechism, we review that only God has the power to create, that is, to call into existence something from nothing. God made man and the entire universe as a manifestation of his love, and he keeps the world and all of us in existence by his will. Fr. Mike discusses one of the greatest mysteries of our faith: God bringing good out of evil. He says we won't fully understand this mystery until we are united with God in heaven. In a broken world, we are called to trust in the goodness of God. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 315-324. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

The Odd Years is back with our first episode of this midterm year! Political news and events seem to be breaking faster than the human brain can process, so we wanted to take a step back and talk to people with experience, insight, and perspective who can help us make sense of it all. That is why we kicked off the inaugural 2026 episode with two political reporters who embody those traits: The Wall Street Journal's Annie Linskey and Puck's Peter Hamby. They are known for their smarts and scoops, but also their level headedness and ability to separate the buzzy from the newsworthy.In this episode, Annie discusses Trump's rare backtrack on immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Peter's been doing a lot of great reporting and survey research on young voters and gives us a timely update on their views of Trump and how they see the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates. Plus, we talk about what we should make of Trump's talk of “nationalizing elections” and whether the Republicans proposed voter ID law could actually make it harder for their own supporters to cast a ballot. We recorded this conversation on Tuesday, February 10. You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreportSign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upCheck out our weekly podcast Editors Roundtable. On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/editors-roundtable/id1765349026On Substack: https://thecookpoliticalreport.substack.com/Interested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.

We have arrived at the “nugget day” or In Brief section for the paragraphs examining the nature of the Father in the Trinity. Fr. Mike reiterates some of the “nuggets” of wisdom from these past few days. He emphasizes the importance of how Baptism allows us to share in the life of the Holy Trinity. We conclude this section with a reflection on this profound call to share in the glory of the Trinity even though it exists “in the obscurity of faith.” Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 261-267. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

The Catechism wraps up our “I Believe in God” paragraphs with an In Brief and “The Implications of Faith in One God”—or, what God's being means for us and our lives. Faith in our God means knowing his greatness, living in thanksgiving, knowing the dignity of all men, making good use of creation, and trusting God in every circumstance. Fr. Mike reminds us that “in every circumstance,” meaning even in adversity, God uses all things for the good. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 222-231. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Today, we arrive, with Fr. Mike, at the In Brief section for Article III. Together, we revisit eight of the main ideas or “nuggets” from the readings of the past six days. Fr. Mike concludes this section by reminding us of the importance of the unity between and veneration of the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 of the New. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 134-141. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In today's “In Brief'' section, Fr. Mike reviews the relationship between Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, emphasizing that both make up the single deposit of Faith. He also explains how the Magisterium is able to interpret authentically and authoritatively the Word of God. Lastly, he reminds us that the way the Church prays and lives, reveals who the Church is. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs are 96-100. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

The In-Brief, or the “nugget day”, for the article on the Lord's Prayer, emphasizes that understanding the identity of God is essential when it comes to our relationship with God. God is not a tyrant or dictator. He is our good Father. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 2773-2776. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In this pilot episode of Season 5 of the Real+True Podcast, Edmund Mitchell shares a practical masterclass on how to unlock the entire faith through the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Most Catholics experience the faith like a “bag of disconnected beads” (random doctrines, books, videos, and quotes floating around). But master evangelists and catechists think differently: they see how the entire faith fits together simply. If you've ever felt like Catholic teaching is just a “bag of disconnected facts,” this episode gives you the mental frameworks to see how everything fits together.You'll learn frameworks and simple navigation “power tools” inside the Catechism, so you can actually find what you need and understand how it all fits together...for life.In this masterclass, you'll learn:What a catechism actually is (and what it's trying to do)Why the Catechism of the Catholic Church is uniquely special4 keys that make the whole thing clickThe “golden thread” that helps you connect any doctrine back to JesusThe 4 pillars of the Catechism and how to navigate it fastCommon misconceptions + quick tipsHomework to help you start today (yes, actual paragraph numbers)Chapters / Timestamps00:00 Masterclass Intro00:00:40 Faith: what most people get wrong00:01:30 What master evangelists do differently00:02:12 What we'll cover today00:04:00 What is a catechism?00:09:30 Why is this catechism special?00:17:00 4 keys to unlock the catechism00:17:30 Key #1: Christ at the center (Christocentric)00:19:00 Key #2: The faith as a symphony (everything connects)00:20:30 The golden thread (Trinity → human person → Jesus → Church)00:21:30 Key #3: The authoritative summary (not opinion)00:23:00 Key #4: The structure is a lesson (the 4 pillars)00:28:30 The 4 pillars of the Catechism (and why they matter)00:35:30 Navigating the Catechism (paragraphs, cross-references, “In Brief,” indexes)00:40:30 Common misconceptions and quick tips00:43:00 Suggested homework (CCC 457–460)✨ NEW HERE? ✨Join Real+True //  https://www.realtrue.org 

