Podcast appearances and mentions of Ingram Micro

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Expel MDR for AI attack surface: Expel has launched what it says is the first managed detection and response service covering the full AI attack surface, extending its SOC capabilities to threats launched with AI, employee AI misuse, and exposure inside AI systems themselves. The company announced the expansion at Black Hat 2026, adding an Anthropic Claude integration that pulls enterprise compliance signals and prompt content into Expel’s detection pipeline. Expel’s operators work the prompt content itself to surface intent, not just activity, and the company has mapped its detection library to 13 of 16 MITRE ATLAS tactics. Expel Huntress CEO on autonomous adversary: Huntress CEO Kyle Hanslovan is warning that autonomous, AI-powered attacks have moved from theoretical concern to active reality. In an interview with CRN, Hanslovan cited OpenAI’s disclosure that its AI agents compromised the Hugging Face platform during testing, as well as subsequent Anthropic disclosures about its Claude Mythos 5 model, as evidence that autonomous hacking is already happening. Huntress, which recently crossed $250 million in annual recurring revenue, has built its business around protecting smaller organizations that lack enterprise-scale security teams. CRN Myriad360 acquires F3 Technology Partners: Myriad360 has acquired the assets of F3 Technology Partners, a Connecticut-based healthcare IT solution provider, pushing the combined organization past $1 billion in estimated annual revenue. While Myriad360 is U.S.-based, the firm services the Canadian market through its global logistics and international business operations. F3 brings deep healthcare vertical expertise to Myriad360’s portfolio, reinforcing a trend of mid-market consolidation that is creating a new class of “Super-VARs” with the scale to compete for multinational enterprise business. CRN Nutanix MCP server: Nutanix has released an open-source MCP server for the Nutanix Cloud Platform, enabling AI assistants including GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Cursor to automate cloud operations through the Prism v4 API. The move follows Ingram Micro’s MCP server launch for its Xvantage marketplace and reflects growing channel investment in the Model Context Protocol as a standard for AI-tool integration. Nutanix Halo AI Studio and MCP push: PSA vendor Halo unveiled AI Studio and MCP integrations at XChange August, giving MSPs tools to build AI agents for service desk, sales, customer success, reporting, and quarterly business reviews. The company also launched an MCP server to act as a central interface across MSP tools. Halo partner John Douglass of Pileus Technologies said the AI Studio capabilities are “a game changer” for automating service delivery. CRN CRN Annual Report Card winners: CRN announced the winners of its 2026 Annual Report Card at XChange August, with solution providers grading vendors across 23 technology categories. Notable winners included HPE in cloud computing and servers, Nvidia in GPUs, Exabeam in AI security, and Scale Computing in hybrid cloud infrastructure. Complete scores will be published on CRN.com on October 5. CRN Liquidware CommandCTRL 1.5: Liquidware launched CommandCTRL 1.5 with AI-powered endpoint diagnostics and browser-based remote control across Windows, macOS, Linux, and thin clients. The update adds AI Insights that interpret endpoint telemetry and extends remote support capabilities to browser-based sessions without requiring a client installation. Liquidware Read Full Transcript TRANSCRIPT TO COME

Sanjib Sahoo, executive vice president and president of the Global Platform Group at Ingram Micro In this episode of In The Channel, we sit down with Sanjib Sahoo, EVP and President of the Global Platform Group at Ingram Micro, to unpack the “AI Revenue Intelligence” strategy that is currently driving the distributor’s record momentum. Sahoo discusses the evolution of the Xvantage platform from a digital infrastructure vision to a fully trained intelligence layer featuring over 400 proprietary models. A key highlight is the impact of the recently announced Xvantage Integration (XI) Hub and the MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server. Sahoo describes MCP as the “USB-C for AI,” allowing partners to securely connect their own AI agents—whether running on Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini—directly to Ingram Micro’s data mesh. Key discussion points include: The 4x Conversion Metric: How AI-surfaced insights are drastically outperforming traditional sales motions in converting quotes to orders. Democratizing AI: Why small MSPs are becoming the fastest adopters of the MCP Server to bypass complex, expensive ERP system integrations. Operational Efficiency: Real-world examples of partners saving 1,500 hours annually by reducing complex quoting cycles from days to mere seconds. The Human Shift: How the role of the Ingram associate is pivoting from transactional fulfillment to training algorithms and high-value solutioning. For partners looking to get started, Sahoo recommends visiting the Xvantage Developer Portal to explore how to “think big and act small” when it comes to AI adoption. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. Today, we’re joined by a man who’s effectively the architect of the modern digital Ingram Micro. Sanjib Sahoo is the EVP and president of the Global Platform Group at Ingram Micro and the visionary behind Xvantage. We’re coming off a week where Ingram reported record Q2 results, and Sanjib joins me to talk about why AI revenue intelligence is the engine behind those numbers. We dig into the recently launched XI Hub and MCP server—tools that are allowing even the smallest MSPs to connect their own AI assistants directly to Ingram’s data mesh. We talk about how this is saving early adopters up to 1,500 hours a year and why Sanjib thinks the industry is moving from a world of order takers to order makers. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Sanjib Sahoo. [MUSIC] Robert Dutt: Sanjib, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely, it’s a pleasure to be here. Robert Dutt: You guys just came off record Q2 results. A big part of that is the idea of what you guys are calling AI revenue intelligence. For the folks on the ground, what does that term actually mean? Is this about Ingram’s revenue, partner revenue, or sort of the intelligence sitting between those two fields? Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely. If you look at it, intelligence is the key that connects the lifecycle in the channel. What we have been doing in the last year or couple of years is building functionality with Xvantage. But that is the infrastructure. What we have done is train our intelligence layer. All the models we have built—more than 400 models—and the intelligent integrations that we have built, it all added to that AI layer. Today, that AI layer goes out, looks at all the quotes, looks at multiple parameters, and then stack-ranks opportunities for our sales team to go and outreach our partners. It’s changing the sales motion where we are moving from order takers to order makers. That is converting at almost four times the rate that traditional distribution converted those quotes to orders. That actually has high-quality revenue. And most importantly, it is really giving us a way to close our cycles faster. That is that AI-led revenue—primarily intelligent revenue—that we are doing. Robert Dutt: That 4x number is pretty striking. You’ve been the architect of Xvantage since the beginning—it’s been your baby. Based on what you described, it’s safe to say we’ve gone from vision well into the momentum phase. I’m curious: what’s the biggest difference in the conversations you’re having with partners today versus, say, even the beginning of the year? Sanjib Sahoo: I think our partners are understanding more and more that this is not another platform or a tool for doing distribution better. This is a way for them to leverage that intelligence that Ingram Micro has from being in business for more than 45 years. It’s about leveraging insights to drive their business. Ultimately, where we want to move, Robert, is away from just selling products to selling outcomes by intelligence. I think more and more, that intelligence is the new relationship and value that we can create. The platform is immaterial; the experience is great, but the intelligence is what they need to drive operations. Robert Dutt: I’m curious how you have found the channel’s aptitude or ability—how is the channel prepared for this move towards intelligence? What is the biggest opportunity for the average MSP at this moment to jump on? Sanjib Sahoo: I think the channel is changing. The entire tech ecosystem is no longer linear. It’s more about solutioning, ecosystem orchestration, and demand gen. We need to scale the “long tail”—the small MSPs and the VARs—and that requires a lot of automation. Let me ask you a question. What is the operating system you have on your phone? You might know it’s iOS or Android, but you don’t know the exact version, right? Does it matter? No. But the operating system is what does the disk cleanup and the CPU optimization. Without that, it doesn’t work. We want Xvantage to be that agnostic operating system of the channel that solves all these complexities of SKU ingestion, billing, attaching, and reconciliation, powered by intelligence. This leads to our announcement about MCP. We have spent too much time on system integration; now we are connecting and combining intelligence. Robert Dutt: Let’s get into that. You’ve recently announced XI Hub and the MCP server layer. You guys have positioned this as “operationalizing AI” for the channel. In plain English, how do those two pieces work together to let an MSP connect their own AI to Ingram’s data? Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely. If I’m a small MSP or an SMB, I don’t have a lot of IT budget. System integration takes a long time. But today, you can quickly write a quick agent or use your own LLMs. How do you connect that to an Xvantage or Ingram Micro without a massive integration? That is MCP. MCP is connecting intelligence to intelligence—agent to agent—versus system integration. It bypasses the complexity. I recently heard of a partner who got connected with MCP within an hour and is already driving value. Data helps you run the business, but intelligence helps you grow the business. Imagine if an MSP can get that constant intelligence from us for renewals or bundles—fulfillment happens as a byproduct, but intelligence is the value. Robert Dutt: You’ve described MCP as the “USB-C for AI.” Why was it important for Ingram to go through MCP and use an open standard like that, rather than building a “walled garden” approach? Sanjib Sahoo: Because a custom approach takes a long time. This is the fastest way to abstract your systems. Imagine you have ChatGPT or Claude and you connect it securely to Ingram Micro’s Xvantage to run your business. That’s amazing. We have architected it this way because ERPs can answer what, but they can’t answer why. Our architecture—with the real-time data mesh, AI Factory, and headless engines—really creates an environment where MCP can work much faster. Robert Dutt: If I’m an MSP and I’m plugging in an AI assistant to my business systems and to your live data, my first thoughts are going to be security and data leakage. How do the XI Hub and MCP server keep that data secure? Sanjib Sahoo: We have a lot of work going into security—data segregation, multiple protocols for how we expose data. We have different protocols for read versus write. We have been very careful about the details for obvious reasons, but there is a massive focus on security. Robert Dutt: You guys have talked about some incredible numbers—early adopters saving 1,500 hours annually and radically reducing quoting cycles. What was the partner doing manually that an MCP-connected assistant can do for them now? Sanjib Sahoo: They can get instant access to insights and figure out any question they have without needing to invest in extra OpEx or partners to do those activities. That saves them a lot of hours. But it’s also about growth. We see that Xvantage-integrated partners are doing much more business with us. It’s transactional efficiency and growth opportunities. Robert Dutt: When it comes to quoting, how is AI reducing the cycle? Is it fetching data faster or actually suggesting configurations? Sanjib Sahoo: MCP itself isn’t doing the quoting. We have worked hard to build a custom quoting engine in Xvantage as one of our headless engines. It takes complexity out and does the vendor integrations from config to order. MCP is just the pipe giving you the data from that engine. The complexity is solved by the Xvantage infrastructure; you’re just taking advantage of it by connecting with the MCP layer. Complex quotes that used to take days can now be done in minutes or seconds. Robert Dutt: Now that XI Hub and the MCP server are out there, what’s been the most unexpected or novel way that you’ve seen a partner use it? Sanjib Sahoo: I thought the big customers or the mid-market would lead, but I’m seeing a lot of traction with the “long tail”—small customers. It makes sense because they don’t have the budget to invest in heavy IT. They are connecting to MCP, looking at data, looking at renewals, and getting insights. Some are doing it in less than an hour. It really surprised me how this “relationship fabric” is giving them value through AI rather than just through sales calls. Robert Dutt: For those smaller partners—that 10-person MSP—what’s the on-ramp? How “AI-ready” do they need to be? Sanjib Sahoo: They can be ready pretty fast. There are so many models available. They know their own context, and if they plug into us, they can drive their business in a very different way. The XI Hub and MCP server are strategic components of a broader vision to democratize enterprise AI in the channel. The future of distribution is not just moving products; it’s about connecting intelligence across the tech value chain. Robert Dutt: You’ve talked about the move from “sell-in” to “sell-with.” Does this change the role of the Ingram associate or the account rep? If AI is doing the quoting, how does the human role shift? Sanjib Sahoo: There is always a human role. First, they are training the algorithms to make the intelligence better every day. Second, they can focus on being proactive rather than reactive. They focus on high-value, high-complexity solutioning with the customer rather than basic operations. We are focusing on the exceptions rather than transactional connectivity. Robert Dutt: You often talk about “mindset over skillset.” If a partner wants to capture this opportunity, what’s the one big mindset shift they need to make? Sanjib Sahoo: Think big and act small. Focus on the 60% chance to succeed versus the 40% chance to fail. AI is not perfect, but interacting with it every day makes it better. Data helps you run your business, but intelligence helps you grow it. We need our partners to move from instinct to intelligence. Robert Dutt: Looking at the rest of the year, what is the next big milestone for Xvantage? Sanjib Sahoo: The next “hub moment” will be about how we improve the intelligence every day to drive outcomes. We will always build features, but I want to celebrate intelligently operating this channel. We are moving from a platform for distribution to a platform company that does distribution. Robert Dutt: Last one. If I’m a partner who hasn’t yet looked at the Xvantage developer portal or XI Hub, where do I start? Sanjib Sahoo: You can Google the Xvantage Developer Portal or talk to your account manager. Some are figuring it out on their own, but we are there to help. Let’s work together to transform this industry. Robert Dutt: Brilliant. I appreciate you taking the time to walk us through this. Sanjib Sahoo: Absolutely, Robert. Thank you so much. Robert Dutt: There you have it, Sanjib Sahoo from Ingram Micro. I’d like to thank Sanjib for his time. It’s not often you get a peek under the hood of a platform handling four petabytes of data to see exactly how it’s changing the day-to-day life of the partner. The big takeaway for me was the 4x metric—AI-driven insights are converting at four times the rate of traditional sales motions. For the MSP, the message is clear: the long tail isn’t being left behind here. In fact, if you don’t have a massive IT budget, the MCP server might be your fastest way to operationalize AI without a developer team. I’d like to thank you for listening. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most major directories. Ratings and reviews go a long way. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Shayna Daly from Polytechnic Consulting joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how their strategy-first approach differentiates them in the AWS partner channel — especially when working with federal, state, and local government clients navigating legacy systems and complex procurement cycles. Shayna also shares how Ingram Micro's Accelerated Development Program helped fast-track their AWS practice's growth.Key Takeaways