It's a consequential week in the Supreme Court as justices hear a case that could reorient the bounds of executive authority and overturn a ninety year precedent that insulates independent government agencies from political interference from the president.President Trump has tested those bounds of his executive power on everything from tariffs and trade to immigration to government spending. It's now up to the Supreme Court to determine just how far that authority can stretch, and that's why Amy wanted to talk to our guest today, Josh Gerstein, a reporter at Politico, who covers the intersection of law and politics -- which these days feels like just about everything under the sun.Amy and Josh talked about the dynamics in this Supreme Court, how they may rule on these upcoming cases, including ones like the Voting Rights Act. We recorded this conversation on Thursday, December 4th, right before the court announced they were taking up the birthright citizenship case and before they issued their stay on Texas' redistricting map. You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreportSign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.

We have reached the In Brief section, or nugget day, on the seventh commandment. Father Mike reiterates that the right to private property comes from our dignity as humans, and the Church has a duty to weigh in on economic or social matters where that dignity is threatened. He challenges us to ask ourselves, do we see Jesus in “the distressing disguise of the poor” and just walk by him, or do we respond to him? Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 2450-2463. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Californians often like to think of themselves as the center of the universe. But when it comes to politics, this deep blue state is rarely in the spotlight - until now. The passage of Prop 50 in last Tuesday's election was the most consequential development to date in the redistricting wars. The new Democratic drawn map will cost Republicans three to five seats in 2026 and also shores up five vulnerable Democratic incumbents.The win is also a feather in the cap of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom who hopes to ride the momentum from the Prop 50 landslide win all the way to the White House. And if that news wasn't enough last week, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco icon who led House Democrats through multiple wars, economic crises, and impeachments, announced she would retire after nearly four decades in Congress. Her decision unleashes pent up political floodgates and kicks off a fierce primary fight for the chance to fill her district. To talk through all of this, we've invited Cook Political Report U.S. House Editor Erin Covey, who's covering the redistricting wars as closely as anyone in the country. And also joining us is Mark Barabak, an LA Times columnist and expert in all things political in California. We recorded this conversation on Thursday, November 6th. Follow all our Redistricting coverage: https://www.cookpolitical.com/redistrictingCheck out our interactive Redistricting Map (in front of the paywall!): https://www.cookpolitical.com/redistricting/2025-26-mid-decade-mapYou can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreportSign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.

One week from today, voters in New Jersey and Virginia will go to the polls. These are state and not federal elections. But they can serve as bellwethers for the upcoming midterm election next year.Topics that resonate in a purple state like Virginia this year, for example, are likely to be issues that are significant in swing states and districts in 2026. Next Tuesday, we'll also look closely at voter turnout for some early clues as to which party is more excited to show up and vote next year.Even as our politics has become more and more nationalized, these contests in Virginia and New Jersey are also impacted by unique state and local issues and trends. And that's why we wanted to discuss these contests with two people who really understand the issues, the electorate, and parts of the state will be most important to watch on November 4th. Amy is joined by Joey Fox of the New Jersey Globe and Chaz Nuttycombe, founder and executive director of State Navigate, who's following the Virginia contests. We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, October 22nd.You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel.Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief.Interested in subscribing to CPR? Lear more here.Listeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.

It's safe to say Democrats are going through something of an identity crisis at the moment. They have no clear leaders, no driving issues, and no real power in Washington. And that makes the current government shutdown an interesting test case for Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer over what they think their voters want and how best to fight Donald Trump.Our guest today, Democratic strategist Lis Smith, has not minced words when it comes to perceptions of her party.She told the New York Times that the Democratic brand was “in the toilet” and recently called for Democrats to “burn the party establishment down.”Smith, however, is not some upstart campaign disruptor. She's a veteran of twenty political campaigns, most recently as a senior adviser to Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign.This makes her critique of the party and the work she's doing this cycle to try and fix it worth understanding and exploring more deeply.We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, October 7th. You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreportSign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribeListeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.

We're about eight months into Donald Trump's second term, a victory driven in large part due to voter frustration with the economy and their belief that he would help get inflation down. So what does the economic picture look like today? That's not as easy a question to answer as you would think.Stock market set record highs, but consumers remain pessimistic about inflation. The tariffs implemented by the Trump administration haven't caused the kinds of economic damage many economists predicted they would, yet it's also clear that tariffs are impacting economic decision making in ways that aren't altogether obvious. And then there's AI. If you work for or invested in a company making AI, you're doing great.But what about those folks, especially new graduates entering the workforce who are being displaced by the new technology?Thankfully, we found someone to help us better understand this moment. Heather Long is chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. She's not only super smart, but she can make very confusing and complicated subject like this one understandable and approachable.We recorded this conversation on Wednesday, September 24th. Check out our CPR 2025-2026 Redistricting Tracker: https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/redistricting/2025-2026-redistricting-tracker-how-many-seats-could-flip-0You can watch part of the conversation our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thecookpoliticalreportSign up for our free weekly newsletter, In Brief: https://www.cookpolitical.com/in-brief-sign-upInterested in subscribing to CPR? Go to: www.cookpolitical.com/subscribe.Listeners can use the discount code"ODD10" to save 10% on any subscription. This offer is available only to new subscribers.

In today's “Nugget Day,” Fr. Mike reviews the significant takeaways that the Catechism teaches us about the moral law. Fr. Mike highlights that God has written the moral law in the depths of every human heart. Today's In Brief section also reminds us that the moral law is a “fatherly instruction by God,” rooted in love and oriented towards our joy, freedom, and flourishing. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 1975-1986. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

The Catechism provides an overview on how Jesus grants the Church the ability to forgive sins through both Baptism and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Fr. Mike doubles down on the revelation that there is no sin that Jesus can't forgive—and no one is disqualified. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 976-987. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

When we show devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, we fulfill her prophecy that “all generations will call me blessed.” The Catechism clearly shows us how such devotion does not compete with devotion to God, but in fact fosters adoration of God. Fr. Mike declares that the better we know Mary, the better we know Jesus, and the more we love Mary, the more we love Jesus. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 971-975. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

The Catechism further unpacks the communion of saints and shows us how the Church lives in communion with those members who have passed on to eternal life with Christ in heaven. If you're listening to this podcast and you're not Catholic—or if you still have questions about the communion of saints—Fr. Mike has a word for you. This is your family, interceding on your behalf that you might receive the fullness of Faith here on earth. Today's readings are from Catechism paragraphs 954-962. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

This "In Brief" section reviews all that we have learned in recent episodes. In the Church, “the faithful" refers to clerics and the laity with various callings in each. Fr. Mike explains how God calls every human being to unity with him. No matter our vocations, we must surrender our lives to the Lord and participate in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly offices of Christ. Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 934-945. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.