Shayna Daly from Polytechnic Consulting joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how their strategy-first approach differentiates them in the AWS partner channel — especially when working with federal, state, and local government clients navigating legacy systems and complex procurement cycles. Shayna also shares how Ingram Micro's Accelerated Development Program helped fast-track their AWS practice's growth.Key Takeaways

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: [Schneider Electric]: The company yesterday unveiled its next-generation APC Smart-UPS at XChange August 2026, introducing what it says is the first multi-chemistry battery technology for distributed and edge environments. The platform accepts both VRLA lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, allowing customers to start with lower-cost lead-acid and upgrade later without replacing the chassis. Read more on CRN. [Ingram Micro]: The distributor says hundreds of channel partners are now using its Xvantage Integration Hub and secure Model Context Protocol Server to connect AI assistants directly to their business systems. Trust X Alliance member Matrix Integration estimates the platform will save its team between 1,000 and 1,500 hours this year, while IT Design Consulting says it cut quoting from hours or days to seconds. Read the announcement on Ingram Micro. [D&H Distributing]: The distributor is now authorized to carry Dell Technologies’ full enterprise storage portfolio in the United States and Canada, adding a new sourcing option after Dell ended its relationship with Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions. D&H says its Advanced Solutions+ business unit now accounts for more than 25 percent of its overall business. Read more on CRN. [Acronis]: The company unveiled an autonomous IT platform update with an AI-driven console, service desk, and migration tools designed to help MSPs automate operations and expand services. Read more on msp-channel.com. [NCC Group and SailPoint]: The two companies have partnered to strengthen identity security services for both human and non-human identities. Read the announcement on NCC Group. [Lexful]: The company announced general availability of its AI-native IT documentation platform for MSPs, with plans to join the Pax8 and Sherweb marketplaces before the end of 2026. Read more on Yahoo Finance. [Circana]: Research presented at XChange August says AI’s workforce shock is unlikely to ease in the near term, with MSP executives noting persistent talent gaps despite automation advances. Read more on CRN. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Tuesday, August 11, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Schneider Electric yesterday unveiled its next-generation APC Smart-UPS at XChange August 2026, introducing what the company says is the first multi-chemistry battery technology for distributed and edge environments. The new platform accepts both traditional VRLA lead-acid batteries and lithium-ion batteries, allowing customers to start with lower-cost lead-acid technology and upgrade to longer-lasting lithium-ion later without replacing the chassis. Adam Compton, offer management leader at Schneider Electric, told CRN that the chassis is engineered to recognize different battery chemistries through firmware and battery management systems, which then alert EcoStruxure IT monitoring software about the specific battery type and replacement timeline. The company says future battery chemistries will also be supported as they become viable. For channel partners, the flexibility creates new service opportunities around battery lifecycle management, assessment, and the Rip-Replace-Recycle refresh program. Gordon Lord, vice president of channels, said Schneider Electric is doubling down on its Gateway program to give partners visibility into distributed power infrastructure across customer sites. The online versions of the new Smart-UPS are slated to be available starting September 1, with line-interactive versions following next year. Partners will not require new certifications. Canadian partners working with regulated and industrial customers should note the air-gapped deployment potential and the EcoStruxure monitoring layer as a recurring services hook. Ingram Micro says hundreds of channel partners are now using its Xvantage Integration Hub and secure Model Context Protocol Server to connect AI assistants directly to their business systems. The distributor announced the expanded adoption last Wednesday, positioning the platform as a way to reduce integration friction and automate workflows across quoting, ordering, and customer management. Executive Vice President Sanjib Sahoo described the MCP Server as a way to bring AI directly into the flow of business, giving partners a secure, real-time connection to Ingram Micro’s data mesh without building custom integrations. Trust X Alliance member Matrix Integration estimates the platform will save its team between 1,000 and 1,500 hours this year. IT Design Consulting CEO Ryan Evans said his team cut quoting processes from hours or days to seconds using the XI Hub integration. Ingram Micro is offering on-demand training sessions to help partners build AI-powered solutions through the platform. The company is positioning the offering as part of its broader strategy to make Xvantage an intelligent operating layer for the global channel. Canadian partners should watch how quickly small MSPs adopt the plug-and-play connectivity, since Ingram Micro reports that smaller providers are the fastest adopters so far. D&H Distributing is now authorized to carry Dell Technologies’ full enterprise storage portfolio in the United States and Canada, adding a new sourcing option for partners after Dell ended its distribution relationship with Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions last month. The Harrisburg, Pa.-based distributor is bringing Dell’s advanced infrastructure, including Dell Apex as-a-service and subscription technologies, to its Advanced Solutions+ business unit. Chief Commercial and Consumer Officer Marty Bauerlein told CRN that Dell’s decision followed an RFP process and was influenced by D&H’s execution capabilities and growth mindset. Partners including Precision Computer Services and CompuCom have praised D&H’s responsiveness and collaborative approach. D&H says its Advanced Solutions+ unit now accounts for more than 25 percent of its overall business. For Canadian partners, the move adds another distributor option for Dell storage and server infrastructure at a time when Dell is also rolling out program changes focused on AI outcomes and faster rewards. The timing means partners can evaluate sourcing alongside the new rebate and registration structures Dell is expected to introduce this month. In Brief – Acronis unveils autonomous IT platform update with AI-driven console, service desk, and migration tools for MSPs. NCC Group partners with SailPoint to strengthen identity security services for human and non-human identities. Lexful announces general availability of its AI-native IT documentation platform for MSPs, with plans to join the Pax8 and Sherweb marketplaces before the end of 2026. Circana research presented at XChange August says AI’s workforce shock is unlikely to ease in the near term. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, my conversation with Exabeam about rebuilding the MSSP commercial model to fix the economics of managed SIEM. And if you haven‘t heard it yet, check out my conversation with Chris Fabes from TD SYNNEX Canada about his three-sided view of the channel. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Lisa from Ingram Micro joins this episode of Ingram Micro Insider to break down how the Industry Solutions Organization helps AWS partners break into public sector — from leveraging contract vehicles like OMNIA, NCPA, and GSA, to accessing a dedicated grant writer and underused business intelligence tools. Lisa shares practical advice on where new partners should focus first, how to build credibility fast, and the biggest myths holding partners back from public sector success.Key Takeaways

Lisa from Ingram Micro joins this episode of Ingram Micro Insider to break down how the Industry Solutions Organization helps AWS partners break into public sector — from leveraging contract vehicles like OMNIA, NCPA, and GSA, to accessing a dedicated grant writer and underused business intelligence tools. Lisa shares practical advice on where new partners should focus first, how to build credibility fast, and the biggest myths holding partners back from public sector success.Key Takeaways

In this episode of The IT Experts Podcast, I sit down with Gemma Telford from the Archer Agency to unpack one of the most underused resources available to growing MSPs, vendor Marketing Development Funds, or MDF. With two decades of experience across tech marketing, including roles at Ingram Micro, Sage and Palo Alto Networks, Gemma Telford brings a rare view from both sides of the channel, having worked with vendors, distributors and partners alike.    We open with a wider discussion on why so many MSP owners struggle to embrace marketing in the first place. Many of us built our businesses on technical strength rather than promotional confidence, and Gemma and I agree that the answer often lies in reframing marketing as simply clear messaging about how you help people, rather than something big or intimidating. Bringing in dedicated marketing support, rather than expecting founders or inexperienced hires to carry the whole function, is one of the most reliable paths to sustainable growth.     From there, we move into the heart of the episode, MDF itself. Gemma Telford explains that marketing development funds sit within a vendor's budget specifically to help partners sell more of their products and services. Despite the funds being widely available, research referenced in the episode suggests that around sixty percent of MDF goes unused every quarter. The reasons are practical rather than mysterious. Vendors often allocate funding to whoever asks loudest, application processes can be convoluted, and many MSPs simply are not aware the money exists or how to access it.    A significant part of our conversation focuses on the mismatch between vendor expectations and MSP realities. Vendors frequently want to see leads or return on investment within a single quarter, which rarely reflects how MSP sales cycles actually work. Gemma Telford shares an encouraging example of an ERP vendor taking a longer-term view, building multiyear plans with partners and trusting that results will follow, even if not immediately. This kind of collaborative thinking, she suggests, is exactly what more vendors need to adopt.    Practical advice runs throughout the episode. Rather than approaching every vendor at once, Gemma recommends we choose one vendor to start with, ideally one connected to a business goal such as growth in a particular sector or vertical. From there, building a genuine plan, complete with revenue targets and a proposed timeline, gives vendors something concrete to support rather than a vague request for cash. Case studies and proof points are also flagged as powerful tools, since vendors are always seeking evidence that their products deliver real results for real customers.    We also touch on the importance of relationships within the channel. Strong connections with account managers and channel teams can open doors that generic outreach never will, and we both agree that treating vendor partnerships as a genuine collaboration, rather than a transactional exchange, tends to produce the best long-term outcomes.    Towards the end of the episode, Gemma Telford sets out three changes that would make MDF programmes work better for everyone. Vendors moving away from rigid quarterly ROI expectations, supporting partners to build their own plans rather than being overly prescriptive, and simplifying the application process so partners are not discouraged before they even begin. For any MSP wondering where to start, my advice is refreshingly simple, get a plan in place, understand your specialisms and messaging, and proactively approach your vendors rather than waiting to be noticed.    This episode is a valuable listen for any MSP owner who has heard of MDF but never quite understood how to access it, or for those keen to strengthen their vendor relationships and unlock funding that is often sitting untouched.    You can connect with Gemma Telford on LinkedIn or find out more about her work at the Archer Agency.   Make sure to check out our Ultimate MSP Growth Guide, a free guide that walks you through a proven process to take your MSP from stuck to scalable, without working even more hours. It's 44 pages rammed with advice, insights and inspiration to help you decide what support is available to you now if you want to grow and scale your business. Click HERE to get your copy.    Connect on LinkedIn HERE with Ian and also with Stuart by clicking this LINK    And when you're ready to take the next step in growing your MSP, come and take the Scale with Confidence MSP Mastery Quiz. In just three minutes, you'll get a 360-degree scan of your MSP and identify the one or two tactics that could help you find more time, engage & align your people and generate more leads.    If you're serious about growth and want to explore what this could look like for your MSP, you can book a Right Fit Clarity Call with us HERE.  OR   To join our amazing Facebook Group of over 400 MSPs where we are helping you Scale Up with Confidence, then click HERE  Until next time, look after yourself and I'll catch up with you soon!

Derek Ross from TrueMark joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to explain why being an AWS-only implementation partner lets his team go deeper than generalist competitors — from smarter VMware modernization and landing zone governance to cost optimization and secure enterprise AI on Amazon Bedrock. Derek shares how TrueMark helps lean IT teams in education and government scale confidently without sacrificing compliance or control over their data.Key Takeaways

Derek Ross from TrueMark joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to explain why being an AWS-only implementation partner lets his team go deeper than generalist competitors — from smarter VMware modernization and landing zone governance to cost optimization and secure enterprise AI on Amazon Bedrock. Derek shares how TrueMark helps lean IT teams in education and government scale confidently without sacrificing compliance or control over their data.Key Takeaways

Will St. Clair from Practical Acceleration joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how his team — all former AWS healthcare leaders with nearly 30 years of combined experience — is helping providers, payers, and health tech companies deploy agentic AI safely and at scale. Will shares why healthcare has a uniquely high bar for AI deployment, and how Ingram Micro's Accelerated Development Program helped his new company punch above its weight from day one.Key Takeaways

Will St. Clair from Practical Acceleration joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how his team — all former AWS healthcare leaders with nearly 30 years of combined experience — is helping providers, payers, and health tech companies deploy agentic AI safely and at scale. Will shares why healthcare has a uniquely high bar for AI deployment, and how Ingram Micro's Accelerated Development Program helped his new company punch above its weight from day one.Key Takeaways

Chris Fabes, president of TD SYNNEX Canada Chris Fabes is two weeks into his new role as president of TD SYNNEX Canada, and he brings a perspective almost nobody else in the Canadian channel can match: senior leadership experience on all three sides of the ecosystem. Fabes spent a decade at Lenovo Canada, where as channel chief he tripled channel revenue to $1.2 billion in three years. He then moved to SHI International, where he led the Canadian operation with a focus on enterprise and public sector. Now he’s at the distributor side, taking over from Mitchell Martin, who ran the business for 35 years through multiple mergers and industry transformations. In this conversation, Fabes discusses what he learned from seeing the channel from the vendor, reseller, and distributor sides – and how each perspective informs what partners should expect from TD SYNNEX going forward. He talks about the booming Quebec market (he’s Montreal-based and bilingual), the role of MSPs as “AI ambassadors” for 1.3 million Canadian SMBs, and the shift from traditional SaaS consumption toward tokenomics. He’s candid about needing more time to assess TD SYNNEX’s internal AI readiness, and he closes with a challenge to the Canadian channel: be “proud and loud” about what the ecosystem has accomplished. Read Full Transcript **Robert Dutt:** Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor at ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. Today I’m joined by Chris Fabes, who’s just a couple of weeks into his new role as president of TD SYNNEX Canada. Now, TD SYNNEX is of course the largest technology distributor in the world, and the Canadian operation has been a fixture of this channel for decades. But this is a transition moment. Mitch Martin ran the Canadian business for more than 35 years, starting out with Merisel Canada, through the Synnex acquisition, the pandemic, mergers with Westcon, and finally the merger with Tech Data. He retired earlier this year and TD SYNNEX went outside the organization for his replacement. They found Chris Fabes at SHI International, where he was running the Canadian operation. Before SHI, he spent a decade at Lenovo Canada, where as the channel chief he tripled channel revenue to $1.2 billion in three years. And before that, he started his career at a reseller. So, he’s one of the very few people in the industry who’ve held senior leadership roles on the reseller side, the vendor side, and now the distributor side. A 360-degree view that I think is worth exploring. We talked about what he’s seeing in his first two weeks, what partners should expect from TD SYNNEX Canada under his leadership, the Quebec market, which he calls home, AI, program simplification, and why he thinks the Canadian channel ecosystem should be, in his words, “proud and loud.” Let’s get right into it. My chat with Chris Fabes. Chris, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. **Chris Fabes:** Thanks for having me. I also appreciate it. **Robert Dutt:** Pretty epic way to get the distributor side of things on your channel bingo card, having already done the reseller solution provider and vendor side. Congrats on the new gig and I guess in general, your thoughts on taking over the leadership of TD SYNNEX Canada at this moment. **Chris Fabes:** I appreciate that. And look, how could I not be excited? It’s an incredible opportunity. As you mentioned, I’ve been on the vendor side as well as the value-added reseller side, but distribution is definitely not new for me. I’ve been working with TD SYNNEX for many, many years in different capacities. So it’s exciting having known the organization, knowing a lot of the people, and just quickly being pulled into internal and external conversations about, “Hey, what can we go do to go big?” So it’s just really exciting and I couldn’t be happier. **Robert Dutt:** As we touch on there, you’ve had senior leadership roles reseller side, most recently SHI, the vendor side with Lenovo, and now you’re adding the distributor side—a perspective that not many people have at the senior level especially. How has seeing that ecosystem from all three of those sides changed what you think a distributor actually needs to do for partners? **Chris Fabes:** I think it gives me a perspective that is rather unique. I always like to look at what the market is asking of the channel ecosystem and for each of those components, where do we add value and how do we focus on the outcome that our customers, vendor partners, and the ultimate end user are looking for. I think we can all agree that while technology, the whole industry is an exciting place to be—and I think we’d be doing something different if we all wanted things to be simple—the pace of change and the pace of innovation is really exciting. I think with all of the growth and now complexities built into the ecosystem, distribution plays an even more pivotal role in being able to service the demand. That’s what’s really exciting looking at the future. **Robert Dutt:** At Lenovo, one of your signature achievements was tripling channel revenue to $1.2 billion over the course of three years. What was the thesis and the plan behind that growth in that time, and is any of that transferable to the distributor context where you’re one step further removed from the end customer? **Chris Fabes:** I think it absolutely is relevant and it aligns. It all starts with planning around what the expected demand is and making sure that the differentiation and the capabilities are aligned with that opportunity. Even answering your question from the Lenovo side of things, it was: where’s the appetite? Where are the routes to market? How do we pull the levers at the right times? How do we make sure that we’re talking to the customers, being the channel partners as well as the end customers, so that we can pivot as required? Looking at the distribution side of things, it’s really no different. In the Canadian market, it is really: where’s the spend coming from, who is touching those spend requirements, and how do we participate in a meaningful way where we’re adding value to the equation? **Robert Dutt:** You spent a decade at Lenovo on your way up, literally working your way up the organization. How does that kind of ground-level experience shape your leadership style and what are you looking for in the teams you’re building now? **Chris Fabes:** Great question. I’ve always looked at myself as being someone that respects people at all levels. I don’t see myself any different from anyone else in any organization. So I really seek to understand, look to build relationships, and listen first. I lead with trust, which I think allows you to operate with very low friction, allowing people to outperform at their best levels. I make sure that I celebrate success along the way, but also hold people accountable. It’s been fun being able to work for people and then have a flip-side relationship as I was able to grow into different leadership positions. Being humble and respectful of all those relationships has benefited me as I’ve moved into positions where the relationships, even if they might be different now, are very much respectful. I’m happy for them; they’re happy for me. We have a short memory when we want it to be short, but long when it matters. In this channel, being that it’s large yet very small at the same time, leaving those relationships better off has been an important part of the way I’ve looked at people. **Robert Dutt:** I asked you a little while ago your perspective on what you can bring from the vendor side to the distributor side of things. Sort of the same question, but coming at it from your more recent point of view from the reseller side at SHI. A massive reseller—what did your time there teach you about where distribution adds value, where it doesn’t, and what you wanted from distribution when you were in that seat? **Chris Fabes:** Sure. There were a lot of conversations. Most of my conversations at that point were internal around building strategy. I think we’ve touched on that quite a bit, but the other side was just talking with CIOs, CEOs, and VPs that were responsible for technology decisions. The technology decisions almost became the easy part. It was: Where can you help me around optimization? Where can you help me on cash flow? How can you do things that are lower friction? What happens when something might not be going perfectly? Is there an escalation path? So, process—that’s what I started to learn and be able to apply to that business. Again, I think having that lens of those customer expectations and understanding the flow down through the complete channel ecosystem allows me to look at distribution from a strategy and execution lens, combined with the ultimate goal of satisfying those that are ultimately deploying the technology—whether they be SMB, mid-market, enterprise, or large public sector. **Robert Dutt:** Mitch Martin ran this business for 35-plus years. That’s a pretty extraordinary tenure and he went through pretty wild changes in the industry and in the organization in particular. What do you see as the foundation that he left there? And what do you see, especially in your early days, as the biggest opportunities for fresh investment or new ideas? **Chris Fabes:** Respect the legacy. That’s first and foremost. In my first couple weeks of talking with the staff, what I recognize is there was a strong hand on the business. The foundation was strong, mature, and very well operated, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t look at areas of opportunity—the nuances, the incremental spend, and how we bring additional value. So I’ll be spending my time respecting the mature foundation and the expertise that already exists in the business, listening and having an open mind, but looking at that three-to-five-year future of where TD SYNNEX needs to be based on the market appetite. I want to underscore that in speaking to many people in my first days, it was so incredible to hear the tenures—10 years, 20 years, 30 years—and the passion that they’ve had as they’ve gone through their career with TD SYNNEX through multiple mergers and acquisitions. What they shared with me was just the trust and the love in the organization and the people. I consider myself very lucky to be taking that baton and moving forward with it. **Robert Dutt:** TD SYNNEX is the largest distributor in the world and the competitive landscape is shifting. You’ve got Ingram Micro as the other big traditional broadline folks, and you’re both redefining yourselves in your own ways. As always, there are specialists and newcomers. You’ve got cloud marketplaces. I guess I’m curious, where do you think from where you sit now that TD SYNNEX needs to differentiate itself most urgently to stand out in the current marketplace? **Chris Fabes:** We’re absolutely looking at how we maintain a position of leadership, and that comes down to understanding the market and understanding—and respecting—our competition. Those are going to be the conversations we’ll be having in terms of: How is the ecosystem changing? How is the appetite for technology changing? Are we in a position to meet the demand but also accelerate the demand? Obviously, there’ve been several tailwinds driving the appetite for various technologies, but there’ve also been headwinds where budgets have shifted in how the spend is being distributed. There’ll be that “tech talk” cycle of how we look at the opportunities and how we partner—and who we partner with—to make sure that we’re positioned to grow at scale but continue to take a leading position. **Robert Dutt:** The press release that announced your arrival at TD SYNNEX emphasized enterprise and public sector. Those are areas that you focused on at SHI. Is that a signal that that’s an area where we’re going to see TD SYNNEX push harder in Canada, or more reflective of your background in recent history? **Chris Fabes:** I don’t think we want to read too much into my background. There are no assumptions that I’ll take what I was doing and immediately deploy something like that in this new structure. But where I think there is an opportunity is looking at the buying flow of goods and where in the Canadian market we expect to see the need for services, partnerships, and guidance. There have been several announcements within Canada where there’s going to be increased spend in certain industries—defense is one. We can call that the broader public sector. We also continue to see from an ICT spend that security remains a high priority across the country, as well as the continued investment in readiness in the infrastructure stack. Ultimately, it’s what is driving that demand, and I will be looking at the segmentation and how we best support the customers and partners. **Robert Dutt:** TD SYNNEX’s operational heart—the offices of both legacies that have come together over the years—is typically in the western side of the GTA, and you’re out of Montreal. I’m curious how you’re thinking about the geographic balance of the Canadian business writ large, and with your presence in “La Belle Province,” is there an opportunity to lean harder into Quebec and the francophone market? **Chris Fabes:** Absolutely. The Quebec market is booming. It’s very attractive for us to continue to focus on the areas of growth. We will be taking a national approach, but it’s important that each market has its nuances and its differences. Yes, we have most of our team members within central Canada, on the west side of Toronto, but we’ll be looking at where the demand is. I’m lucky enough to be in Montreal and speak both official languages. I look forward to working with our Quebec partners and vendors to understand if there’re any areas of opportunity that we can help them address. It probably won’t hurt that I am local—born and raised here—and understand the market and the people. **Robert Dutt:** As we speak, you’re two weeks into the role. As this airs, it’ll probably be more like three—”grizzled veteran” territory, clearly. Can you tell me a little bit about what you’ve been focused on for that first fortnight in the role and what you’ve heard from the crew, from resellers, and from vendors? **Chris Fabes:** It’s been nothing but positive. If my wife was here, she would confirm the conversations that she’s overheard! I want this to be a very intentional and honest response. Whether it be the folks that I’ve worked with in the industry, the customers that we serve, or the staff I now have the opportunity to work with, it has been very positive. I was in the Mississauga office for the past few days. I intentionally spent multiple hours walking the floor, shaking hands with all of our people, and asking for feedback. My goal is for our vendor partners and customers to see the value we can bring scale when we understand their business. I personally will hold my team accountable to understand the business drivers of our partners and customers. I will personally make sure that I’m involved in those conversations and in that planning—the good and the bad—so that I have a pulse on what’s expected of us. It’s really about decisions being rooted in reality and relationships. **Robert Dutt:** Last month at ChannelNext Central, you talked about MSPs as “AI ambassadors” for a million or more Canadian SMBs. Now you’re running the biggest distributor in the country. How do you enable that? What’s the distributor’s role in making MSPs successful as AI adoption accelerates and especially SMB customers start looking for more on that front? **Chris Fabes:** Absolutely. There are going to be some additional opportunities to look at how we provide services to the broader MSP market and how we serve them in the infrastructure build-out. There’s also a real conversation around the FinOps change—whether it be consumption or traditional SaaS moving to tokenomics. I think we as a distributor have an opportunity to listen, adjust, and build supporting models that support their build-out. We already do have programs in place to be able to support the MSPs in Canada, so we’ll continue to engage through our partner-led events and continue to build out what that model looks like. **Robert Dutt:** Internally, we touched on AI with the last question. All the distributors are trying to build the business of the future around what AI will mean to the kind of data you can provide. I’m curious about your assessment of TD SYNNEX’s stature in that race at this moment and where you see the biggest opportunities for next steps. **Chris Fabes:** I would say, honestly, I need to spend more time understanding where TD SYNNEX is from an AI perspective. I say that with honesty because my message to the team is that I need to observe and understand the ins and outs of our business. But what I will say broadly is that the appetite for AI is absolutely there and it requires a lot of readiness. Each of our customers is at a different stage. We will meet you where you are, whether it is services readiness, policy, governance, and compliance where we can help at scale, or modernization around infrastructure. We will make sure that we are absolutely ready and take a leading position, because the opportunity is insatiable. Most critically, it’s: how do our partners and their customers use AI to increase their competitive edge and optimization? We’ll be right there beside them. **Robert Dutt:** Back to your Lenovo days, another one of your big projects was simplifying the channel program. “Deadpan Simple” was a phrase I think you liked to use at the time. Distribution programs tend to be on the complex side. I’m curious if you see a simplification opportunity for TD SYNNEX Canada? **Chris Fabes:** In the early feedback that I’ve already received, what customers focus on is the execution. While maybe there are a lot of moving parts, if we execute and communicate seamlessly, that’s the experience that our customers are getting. Is there an opportunity for me to go validate your statement? Absolutely, and I will. It will be a focus of how we make sure we’re bringing the right outcomes and operational excellence. I don’t have a future statement yet, but I’ll be looking at it over time. Our platforms and programs have to be best-in-class if we want to continue to take a leading position. **Robert Dutt:** You’ve been in this community for two decades. What do you see as the big differences between the Canadian channel ecosystem and the US? And what do American-headquartered companies get wrong or misunderstand about the Canadian market? **Chris Fabes:** Part of the reason why this was attractive for me is that there is a respected understanding of how the regions operate. Having leadership and teams that understand our market and our ecosystem was absolutely important. But at the same time, when you can centralize resources and apply the scale at a global level and then bring that to a market like Canada, that allows us to speak with our customers with a much bigger toolkit. I think there is a really interesting balance at TD SYNNEX between the centralized functions of a larger organization and the regional focus and ability to execute based on what the local market desires. **Robert Dutt:** So it sounds like it’s a matter of finding the right balance between the global playbook and local use. **Chris Fabes:** Absolutely. We can learn from anywhere in the world, whether it be at a technology level or a thought leadership level. I’m a big fan of best practices—some people would say “shamelessly borrow”—and you apply it to the market. There’s magic in being open-minded and collaborative but not losing sight of what’s expected locally. **Robert Dutt:** Wrapping it up, what can Canadian VARs, MSPs, and solution providers expect from yourself and from the team at TD SYNNEX going forward? **Chris Fabes:** Expect us to be collaborative. I really mean it. That is the way I operate and it’s what I’ll hold the team accountable for. A partner doesn’t tell the other partner how to do it without listening or understanding. We are going to win together. That is a commitment that I have to our team in Canada and to our customers and partners—that engagement and interest in growing in the right ways. **Robert Dutt:** And one last one, mostly just for fun. If you could wave the proverbial magic wand to change one thing about how the Canadian channel works today, what would it be? **Chris Fabes:** I would say the people and the execution—the level in which the Canadian market has, from time to time, outperformed other areas of the ecosystem. I think the Canadian ecosystem should be “proud and loud” in terms of the accomplishments that we’ve been able to achieve. I look forward to being part of that voice that we can further raise within the local community. **Robert Dutt:** All right, so just be louder and keep doing it better. Sounds great. Chris, good luck with the new role and I look forward to keeping track of things going on at TD SYNNEX. Thanks once again for taking the time to chat. **Chris Fabes:** Thanks, Rob. I enjoyed the conversation and look forward to connecting again soon. **Robert Dutt:** There you have it. Chris Fabes from TD SYNNEX Canada. I’d like to thank Chris for taking the time just two weeks into a new job to sit down and talk about where he’s been and where he thinks TD SYNNEX Canada is headed. Really appreciate his candour around AI. He basically says, “still learning where we’re at,” which is a lot more credible in week two than a rehearsed vision statement might have been. And I think his challenge to the Canadian channel to be “proud and loud” about what this ecosystem has built is worth thinking about. There are a few things I’m going to be watching for as he settles in. Whether TD SYNNEX makes a real push into Quebec now that they’ve got a bilingual Montreal-based president; what a program simplification effort might actually look like given his history of stripping complexity out of partner programs; and how he thinks about the distributor’s role in a world where more and more transactions are moving through non-traditional models like cloud marketplaces. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d really appreciate it if you followed or subscribed to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We’re at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most of the major podcast directories. And if you have a moment to leave a rating or review, we appreciate it. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca and I’ll see you in the channel.

Eric Evans and Charlie Clayton from Hanabyte join Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how regulated organizations can move fast in the cloud without sacrificing security or compliance. They break down Hanabyte's "cradle to grave" approach — from mock audits and knowledge transfer to blurring the line between compliance and engineering — and how their Ingram Micro partnership helps clients navigate NIST, CMMC, FedRAMP, and HIPAA requirements.Key Takeaways

Eric Evans and Charlie Clayton from Hanabyte join Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how regulated organizations can move fast in the cloud without sacrificing security or compliance. They break down Hanabyte's "cradle to grave" approach — from mock audits and knowledge transfer to blurring the line between compliance and engineering — and how their Ingram Micro partnership helps clients navigate NIST, CMMC, FedRAMP, and HIPAA requirements.Key Takeaways

Intelligence isn't about collecting more data. As Sanjib Sahoo argues, data runs the business. Intelligence grows the business. So why are so many organizations still relying on instinct? Harry sits down with Sanjib Sahoo, President of Global Platform Group at Ingram Micro, whose perspective challenges some of the biggest assumptions in modern B2B Sales. Many organizations focus on building bigger pipelines, automating more processes, or gathering more data. Sanjib believes they're solving the wrong problem. Why do the best sales teams become "order makers" instead of order takers? Why does reimagination create opportunity while automation alone creates fear? And why is curiosity becoming one of the most valuable competitive advantages in the age of AI? Those answers might change the way you think about Sales Leadership, AI in Sales, and Revenue Growth. You'll discover: • Why a bigger pipeline can actually hurt revenue • Why the future belongs to "order makers" • How Customer Intelligence changes customer relationships • Why curiosity may be your biggest competitive advantage in the age of AI

Nathaniel from InfoCap joins this AWS Partner Spotlight with Ingram Micro to unpack what makes agentic AI fundamentally different from both traditional workflow automation and today's generative AI — and why accountability, not capability, is the real challenge in government adoption. Nathaniel explains how InfoCap builds observable, auditable AI systems that reduce case backlogs while keeping humans firmly in the loop on final decisions.Key Takeaways

Nathaniel from InfoCap joins this AWS Partner Spotlight with Ingram Micro to unpack what makes agentic AI fundamentally different from both traditional workflow automation and today's generative AI — and why accountability, not capability, is the real challenge in government adoption. Nathaniel explains how InfoCap builds observable, auditable AI systems that reduce case backlogs while keeping humans firmly in the loop on final decisions.Key Takeaways

David from Global Paradigm joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to explain how their "Next Gen MSP" model goes beyond traditional break-fix IT support — pairing strategic, transparent cloud guidance with their AI-powered help desk product, Inteledesk. David shares how this approach is cutting mean-time-to-repair by up to 60% and helping mid-market organizations turn IT into a true business asset.Key Takeaways

David from Global Paradigm joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to explain how their "Next Gen MSP" model goes beyond traditional break-fix IT support — pairing strategic, transparent cloud guidance with their AI-powered help desk product, Inteledesk. David shares how this approach is cutting mean-time-to-repair by up to 60% and helping mid-market organizations turn IT into a true business asset.Key Takeaways

The episode identifies a core structural shift in the managed services industry: the decoupling of service measurement from observable work due to the adoption of autonomous service desk technologies. This shift is driven by the introduction of automation platforms—such as Atera's Robin, Acronis AI Service Desk, and NinjaOne's endpoint automations—that eliminate or obscure traditional service tickets, shifting operational baselines and the metrics used for client billing and value demonstration. Evidence of this shift includes Atera guaranteeing that within 90 days, its Robin system will autonomously resolve half of Tier 1 and complex Tier 2 tickets, enforced via commercial contract terms. The company builds baselines by requiring six months of client ticket history before implementation. Supporting data from Channel EDE and AT&T show that automation can suppress visible ticket volume while inflating claims of efficiency and avoided incidents, independent of provider-side measurement. According to Dave Sobel, AT&T tracked autonomous incident handling since 2018, but most MSPs lack comparable historical data. Further developments reinforce this transition: NinjaOne integrates with ServiceNow to create incidents without human intervention, while Ingram Micro channel feedback observes partners aiming to increase business without staff growth. Broader labor market data and user sentiment surveys reveal that AI-backed automation does not show aggregate productivity gains (Stanford Economic Policy Institute) and is generally viewed with skepticism: Gallup and Apistevist data highlight declining confidence in corporate AI deployments and increased worker nostalgia for pre-automation workflows. The operational impact for MSPs centers on data ownership, measurement accountability, and renewal risk. As traditional records like tickets are eliminated or fragmented, providers who lack their own carefully preserved baselines may find themselves forced to rely on vendor-generated claims for demonstrating avoided work or cost savings. This creates exposure to contract risk, compromised pricing leverage, and governance complexity—especially if ticket-level detail, taxonomy, or supporting operational notes are lost in platform migrations or poorly configured retention policies. According to Dave Sobel, preparing by exporting comprehensive ticket histories, freezing operational taxonomies, and independently counting non-ticket sources of demand are now urgent requirements to maintain accountability and defensible value in future client negotiations. 00:00 The Ticket Is Disappearing  03:45 You Can't Invoice an Absence  07:20 The Client Already Stopped Believing 11:18 Why Do We Care?    Supported by: ScalePad

Ingram Micro sits down with Moses and Nick from TGIX to explore why so many AI initiatives stall out in proof-of-concept and never reach production. They break down TGIX's holistic approach to AI transformation — from infrastructure and data pipelines to security — and share real examples of helping public sector organizations modernize for the AI era.Key Takeaways

Ingram Micro sits down with Moses and Nick from TGIX to explore why so many AI initiatives stall out in proof-of-concept and never reach production. They break down TGIX's holistic approach to AI transformation — from infrastructure and data pipelines to security — and share real examples of helping public sector organizations modernize for the AI era.Key Takeaways

In this AWS Partner Spotlight, Ingram Micro sits down with Jagdish and Sunil from Prijal to unpack their AWS journey — from Kubernetes and observability solutions in production to cutting-edge Edge AI and conversational business intelligence powered by Amazon QuickSight. Hear how Prijal leveraged Ingram Micro's Accelerated Partner Program to compress their go-to-market timeline and unlock new customer opportunities.Key Takeaways

In this AWS Partner Spotlight, Ingram Micro sits down with Jagdish and Sunil from Prijal to unpack their AWS journey — from Kubernetes and observability solutions in production to cutting-edge Edge AI and conversational business intelligence powered by Amazon QuickSight. Hear how Prijal leveraged Ingram Micro's Accelerated Partner Program to compress their go-to-market timeline and unlock new customer opportunities.Key Takeaways

Ray from Project Host joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how their 20+ years supporting government and regulated cloud workloads has evolved into a fast, flexible path to FedRAMP and DoD authorization for ISVs. Ray shares how Project Host recently helped clients achieve full FedRAMP authorization in under four months — and what their growing AWS and Ingram Micro partnership unlocks for software vendors trying to break into the federal market.Key Takeaways

Ray from Project Host joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to discuss how their 20+ years supporting government and regulated cloud workloads has evolved into a fast, flexible path to FedRAMP and DoD authorization for ISVs. Ray shares how Project Host recently helped clients achieve full FedRAMP authorization in under four months — and what their growing AWS and Ingram Micro partnership unlocks for software vendors trying to break into the federal market.Key Takeaways

Sanjay from CloudGov — the engineer who led the launch of AWS Control Tower — joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to unpack why cloud costs spiral out of control, why AI spend behaves nothing like traditional cloud consumption, and how CloudGov's Commitment Shield and Token Shield products bring real-time financial and security governance to multi-cloud, AI-driven enterprises.Key Takeaways

Sanjay from CloudGov — the engineer who led the launch of AWS Control Tower — joins Ingram Micro's AWS Partner Spotlight to unpack why cloud costs spiral out of control, why AI spend behaves nothing like traditional cloud consumption, and how CloudGov's Commitment Shield and Token Shield products bring real-time financial and security governance to multi-cloud, AI-driven enterprises.Key Takeaways

Sam Price of GlobalMed joins Ingram Micro's Public Sector Partner Spotlight to discuss how satellite connectivity, portable telehealth clinics, and AWS-powered technology are closing the healthcare access gap for rural and underserved communities. Sam shares how GlobalMed partners with providers, government agencies, and acquisition platforms like SourceWell to get care moving fast — without the red tape.Key Takeaways

Sam Price of GlobalMed joins Ingram Micro's Public Sector Partner Spotlight to discuss how satellite connectivity, portable telehealth clinics, and AWS-powered technology are closing the healthcare access gap for rural and underserved communities. Sam shares how GlobalMed partners with providers, government agencies, and acquisition platforms like SourceWell to get care moving fast — without the red tape.Key Takeaways

Mark Sutor, president of Access Group This episode of In The Channel is sponsored by Ingram Micro Canada. Mark Sutor, president of Access Group and Canadian co-president on the Trust X Alliance Global Advisory Board, joins the show to discuss the community’s recent Global Leadership Summit and what it means for Canadian solution providers. Sutor says the summit’s real differentiator is its focus: “This is not a summit about IT. It’s a summit about leadership.” He reflects on sessions with Constellation Research founder R “Ray” Wang, who warned that AI is commoditizing expertise and that real differentiation lies in experience and market understanding. Ingram Micro executive Sanjib Sahoo also featured heavily, pressing attendees to ask for “insights, not updates.” Sutor breaks down the TXA AI agent coming to the TXA Expand platform, which he says will make the global community feel smaller by surfacing partner skills and capabilities through natural language queries – including publicly available data from websites and LinkedIn. He also addresses the community’s aggressive expansion: new markets including India, the TXA Access program for countries without a formal footprint, and a target of 1,000 member companies by 2027. On the idea that communities like Trust X were an early form of “distributor as platform,” Sutor draws a direct line between the insights he gains at live Trust X events and the AI-surfaced insights he now receives logging into Ingram Micro Xvantage. He says the platform has freed up Ingram’s reps to have proactive business-building conversations rather than transactional ones. Finally, Sutor assesses where the Canadian channel sits on Ingram’s “crawl, walk, run” AI maturity curve. His verdict: the channel has moved past curiosity toward expectation, but execution remains uneven. For partners not yet in Trust X, he argues the community’s core value is collective growth: members share best practices, AI strategies, and vendor program leverage to outpace the broader market. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In the Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. Today, a conversation about the evolution of partner communities in the AI age, and a look at how peer networks that predate the current platform buzzword may have been the original take on the “distributor as platform” idea. Mark Sutor is president of Access Group, a longtime solution provider in the Canadian channel, and he serves as Canadian co-president on the Trust X Alliance Global Advisory Board. He recently came back from the Trust X Alliance Global Leadership Summit in Texas and joined me to talk about what landed, where the community is headed, and how the Canadian channel fits into a rapidly expanding global peer network. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Mark Sutor. Robert Dutt: Mark, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Mark Sutor: Glad to be here. The summit was a unique experience — unlike anything I’ve seen in the IT channel before. I’m taking back several action items for Access Group and the Canadian community. Robert Dutt: You mentioned a session with Level Up that stood out. Can you elaborate? Mark Sutor: The Level Up presenter, Patrick, laid out a clear structure for leadership skills. It resonated with what we already do, but gave us a concrete, actionable framework. Robert Dutt: What makes this summit different from other channel events? Mark Sutor: It isn’t an IT-focused summit; it’s a leadership summit for partners, vendors, and Ingram Micro staff. The content is dedicated to personal and professional development, not sales or product demos. Although the material has an IT flavor, the lessons are applicable across industries. Robert Dutt: At the summit, legendary analyst Ray Wang talked about expertise being commoditized by AI. How does that translate for a Canadian partner? Mark Sutor: Ray’s insight reinforced that experience, market understanding, and geography are the real differentiators. Those elements set us apart from purely AI-driven solutions. Robert Dutt: What were the big takeaways for you from the conference at large? Mark Sutor: Several points stood out. First, industry direction: we need to think long-term about AI’s impact on service delivery and customer interaction. Second, AI evolution: AI will move from substituting tasks to fundamentally reshaping processes — much like Uber redefined transportation. And third, leadership discipline: AI is becoming a strategic discipline, not just a technology trend. Robert Dutt: How is applied AI being positioned within the Trust X Alliance community? Mark Sutor: As a member of the Global Advisory Council, I saw that partners are at varied stages — some delivering AI solutions, others exploring internal use cases. We developed a playbook to help members integrate AI internally first, then translate those use cases into client solutions. Robert Dutt: Can you give me the nickel tour on the new TXA AI Agent coming to the Expand platform? Mark Sutor: The AI Agent streamlines partner discovery. Instead of manually searching for a partner with specific skills — for example, installing a Cisco router in Saskatchewan — you can ask the agent in natural language and receive accurate results instantly. It also surfaces vendor solutions across the ecosystem. The tool pulls data from public sources like websites and LinkedIn, as well as internal information, making the community more searchable and collaborative. Robert Dutt: It sounds like the difference between a classic keyword search and a modern, conversational search experience that can even surface new ideas. Mark Sutor: That is absolutely correct. Of course, the challenge is that we all need to make sure we provide the information it needs, but the AI tool is also very good at consuming publicly available information from our websites and LinkedIn. It’s not just looking inwardly. It’s super cool. You use it and you say, “Wow, this is really neat.” You can see where it potentially goes in terms of hooks into the other things that Ingram Micro is doing with AI and agentic tech as that rolls out. Robert Dutt: Trust X Alliance is expanding aggressively — new markets including India, the TXA Access program, and a target of 1,000 member companies by 2027. For the Canadian community, does global scale add value? Mark Sutor: It does impact us, for sure. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about the global events — the camaraderie with other markets. On the environmental stewardship front, for instance, the folks in the UK have been doing amazing things for a few years, and Canada has grown close and participated in some of those ventures. It’s a great way to get a leg up on things happening in other parts of the world. Historically, people liked to go to the U.S. events for a preview of what’s to come, and that is still valid. But I’ve learned many things from the DACH region, the UK, and the Netherlands. I can’t wait to see what comes out of these new markets. Robert Dutt: How do you feel about Canada’s role, given we’ve been there since before the Trust X name existed, dating back to VTN? We’ve always had a reputation for punching above our weight. Mark Sutor: That has definitely continued. Canada has always had a voice a little bit louder than our size. Per capita, we have a very strong membership in Canada — we’re sitting just shy of 100 members now, which by population is much larger than a lot of other geographies. We’re going to continue to have a loud voice because of the dedication of the Canadian members. We always say, “You get out what you put in,” and the Canadian members put in their hearts and souls. Robert Dutt: One of the things I’ve been thinking about, especially as distribution has increasingly redefined itself as a platform, is that in many ways the communities were the first take of “distributor as platform” — not a transactional entity, but a network to create business value, connections, shared intelligence, and leverage. Now we’ve got the technology side with Xvantage. So you’ve got the human community and the digital platform. How does one reinforce the other? Mark Sutor: It’s a great question, and I’m not sure that anybody really knows one hundred percent. Obviously, Sanjib Sahoo spends all of his waking hours thinking about this aspect of distribution. I can tell you that the Xvantage journey has really been quite helpful. Canada is a little bit farther along in that journey than some other geographies. Every day when I log into Xvantage, there are some things there called insights. I learn things for free about my business and about my customers just by logging in. AI has surfaced various insights about things happening in my own company that perhaps I wouldn’t have even known. It’s remarkable that today, in certain areas, the point of trust for me is actually the data coming out of Xvantage and not necessarily my own system. Because Ingram Micro has done such a good job of collecting appropriate data that really can give those insights. I think you’re right — there’s a lot of parallels. When I show up to a Trust X event, I gain insights from other members, from vendors, from Ingram Micro itself. The platform is really helping extend that. Not only does it help extend that through insights, but it’s really enabling the employees at Ingram Micro to take a much more proactive approach to understanding our business. I’m having those conversations more and more often where we’re no longer talking about what’s the price and where is it, and much more about how do we build business, how do we grow, how can we market together, how can we go together into various accounts and be stronger together. These are the conversations we’re having. On the back end, it’s Xvantage that has enabled those cycles to be freed up and for Ingram’s people to show up in a different way. I can tell you that in Canada, they do show up differently today than in the past. Robert Dutt: How so? Mark Sutor: I was preparing for a discussion with Ingram not that long ago, and this was front of mind — how Ingram had showed up differently. While I was preparing, I got a phone call from one of the reps at Ingram saying, “Hey, I just wanted to see if we could get something in the calendar to talk about how we can grow your Azure business together.” I thought, “Well, there you go. That’s exactly it playing out in real time.” These things didn’t necessarily used to happen with the intensity or the frequency in the past. Now these cycles have been freed up, where Xvantage is taking care of a lot of the mundane day-to-day stuff in the back end, and now we can have real conversations about building value for our customers. Robert Dutt: As you talk to your peers, both within Trust X and outside of it across the Canadian channel, do you feel that this idea of the new role of distribution is widely understood, widely taken advantage of, widely optimized? Or is it still a competitive differentiator for those who went in early? Mark Sutor: This is the problem we struggle with. Is it known? Yes. Is it well known? I would say not as well as it should be. I know a lot of members don’t take advantage of the various insights and things that I had mentioned earlier. Getting that word out is one of the objectives of the Trust X Alliance moving forward, both inside the community as well as to the broader Ingram family. Ingram is showing up differently, but I don’t think that the progress they have made is that well known. There’s still a little bit of thought that, well, they have a great website, which is true, but it’s way more than that today. It’s a platform that can do many, many things for your business. It’s extraordinary what Ingram has done in the past couple of years. There are new features being added to the Xvantage platform weekly, biweekly at this point, and it’s a fast-moving process. Part of the challenge, whenever you’re improving a platform so quickly, is to make sure that people stay current with those changes. It’s a huge advantage. It’s a great thing because it’s moving at the speed of the industry, but at the same time, it’s hard for everyone to keep up to date with those various changes. And just to be clear, they do a fantastic job of revealing those new features. They pop up on your dashboard as they’re being revealed. There are various trainings and other things that go on, but life is busy, right? So it’s hard to keep that front and center, but this is a very good problem to have. In the Trust X Alliance, we’re happy to support those efforts and to make sure that the word gets out in an appropriate way. Part of that is to do things like we’re doing today, to make sure that we continue to talk about the successes that we’re having as members and make sure that the community at large, as well as the Ingram family at large, sees those wins. Robert Dutt: Ingram’s overall AI strategy cadence has been the crawl, walk, run idea. Do you see the channel as an aggregate still in crawl, or are we moving towards walk? Mark Sutor: Everyone is still at a very different place in their journey. But I think what’s shifted — I heard someone use this term in one of our affinity meetings the other day — is that things have moved towards expectation. We’re now expecting that AI is going to be doing great things for us. It’s no longer a curiosity, necessarily. And that’s really the shift that I see happening today. But it doesn’t change the fact that everyone’s at a very different position. And in some cases, rightly so. By various industry segment, I think by the nature of those segments, it makes sense to be either ahead or even behind the curve sometimes. But as a community, we’re very focused on elevating everyone’s experience to the point that makes sense for their business, and focusing on that internal use case for AI has been what makes a lot of sense for members. Robert Dutt: If a Canadian MSP or solution provider isn’t in Trust X Alliance today, what are they actually missing that they can’t get from a vendor program or a buying group? Mark Sutor: Well, we’re growing. I think that’s one of the biggest ones. Part of our approach to the marketplace is to grow faster together. And by sharing best practices, by working on things like our AI strategy, by leveraging vendor programs, and so on, we’ve been able to grow faster than the marketplace. And that’s, I think, the continued expectation of the organization is to continue to grow. Robert Dutt: Last one for me. What’s the one thing you’d want Canadian partners to know about where Trust X Alliance is headed over the next twelve months? Mark Sutor: Definitely watch us. I think that we’re doing a lot of really good things in the industry. The Trust X Alliance is really being positioned as the place to go for expertise, the place to go for knowledge, the place to go if you want a good job done as an end client. So the brand is really being built out in a lot of very interesting ways. It’s no longer necessarily just a brand in the IT community, but it’s gaining a lot of traction out there as the brand for IT. So we do extraordinary work together as a community, and I think we’re going to continue to do that. And yeah, I can’t wait to see where we go. Robert Dutt: Thanks for the conversation, Mark. Mark Sutor: Thank you, Robert. It’s been a pleasure. Robert Dutt: There you have it, Mark Sutor from Access Group. I’d like to thank Mark for his time and for sharing his perspective on the Trust X Alliance community and the Canadian channel’s place in it. A few takeaways from me on this one: the idea that peer communities like Trust X were arguably the first iteration of “distributor as platform” — not transactional, but network-driven — and that Ingram Micro’s Xvantage platform is now extending that same logic into digital insights. Mark’s observation that AI has shifted from curiosity to expectation in the channel is worth sitting with. And the note that Canadian partners, in his view, still underutilize what these platforms and communities can actually deliver. If you found the conversation useful, please follow or subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most directories. Ratings and reviews help others in the IT channel find the show. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

How do you transform a 45-year-old, $52 billion enterprise into an AI-native platform business and take it public in the process? In this episode of the CPO Rising series hosted by Products That Count Resident CPO Renee Niemi, Ingram Micro former CPO Ambrish Verma will be speaking on the frameworks he used to navigate tech debt, allocate innovation capacity, and build the moat that repositioned a legacy distributor as a technology platform company. He also shares what happened when he asked Claude to play the role of a board member and challenge every assumption in his strategy.

Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: HPE Discover 2026 wraps up in Las Vegas today, and if you’ve been following our coverage, you know we’ve had plenty to unpack this week. For the Friday edition of The Buzz, we doing something slightly different – a reporter’s notebook on what HPE’s channel leadership said when they were off the keynote stage. The quote validity extension was the headline that drew the most relief, but the backstory is more interesting than the policy change itself. HPE extended standard quotes from 14 days to 30 days for compute, storage, and GreenLake, effective Monday. Simon Ewington, who leads HPE’s worldwide partner organisation, told press and partners Wednesday that the change was ‘pretty well kept secret’ – his own staff didn’t know about it either. The commodity volatility that had forced the two-week window had moderated enough that HPE could stand behind a 30-day price with confidence. Behind the ‘Power of One’ marketing, there are mechanical changes that determine whether partners can actually make money. Juniper’s Elite Plus, Elite, and Select tiers will map to HPE Platinum, Gold, and Silver starting November 1. HPE introduced a 3x multiplier on software sales for Zerto, Morpheus, and OpsRamp, plus a 1.5x GreenLake multiplier, to help partners climb tiers faster. Smart Choice SKUs – pre-configured servers missing only drives – are a speed play for distributors. The competitive storage take-out targets 14,000 customers under the VH Rail framing, with Alletra MP already outpacing market growth by 2x and 0% financing for three years. Then there was candour. Ewington noted HPE is the vendor who ‘typically moves first… and then others polish.’ The distributor overlap between HPE and Juniper is only about 10%, so they’re ‘refining the landscape’ rather than forcing universal carry. Service provider growth is running 23% to 30% CAGR. And HPE’s sustainability insight dashboard gives partners a concrete tool to analyse customer environments and open carbon footprint conversations. You can find every episode of The Buzz and In The Channel from HPE Discover on our HPE Discover news hub. Read Full Transcript This epsisode of The Buzz is brought to you by HPE Discover 2026. Check out our full coverage of the event on ChannelBuzz.ca — you’ll find out HPE Discover 2026 News Hub in the menu bar at the top of the page. Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Friday, June 19th, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. I’m recording this a bit earl in Las Vegas, because I’m on a plane all day heading home from Discover.  If you’ve been following our coverage this week, you know we’ve had a lot to unpack – the Partner Growth Summit on Monday, the networking and AI infrastructure keynote on Tuesday, and a steady drumbeat of announcements through Wednesday. For this episode, I want to do something slightly different. Think of it as a reporter’s notebook – the details, the mechanics, and the candour that came out when HPE’s channel leadership sat down with press and partners on Wednesday morning, off the keynote stage. Let’s start with the quote validity extension, because the backstory here is as interesting than the policy change itself. HPE extended standard quote validity from 14 days to 30 days for compute, storage, and GreenLake, effective Monday. You’ve heard that already. What you probably haven’t heard is how closely they guarded it. Simon Ewington, who runs HPE’s worldwide partner organisation, told us Wednesday that the change was a ‘pretty well kept secret.’  His own staff didn’t know about it either. They wanted zero leaks because the commodity and supply chain volatility that had forced the two-week window in the first place had finally moderated enough that HPE could stand behind a 30-day price with confidence. Keeping it quiet meant announcing it without hedging. For partners who’ve been managing customer decision cycles that simply don’t fit a 14-day window, the relief was audible. The Partner Growth Summit was dense enough that Ewington admitted partners told him it was ‘almost too much’ and they ‘needed an AI summary to recap everything.’ So let me pull out the operational details that actually affect how you navigate the program. First, Juniper integration. We now have firm tier mapping: Juniper Elite Plus goes to HPE Platinum, Elite to Gold, Select to Silver, effective November 1. HPE is also launching a Routing competency – number 15 in the framework – to support that transition. Second, multipliers. HPE introduced a 3x multiplier on software sales for Zerto, Morpheus, and OpsRamp, plus a 1.5x multiplier for GreenLake, to help partners hit higher membership tiers faster by weighting software more heavily than hardware. Third, Smart Choice SKUs – pre-configured servers that ship missing only hard drives. It’s a speed and velocity play for distributors. Fourth, the competitive storage take-out. HPE has identified 14,000 target customers for what they’re calling the VH Rail opportunity. Alletra MP is outpacing market growth by 2x, and they’re backing the migration with 0% financing for three years. These aren’t marketing headlines. These are the details that determine whether you can actually make money on the portfolio. Then there were the moments of genuine candour. Ewington’s line that HPE is the vendor who ‘typically moves first… and then others polish’ is either confidence or arrogance depending on your perspective, but it’s not ambiguous. You may have seen recently that HP formally announced its two main global distributors as Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX. The distributor overlap reality is worth noting: only about 10% overlap between HPE and Juniper distributors. HPE is actively ‘refining the landscape’ rather than forcing every distributor to carry everything. That’s a concession that operational integration takes time and care. On services, HPE is expanding partner-branded services so partners own the Level 1 and 2 support relationship while HPE stays in the background for Level 3 and 4. Ewington said this largely came about because there have been some large partners who have declined to get closer to HPE because of the company’s previous retisense to allow partners to lead on services around its gear.  For service providers specifically, leadership cited 23% to 30% CAGR growth rates, and they’re opening CloudOps software to CSPs to build new services around. And on sustainability, which came up in the context of AI’s energy demands, HPE has built an insight dashboard that lets partners analyse customer environments and open conversations about carbon footprint and efficiency. It’s a practical tool rather than a vague pledge. If there’s a through-line to the week, it’s that HPE is trying to make ‘Power of One’ mean something operationally, not just rhetorically. The quote validity change was a trust repair. The multiplier and tier mapping are structural incentives. The distributor and services refinements are admissions that integration is hard and takes time. Whether it all lands as promised is what we’ll be watching through the second half of this year. That’s it for this edition of The Buzz. You can find our full HPE Discover 2026 coverage on ChannelBuzz.ca – there’s a news hub in the menu bar at the top of the page. And we’ll also have more epsidoes of In The Channel from Discover next week here on the site, including more HPE executives, and more reactions from Canadian HPE partners. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines from HPE Discover. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Jeremiah Jenson, vice president of North Amiercan channels at HPE This episode is the second half of a two-part conversation with Jeremiah Jenson, vice president of North America Channel and Partner Ecosystem at HPE, recorded ahead of HPE Discover 2026. Part one – the Discover preview and HPE’s AI infrastructure themes – is Monday’s episode. This half focuses on the announcements made at the HPE Partner Growth Summit on Monday, June 16. The centrepiece is what HPE is calling the “power of one” – one portfolio, one partner program, one integrated experience. It’s partly organizational messaging, but there’s real substance underneath: HPE spent the past 18 months merging three separate channel organizations (HPE, Aruba, and Juniper) into a single team, and the work of translating that into a coherent partner experience is now coming due. Concretely, that means Juniper partners integrating into Partner Ready Vantage on November 1 – with tier mapping already defined – along with Zerto, Private Cloud 3000, and Private Cloud 1000 shifting to channel-only routes to market. HPE is also extending free three-year Morpheus software licenses to approximately 600 partners for internal deployment, as much about building hands-on expertise as it is about the virtualization savings. The piece with the most direct relevance for Canadian MSPs is the new partner-branded services model: partners lead with their own brand, own the customer relationship, and HPE backs them as the invisible infrastructure layer for on-site break-fix and parts logistics. Jenson specifically calls out Canadian partners’ customer intimacy and regional compliance knowledge as a natural fit for that services-forward model. The “one more mile” close is worth hearing directly. Tuesday’s episode of The Buzz has the headline news breakdown – check that first if you want the full context. Read Full Transcript [Robert Dutt]: This episode of In The Channel is brought to you by HPE Discover 2026, and we’ll be bringing you full event coverage all week right here on ChannelBuzz.ca. Don’t miss it! Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. Quick note before we dive into this one – if you haven’t already listened to Tuesday’s episode of The Buzz, I’d really encourage you to go find that in your feed first. On The Buzz, we’ve got the headline rundown on HPE’s Partner Growth Summit announcements – what was announced, what moved, what the numbers are. What we’re doing here is going a level deeper with the person who actually owns this for North America. Jeremiah Jenson is the vice president of North America Channel and Partner Ecosystem at HPE. He returned to the company about a year ago, after a previous decade-plus that included the Aruba acquisition, a stint at AWS in between, and enough perspective on how the IT channel actually works to fill several episodes on their own. This is part two of a conversation we recorded just ahead of Discover. Part one, the Discover preview and the big AI infrastructure themes, is on the feed Monday if you want the full picture. This half is about the Partner Growth Summit announcements – what HPE is calling the power of one. One portfolio, one program, one partner experience. And specifically, what it means if you’re a Canadian reseller or MSP trying to figure out where HPE fits into your business right now and into the second half of 2026. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Jeremiah Jenson. Jeremiah, good to be chatting with you again. [Jeremiah Jenson]: Yeah, good to talk to you, Rob. Thanks. [Robert Dutt]: Let’s get into some of the stuff that was announced at Partner Growth Summit. And I guess let’s start here. You’ve now had about 18 months since the single channel org stood up, and now you’ve got the Juniper integration happening on top of that. From your seat, what did that single organization feel like to execute on? And what’s the one thing that turned out to be harder than expected? [Jeremiah Jenson]: One, it feels very good. So a little bit of my history – I was here when the Aruba acquisition happened some 10 years ago, and then I was with a different company for a period of time, and I’ve been back for about a year and a half now. And I will say it’s been fantastic to unify the channel in a lot of ways – making it more simple and easier and more profitable for partners to understand and to do business with, but also to take advantage of the power of the portfolio. So what’s it like? Simple answer. It’s great because we have a tremendous amount of channel history and momentum and power from that piece of the business, combined with a tremendous amount of channel history, momentum, and power on the hybrid IT side, and bringing all that together in a unified way. It’s fantastic. Now, the hardest part about that is you’re dealing with big businesses and the devil being in the details. And that’s where we just spend a lot of time working on. While the big themes are unification, ease of doing business, and simplifying things along those lines, the hard part is in the detail. Like, how do we actually want to help accomplish this? And so from that, we’ve had to get a lot of very big voices in the room and get through some very meaningful things on behalf of our customers and our partners. [Robert Dutt]: I guess, to your point on your history and the long history of HPE in this acquisition space, at least to some degree, you’ve got the muscle memory of doing the Aruba side of things and getting that integrated into the programs. And now it’s sort of doing that at a different timeline, at a different scale with Juniper. [Jeremiah Jenson]: It’s true. We have the muscle memory of acquisitions and some history of that. I think the one thing that is really just awesome to see is how people have come together with customer and partner being front and center, and how are we iterating and innovating on their behalf, and just a unified goal of how do we move really fast? Because the opportunity in that market is too big for us to miss. And so there’s really this motivation to move very, very fast and very quickly. And that’s why we’re ahead of our integration targets. We’re very pleased with where we are in that business, unifying the channel, unifying a bunch of business processes. You’re seeing that in the programmatic announcements we made. So it’s nice to be able to take advantage of that muscle memory. We’ve done the training, now we’re doing it for real. [Robert Dutt]: So the November 1 date is concrete, and the tier mapping for the Juniper roll into Partner Ready Vantage is clear – Elite Plus becomes Platinum, etc. But what about the Canadian partner today who’s a Juniper partner, but has never really sold HPE server or storage? What does that reality look like in practice? Is there a runway and enablement in place to help bring those folks on board? And obviously, I assume you want as many of them transacting as far across the portfolio as possible – what does it look like as the two truly become one? [Jeremiah Jenson]: Absolutely. So one, we want them participating across the full portfolio. One program gives partners a very clear, unified path across networking, cloud, and AI. And this move that we’ve made, it’s a major simplification that gives partners a more consistent way in which they can engage across those three – whether that’s networking, cloud, or AI. And it also paints a very clear opportunity in terms of how they can take the broader portfolio to their customers to solve those business problems. I always want to keep that customer front and center, and that they have a unique opportunity to solve a broader set of customer challenges. And so the value there is that partners can work across more of the portfolio without navigating disconnected experiences. And I also want to say, we’re not forcing anybody to become something that they’re not. This is an opportunity for them, and we’ve made it simple for them to capture that opportunity and to grow their business with HPE. [Robert Dutt]: It’s always a balancing act, right? You want to incentivize, but you don’t want to push too hard because that potentially breaks partner business models or creates challenges. But at the same time, it’s like – we’ve got all this stuff over here too. You want to sell it? That’d be cool. [Jeremiah Jenson]: Yeah, look, I’m not twisting anybody’s arm here. I think the opportunity speaks for itself. And I think our results in the market also speak for themselves. The opportunity is there, and that opportunity stands on its own. Whether you want to invest in an AI practice or whether you have an opportunity to help customers solve a problem with compute, we have the right enablement and want to come alongside that partner and take advantage of that opportunity and help that customer. But that opportunity is real and right there for them now. The value of the opportunity, the capability of our products, how that’s meeting the market with customers – that speaks for itself. So the opportunity is there, and I want to harness it. I want to take advantage of it with our mutual partners. [Robert Dutt]: We seem to be getting a little bit of a drumbeat going in terms of HPE products being declared channel-only in terms of go-to-market. Last year with VME Essentials, this year it’s Zerto, PC 3000, PC 1000. There’s clearly a strategic logic here beyond just adding product to the list. What’s the underlying principle on what makes a product the right candidate to be channel-only? And what does it mean for a partner that these products will only come through them and their peers? [Jeremiah Jenson]: Well, I mean, there’s a couple of things there. Certainly we’re expanding areas where partners can lead, and that creates additional room for growth, both for them and for us. And it’s a clear signal that HPE is expanding in areas where – like I said – where partners can lead, but especially in areas that are core to the market, whether that’s private cloud or virtualization with this great VM reset that we’ve got going on, or whether that’s data protection with some of our Zerto solutions and ransomware protection, things along those lines. So this gives partners more ownership and opportunity while also creating more room for them to differentiate. I don’t want a homogeneous channel. Each partner has not made the same investments. And so each partner has a level of capability, a market that they serve, and has made investments to serve their customers in the right way. And so this partner-led opportunity with these products gives them not only ownership of the opportunity, but clear ways in which they can differentiate by investing in these product sets. So it’s an area of channel leadership. And then finally, it also speaks to our channel heritage. We trust the channel. We partner with them very closely, and we see an opportunity for us to grow our collective business by allowing them to lead. [Robert Dutt]: To your point on the non-homogeneous nature of the channel, I think that’s represented well throughout the program and what you guys are talking about in terms of being open to embracing and facilitating multi-partner engagements when the customer needs support from different specialists in different areas to drive those outcomes. [Jeremiah Jenson]: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think this helps partners build higher-value practices. I don’t need them just to sell another product. We have lots of products that are available for sale, but this helps them see and build a higher-value practice, whether that’s the services capability that they can bring in – because we all know customers need help transforming to new and more efficient ways of doing business in a hybrid IT environment. So it creates more ways for partners to move up that value chain, whether that’s through their services or deeper expertise that they want to build. And it matters because that creates long-term growth. As they become more valuable to the customer through their differentiated capabilities, differentiated services, or the distinct and unique value that they bring to their customers, it creates long-term growth. It helps build something that outlasts not only them, but us. [Robert Dutt]: Part of the announcements is you’re giving up to 600 partners free Morpheus licenses to run their own environments. It’s interesting – it really sounds like it’s saying, sort of an opportunity to become your own reference customer, to drink your own champagne, to eat your own dog food, whatever your preferred analogy is there. What are the expectations around how partners use those capabilities? Is it about demos? Is it about building their own expertise? Is it about getting a chance to do some of that transformation and reinvention of their own infrastructure and tech stack so they can speak more clearly to customers about what’s possible? [Jeremiah Jenson]: Yeah, I mean, what is going on in the virtualization market is impacting everybody – the entire channel. And I don’t mean just how various companies are going to market. It’s impacting everybody, and that includes our partners who are customers of a lot of different companies. And there’s real power in our portfolio. We see a clear opportunity not only to invest in the channel with those partners who have invested in us, those partners who have invested in the virtualization competency – we want to invest back in them with the capability that our portfolio brings to them. So these VME licenses offer them an opportunity to reset their virtualization environment and set themselves up for continued modernization. And what better story to take to their customers than, “We know this works for you because we did it ourselves.” So drinking their own champagne is a very good analogy there. And that is our expectation – not only to help partners realize the true value of the portfolio, but also enable them to modernize and take that story to their customers. And there’s no better way than to say, “I’ve done it myself and here were the outcomes that we saw.” [Robert Dutt]: Given the scale of the HPE channel, I’m guessing there are going to be a lot of hands going up for those 600 slots. [Jeremiah Jenson]: Well, look, what we see in VME, the Morpheus software suite, is nothing short of impressive. I’ve got a history of working with and working for companies that move very fast, that make decisions fast and execute very quickly. What I have seen in this Morpheus VME space is impressive – it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. The roadmap, our ability to execute against that roadmap, to produce enterprise-quality and just phenomenal products at pace and at scale is incredibly impressive. And so partners that are working with VME and Morpheus today are continuing to be blown away by the capability and the roadmap. And for those partners that haven’t taken advantage of that, please take a moment for yourself and look at what we’re doing here. It’s a fantastic product and a fantastic solution to help customers with what they need most – cost savings while setting the on-ramp to modernization. [Robert Dutt]: Especially in a moment where perhaps acquiring new tech is not going to be as easy as it has been from a hardware point of view. [Jeremiah Jenson]: Exactly. In a moment where everybody is looking for ways to save dollars, you can cut virtualization costs by up to 90% with this product. It has very simple per-socket pricing. And so what better opportunity not only to help our partners, but to get that message out to their customers. [Robert Dutt]: In terms of channel penetration, is this a fairly mature, realized market, or is there still a lot of greenfield out there on the channel side? [Jeremiah Jenson]: I mean, there’s a massive opportunity. You think about the size of that virtualization market – the size of the VM reset, the virtual machine market – it’s huge. So there is a tremendous amount of headroom in this market. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity for all of us. And we have to turn that opportunity into reality. And that’s happening now. [Robert Dutt]: Moving on to partner-branded services – this is one that really caught my interest, and I think is going to catch the interest of a lot of folks, especially those who are in the MSP mode. Can you walk me through what it actually looks like for a Canadian MSP? They’re putting their name on a support offering, HPE is the invisible backbone. What does it look like in terms of the customer call, billing, and what does HPE get out of participating in this model where it’s the partner and not HPE that’s the primary brand? [Jeremiah Jenson]: First of all, a clear thing with partners is they have a level of customer understanding – or I often say they have a level of customer intimacy that I could never replace and don’t intend to. So partner-branded services really helps us service the customer faster with a very valuable piece of that equation, and that’s the partner. So allowing a partner to take first-call support, first-call services, and to be able to capitalize on that customer knowledge and that depth of history and customer intimacy that they have – what we have found is that just produces a better customer outcome. So E+ in North America is one of those first partners that has taken advantage of this, and we’re really just enthused and excited about what’s coming through at the customer level. That’s the piece that I want to put front and center – customers have a need for a faster answer, a faster path to resolution, and partners are part of that. And so this acceleration of this program is really helping. From a Canadian standpoint, look, who knows more about the Canadian market than a Canadian partner serving a Canadian customer and understanding their requirements? I often say Canadians have forgotten more about Canada than I’ll ever know, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for that. So the opportunity to deploy that knowledge front and center with a customer – no better opportunity. And it plays especially important, I think, in a market like Canada where there are so many differences regionally. In any large market there are regional differences, but there are real and meaningful differences here. [Robert Dutt]: Yeah, I mean, let’s not pretend that the United States and Canada are identical, because they’re not. There are nuances, there are real and meaningful differences. [Jeremiah Jenson]: And whether that’s compliance or any other kind of nuance, those differences are real at the customer level. And so the opportunity for partners to service customers with that level of knowledge – whether that’s compliance or regional nuance – that speaks to the power of the channel. And it’s phenomenal to see this announcement come to life and see partners taking advantage of it. [Robert Dutt]: So how quickly do you anticipate it expanding to a broader number of potential service provider partners who are in that partner-branded services mode with you? [Jeremiah Jenson]: I think it really is incumbent upon us to be very deliberate about what we build with our partners. I think in the past, sometimes partners get very focused on what can I sell today. And I think the opportunity with partner-branded services is how can we build something that outlasts all of us? How can we build a foundation of services? Because once you have that services capability and once you are effectively taking that first call and you are not only the provider but you are the solution – you are the solution for when things need to be fixed – that stickiness becomes very real. So we have to really think about what do we want to build? What is the services capability that we’re building together? And from that, that will create the pace at which we grow. But there are very large partners, very sizable MSPs, as well as what I would call MSPs who have very specialized capability that want to take advantage of this. [Robert Dutt]: Moving on to storage – you’ve got the 15% front-end takeout rebate on top of existing rebates for competitive storage displacement. That’s a notable number. How should a Canadian reseller read that? I’ve heard that it runs at least through calendar year, but is this a period-based incentive or is it a signal that HPE is ready to play offense on storage for the long haul? [Jeremiah Jenson]: It’s the latter. We are very much on the front foot when it comes to our storage portfolio. The product is fantastic. The storage portfolio specifically is in a place that I’ve never seen it before in decades of history. And that’s phenomenal. And the results we have seen over the past several quarters – it has been several quarters of really good growth and great success here in North America. And now is the time to pour gasoline on that fire. So this is a signal of not only our existing success, but how can we be even more on the front foot and take that to our partners who want to lean in with us. Now is the time to lean in with storage and our hybrid cloud offerings and really accelerate – how we go and acquire new customers and grow that base for the future. There’s a phenomenal opportunity with our product, but there’s a bigger opportunity in what customers are demanding, and we have the right product to meet it. [Robert Dutt]: So November 1, one experience. That’s a big promise. We’ve got one portal, one deal registration system, one development fund. There’s a lot in there. For a partner who’s been managing different login credentials and different MDF processes, what’s actually noticeably different on November 2 in terms of their relationship and running their business with HPE? [Jeremiah Jenson]: Yeah. I mean, I say this a lot because it’s real – I spend an inordinate amount of my time thinking about how do we simplify? How do we make ourselves easier to do business with? And so one experience is really about making it easier for partners to engage, to move faster, and to grow at an accelerated rate. And it matters because partners want speed, but speed comes from consistency and getting rid of some of the administrative overhead that is in place. So this is all about reducing friction in the places where partners feel it the most. Having to log out of one website and into another – common tools, common onboarding processes, contracting, deal flow, deal registration, things along those lines. This is really all about making it easier for partners to engage and easier for us to do business together. It pains me and keeps me awake at night if they’ve got to log into multiple websites – it’s just time. It’s impacting the time in which we can get to customers and service customers. So that’s what they should expect: a common set of tools, common contracting, common deal flow, easier to engage, and moving faster with HPE. [Robert Dutt]: We’ve heard that this is going to be AI-enabled in terms of the partner portal and partner tools and experiences. Can you tell me a little bit about what that means today, as well as – without giving away too much of the secret sauce – what you’re thinking about in terms of what AI-enabling the partner experience is going to look like for your partners in the long run? [Jeremiah Jenson]: Yeah, I mean, we’re a leader in the AI market and we have a long history of drinking our own champagne, as we talked about earlier. And so there’s an opportunity to deploy some of our AI tools in customer- and partner-facing experiences – whether that’s websites and things along those lines. As an example – and I don’t have a very explicit example in terms of this specific process – but one of the mental models that we have is: sometimes you’ve got to send an email to an email alias when it’s a repetitive process, things along those lines. Agentic AI and the AI tools and infrastructure that we produce for customers every day can help solve those questions immediately. So how do we put some of our AI tools into that workflow and solve at pace and do things much, much faster – so we’re not waiting on someone to type up a response from some anonymous alias. And while that’s a very basic example, you begin to think about other opportunities in terms of repetitive processes that drive partners crazy. How can we simplify and make things move faster? [Robert Dutt]: Yeah, I was going to say – it may be a basic example, but you can imagine how that multiplies over time and over opportunities and over deals when it’s repeated again and again. [Jeremiah Jenson]: It’s really about solving real problems. We can talk high and mighty and pie in the sky and AI this and AI that, but it’s really about what, at the end of the day, some human sitting in front of a desk is experiencing. It’s solving real-world problems with technology and capability. And it’s that real-world approach to the business that we’re taking. [Robert Dutt]: On the distribution landscape – we heard recently you’ve named TD SYNNEX and Ingram Micro as the two globals with local augmentation. Obviously those two are very strong players in the Canadian market. But how does distribution look now in Canada, and how do you see it looking in terms of additional niche or boutique players to round out the strategy? [Jeremiah Jenson]: So distribution is a core part of how we go to market and a core part of our overall channel strategy. The global announcement of Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX – of course they’re both headquartered here in North America and we do a lot of business with them, and we’re excited about the plans that we have together. Stay tuned. You’ll see additional announcements in terms of how we think about that landscape and how we’re accelerating with our other distribution partners. So more to come there in the very near term. [Robert Dutt]: All right. A teaser. I love that. Last one for me. There’s a lot in these announcements and partners are going to be reading a lot of headlines, listening to a lot of stuff – probably have already, as they’re listening to this. But what’s the one big thing you would most want a Canadian partner – reseller, MSP, wherever they fit in the equation – to actually understand and act on from what HPE is announcing at Partner Growth Summit? [Jeremiah Jenson]: I’ll answer it this way – just who I am as a person, just my personal hobby. I love long-distance trail running. I’m an ultramarathoner. And I always think about: can I run one more mile? And I’m not saying that everybody should go out there and sign up for a 50-mile or 100-mile race, but I do think about, can I run one more mile? And so to bring that back to what is my ask of whether you’re an MSP or partner or something along those lines – with a portfolio of our size, what’s one more thing that you can take to your customer? Is that data center networking? Is that moving from Juniper into the wireless space with some of our Aruba products? Is that compute? Is it that I’ve sold storage, but now I want to talk about data protection with Zerto – can I do one more? And so as we think about Discover and the announcements we’ve made this week and the momentum we have with our portfolio, that’s what I want to ask. Can you do one more? What is that one more thing that we might be able to do together that will help you grow your business, help your customer solve another business problem, and help us accomplish our mutual goals? [Robert Dutt]: All right. I think that’s a reasonable ask. I appreciate you taking the time. Once again, thanks for walking us through some of the details of what was announced at Partner Growth Summit, and have a great rest of the week. [Jeremiah Jenson]: Always good to talk to you, Rob. Thanks. [Robert Dutt]: There you have it – Jeremiah Jenson, vice president of North America Channel and Partner Ecosystem at HPE. I’d like to thank Jeremiah for his time and for a pretty candid look at how HPE is thinking about the partner community as these organizations – HPE and Juniper – settle into one. Thank you for listening. There’s a lot to process in these announcements, but the thing I keep coming back to is the frame that Jeremiah closed with – the “one more mile” idea. He’s an ultramarathoner, and the ask he’s making of the Canadian channel isn’t to boil the ocean. It’s to ask yourself if there’s one more HPE product that belongs in front of your customers. Data center networking if you’re already doing compute. Zerto if you’re already doing virtualization. Partner-branded services if you’re an MSP looking to own more of the customer relationship. One more mile, compounded across a partner base, is how the power of one actually becomes real. We’re going to have a lot more from HPE Discover through the rest of the week, including an on-site recap coming later. So keep an eye on your feed. You’ll find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most of the major podcast directories. And if you’re finding the show useful, a rating or a review genuinely helps other people in the Canadian channel find us. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Outcome-based managed security and attached vendor warranties are driving a new form of coverage-based vendor lock-in for MSPs and IT service providers. Vendors such as Intezer and SPECTRA are introducing performance guarantees, SLAs, and cyber resilience warranties that require MSPs to fully standardize on their architectures. This evolving model shifts accountability for enforcement and risk management from the individual MSP to the vendor's operating model, thereby altering the independent role of the MSP within client environments. A notable example is Intezer's Amplify Partner program, which asserts that its platform can process 100% of security alerts while escalating fewer than 2% for human review—claims the company frames as outcomes rather than product specifications. SPECTRA's use of certification-linked warranties, distributed via Ingram Micro, establishes channel-distributable assurance products with explicit conditions attached at every level. According to a Check Point report, while 77% of organizations report having adopted AI for cloud security, only 26% feel capable of enforcing those strategies, revealing a gap between security intent and operational ability. This structural shift is further illustrated by Merlin Cyber's FedRAMP managed service offering, Lumen's MDR enhancements targeting mid-market MSPs, and Trustlogix's addition of intent-based authorization controls. The FBI's announcement regarding Microsoft 365 OAuth token hijacking and recent vulnerabilities in widely used platforms like ConnectWise Automate underscore the real-world risks of automation platforms being targeted. These developments collectively point to growing operational complexity, rising compliance burdens, and the need for MSPs to separate their commitments from upstream vendor claims. For operators, the trend demands increased scrutiny of warranty terms, claim denial conditions, and SLA language before making any client-facing assurances. MSPs risk absorbing liability if they repeat vendor marketing claims without contractual clarity or operational control. Effective governance now requires independently produced, audit-ready evidence that documents compliance and enforcement separate from vendor portals. As assurance sales proliferate, the operational gap between acting as an underwriter versus a reseller will drive market differentiation, affecting both pricing structures and eligibility for vendor-backed coverage. 00:00 Channel-Ready Security 03:41 Policy vs. Reality 05:59 MFA Isn't Enough 09:12 Why Do We Care?    Supported by:  ScalePad Moovila   

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.

Ingram Micro is moving its employees to downtown Buffalo this morning. President of Ingram Micro North America Bill Brandel tells us what led to the move.

Authorities pursue Black Basta. British authorities launch a new national service to fight fraud and cybercrime. LinkedIn private messages get infected with RATs. Researchers uncover a new malicious extension that intentionally crashes the browser. Ingram Micro discloses a ransomware-related data breach. A Jordanian man pleads guilty to selling stolen access to corporate networks. Business Breakdown. Tim Starks from CyberScoop discusses Sean Plankey's renomination to lead CISA.  Grave oversight in the funeral biz.  Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest Today we are joined by Tim Starks from CyberScoop as he is discussing Sean Plankey's renomination to lead CISA. You can use Tim's take on it here.   Selected Reading Police raid homes of alleged Black Basta hackers, hunt suspected Russian ringleader (The Record) UK launches landmark 'Report Fraud' service to tackle cybercrime and fraud (The Record) Linkedin Phishing Campaign Exploits Open-Source Pen Testing Tool to Compromise Business Execs (Infosecurity Magazine) Fake ad blocker extension crashes the browser for ClickFix attacks (Bleeping Computer) Ingram Micro reveals ransomware attack hit 42,000 people - here's how to find out more (TechRadar) Jordanian Man Pleads Fake ad blocker extension crashes the browser for ClickFix attacksGuilty to Selling Stolen Logins for 50 Companies (Hackread) CrowdStrike agrees to acquire SGNL for $740 million and Seraphic for $420 million. (N2K Pro) Exclusive: Funeral Industry Faces Security Gaps as Top Firms Lack Key Certifications (The Chosun Daily) Share your feedback. What do you think about CyberWire Daily? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey. Thank you for helping us continue to improve our show. Want to hear your company in the show? N2K CyberWire helps you reach the industry's most influential leaders and operators, while building visibility, authority, and connectivity across the cybersecurity community. Learn more at sponsor.thecyberwire.com. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of DisrupTV, hosts Vala Afshar and R “Ray” Wang sit down with three leaders shaping the next era of AI, intelligence, and personal branding. Benji Hutchinson, CEO of Babel Street, breaks down the world of mission-grade risk intelligence—how it's used in national security, why dual-use AI matters, and why fewer than 30% of Fortune 2000 companies truly understand it. Mukund Gopalan, Global Chief Data Officer at Ingram Micro and AI150 executive, shares how the company is building an “AI factory” to industrialize intelligence, improve data quality, empower employees, and drive real business transformation. Goldie Chan, branding strategist and author of Personal Branding for Introverts, reveals why introverts have unique leadership superpowers and walks through her signature 5Cs framework for building an authentic and sustainable personal brand. If you're interested in AI, cybersecurity, enterprise transformation, or modern leadership, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

From aspiring fine artist to co-founding a groundbreaking media company and advising Fortune 500s, Cynthia Nelson's journey is one of resilience, reinvention, and relentless curiosity. With more than 25 years leading at the intersection of capital, innovation, and culture, Cynthia has proven herself a powerhouse in entrepreneurship and growth strategy.Her story begins in the unlikeliest of places: a receptionist desk at a computer repair shop in the mid-80s. From there, she witnessed the tech industry's birth, climbed the ranks at Ingram Micro, and navigated the turbulence of early startups, including a devastating betrayal by a business partner. But rather than stepping back, she leaned into every challenge, becoming one of the few Latina women to raise $15 million in private equity and ultimately selling her company Todobebé after a decade of pioneering media, parenting content, and cultural storytelling.Cynthia shares the pivotal lessons that fueled her success, from the importance of listening deeply to your customers, to the courage of saying “yes” to unfamiliar challenges, to the discipline of surrounding yourself with advisors who tell you the hard truths. She reminds us that entrepreneurship is not just about scaling fast, but about staying grounded in what people actually need, not just what founders imagine.Her reflections stretch beyond business into the deeper realities of being a woman in leadership: the sacrifices, the biases, and the double standards that continue to shape the funding landscape. Yet Cynthia's approach is one of fierce generosity, mentoring other women, championing female investors, and encouraging founders to build smarter, more sustainable businesses.This is a story of grit, creativity, and impact, and a masterclass in building with purpose. Tune in to hear Cynthia Nelson's remarkable journey and her wisdom for the next generation of women entrepreneurs.Chapters 

SEASON: 5 EPISODE: 32Episode Overview:Welcome back to the Becoming Preferred podcast, the show dedicated to helping you achieve more and reach your highest potential. Today, we have an incredible guest who is going to challenge everything you think you know about success and productivity.In our fast-paced world, we're taught that being busy is a badge of honor, but what if that very belief is holding you back from your true potential? Our guest is here to show us a new way. Peggy Sullivan is a renowned keynote speaker, author, and researcher who has dedicated her life to helping individuals and Fortune 500 companies break free from the "hustle culture."As a self-proclaimed "busyness addict in recovery," Peggy has developed a transformative, research-backed methodology called the "Busy Busting Framework," which she outlines in her latest book, Beyond Busyness: How to Achieve More with Less. Get ready to rethink your approach to work and life, as Peggy shares her powerful insights on how to achieve peak performance without sacrificing your well-being or happiness. Join me now for my conversation with Peggy Sullivan.Guest Bio: Peggy Sullivan is a renowned keynote speaker, author, researcher, and expert in the field of overcoming busyness and achieving peak performance. With years of extensive research and a transformative methodology, Peggy has helped individuals and organizations unlock their true potential without compromising well-being or happiness. Her research-backed framework has been successfully implemented by numerous individuals, teams, and Fortune 500 companies, including Google, Bank of America, Blue Cross BlueShield, and Ingram Micro.Driven by her mission to shift the narrative from busy to fulfilled, Peggy is dedicated to empowering individuals and businesses to prioritize meaning and happiness over the Huscle Culture. In her latest book, "Beyond Busyness: How to Achieve More with Less," she teaches her signature Busy Busting Framework, a practical three-step methodology that has already benefited thousands, guiding them away from the busy treadmill and towards a life filled with intention, fulfillment, and remarkable outcomes.Resource Links:Website: https://www.peggysullivanspeaker.com/Product Link: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Busyness-Achieve-Doing-Less%EF%BB%BF/dp/B0DGMPZTBG Insight Gold Timestamps: 01:23 I think you wrote your book, Achieve More by Doing Less. Break Free From the Busyness Trap, for me03:22 I had four wake up calls05:55 My dad and his family escaped the Holocaust07:44 I knew I had a problem, but I didn't know what the solution was09:10 We identified 25, what we call busy habits, low value activities09:53 Whenever you're trying to change an addictive behavior, you have to replace it with dopamine11:04 An interesting concept that you introduced was the concept of time poverty11:44 We forget about how busyness impacts our colleagues, our friends, our workers, our families13:52 And there are so many "times sucks"15:20 It takes the average person 23 minutes to reclaim the mental state that they were in17:52 I researched over 12,000 people to understand what values equate to quality of life19:35 How do we get our mojo working in the right direction?20:20 Being in customer service is a really hard job22:07 I believe that values are very universal25:01 In 2023 you came out and created the busy report28:07 It takes daily...

“We were a small fish in a big pond. Now we can focus on our niche and what we're good at.” – Chris Robinson, Director of Sales, Vault CPS At Navigate 25, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, sat down with Chris Robinson, Director of Sales at Vault CPS, to discuss the launch of a new brand built on decades of expertise. Formerly part of Ingram Micro under names such as NetXUSA and CSS, Vault CPS (Vault Communication and Payment Solutions) is now operating as an independent company specializing in hardware lifecycle fulfillment, provisioning, configuration, and payment solutions. Robinson explained that Vault CPS serves large enterprises, service providers, MSPs, and payment processors with critical behind-the-scenes services—such as device configuration, key injection, and software loads—that ensure seamless communication and payment experiences. With one of the industry's most extensive key libraries, Vault CPS delivers value by managing the complex touch points others avoid. The decision to debut the brand at Navigate reflects the company's longstanding role in enabling service providers through platforms like Broadsoft and Metaswitch. Robinson praised Alianza's forward-looking vision, noting that the event emphasized ecosystem thinking—solutions that extend beyond endpoints to include the full technology stack. Vault CPS carries forward the systems, people, and expertise from its Ingram Micro heritage but now has the freedom to sharpen its focus on customer needs. “It's an exciting time,” Robinson said. “We can take all of that legacy knowledge and build a brand for the future.” Learn more about Vault CPS at www.netxusa.com.

What if the key to unlocking peak performance is not pushing harder but mastering the art of mental focus and well-being? I traveled to LA to be at Mastery Labs to unlock the secrets of high performance with Michael Gervais, a renowned expert in mindfulness and psychology. This is our annual Holiday episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering and my gift to you, our amazing listeners, followers, and community. Michael shares how mental training can revolutionize personal and professional approaches to challenges, from his roots in elite sports to shaping corporate cultures. He explores the pivotal moments that sparked his passion, revealing how psychological skills like confidence and focus can be trained to thrive in any environment. This episode highlights actionable strategies for balancing well-being with ambition, applying insights from sports to business, and using mindfulness to direct focus effectively. With stories ranging from surfing competitions to Microsoft's cultural transformation under Satya Nadella, Michael offers a holistic perspective on performance psychology and sustainable success. Thank you for supporting Ultimate Partner and the Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast. Please tell your friends, subscribe, and leave us up to a 5-star Review, as it helps us get more amazing guests.

Chris and Hector break down the ransomware attack on Ingram Micro, exposing how a missing MFA on a VPN led to a massive breach. They also dig into the Department of Defense's new CMMC rules and sound off on Microsoft's $30 charge for Windows 10 security updates. Join our new Patreon! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/hackerandthefed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send HATF your questions at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠questions@hackerandthefed.com

998: How are executives creating value from AI investment? In this Technovation episode, we feature a panel from our most recent Metis Strategy Summit where Metis Strategy's Chris Davis moderates a panel on how companies can unlock real value from their investment in AI with AMD CIO Hasmukh Ranjan, Palantir CIO Jim Siders, and Ingram Micro CTO Dham Pathervellai. The panel shares bold strategies for AI adoption, including AMD's “Four A's” maturity model, Palantir's mandate to scale lean with high impact, and Ingram Micro's marketplace revolution powered by GenAI. With an emphasis on data ownership, productivity KPIs, and shifting product development mindsets, this conversation offers a playbook for turning AI talk into measurable impact. Key themes include: AMD's assist-to-autonomous AI framework and data-centric strategy Palantir's edge IT model and shift to generalist engineering teams Ingram Micro's GenAI integration and “Come as you are” partner model Rethinking productivity, talent models, and data governance for AI scale

When Ingram Micro Got TestedSanjib Sahoo, President of Ingram Micro's Global Platform Group, was already preparing to lead under pressure—long before the headlines.Before the headlines.Before the cyberattack.Before the world was watching…When we recorded this conversation, none of us knew what was coming. But what Sanjib shared then feels even more powerful now.You'll hear the bold transformation he's driving inside a $48B tech giant that touches nearly 90% of the world's population—and the personal transformation leaders must go through to meet the moment.“Doubt isn't the enemy,” he told me. “It's often the proof you're doing something meaningful.”He doesn't interpret fear as a sign to back down—but a signal you're on the right track...And when the pressure hits, how do you stay grounded—especially when everyone's watching to see if you'll crack or lead?This isn't a crisis interview.It's a real, unfiltered look at what leadership actually takes—when everything's on the line.Recorded before the headlines.Proven after.

Segment 1: Interview with Monzy Merza - There is a Right and Wrong Way to use AI in the SOC In the rush to score AI funding dollars, a lot of startups build a basic wrapper around existing generative AI services like those offered by OpenAI and Anthropic. As a result, these services are expensive, and don't satisfy many security operations teams' privacy requirements. This is just the tip of the iceberg when discussing the challenges of using AI to aid the SOC. In this interview, we'll dive into the challenge of finding security vendors that care about security, the need for transparency in products, the evolving shared responsibility model, and other topics related to solving security operations challenges. Segment 2: Topic Segment - How much AI is too much AI? In the past few weeks, I've talked to several startup founders who are running into buyers that aren't allowed to purchase their products, even though they want them and prefer them over the competition. Why? No AI and they're not allowed to buy. Segment 3: News Segment Finally, in the enterprise security news, We cover the latest funding The Trustwave saga comes to a positive end Android 16 could help you evade law enforcement Microsoft is kicking 3rd party AV out of the kernel Giving AI some personality (and honesty) Log4shell canaries reveal password weirdness Denmark gives citizens copyright to their own faces to fight AI McDonald's has an AI whoopsie Ingram Micro has a ransomware whoopsie Drama in the trailer lock industry All that and more, on this episode of Enterprise Security Weekly. Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/esw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/esw-415

Register for FREE Infosec Webcasts, Anti-casts & Summits – https://poweredbybhis.com00:00 - PreShow Banter™ — Pre Stream Appropriate03:39 - N. Korean Remote Workers are at it Again! – BHIS - Talkin' Bout [infosec] News 2025-07-0705:41 - Story # 1: Fortune 500 Cyber Spending Pays Off: Large Enterprise Risk Falls 33% Despite Rising Threats20:01 - Story # 2: Jasper Sleet: North Korean remote IT workers' evolving tactics to infiltrate organizations25:49 - Story # 2b: Engineer caught juggling multiple startup jobs is a cautionary tale of ‘extreme' hustle culture, experts say34:47 - Story # 3: Taking SHELLTER: a commercial evasion framework abused in- the- wild42:15 - Story # 3b: Statement Regarding Recent Misuse of Shellter Elite and Elastic Security Labs' Handling46:58 - Story # 4: Ingram Micro outage caused by SafePay ransomware attack49:45 - Story # 5: Germany asks Google, Apple to remove DeepSeek AI from app stores53:13 - Story # 6: This Call of Duty game just hit Xbox Game Pass, but it's infested with RCE hackers — I'd take cover and avoid playing until there's a fix

Ingram Micro suffers a ransomware attack by the SafePay gang. Spanish police dismantle a large-scale investment fraud ring. The SatanLock ransomware group says it is shutting down. Brazilian police arrest a man accused of stealing over $100 million from the country's banking system. Qantas confirms contact from a “potential cybercriminal” following its recent customer data breach. The XWorm RAT evolves to better evade detection. Cybercriminals ramp up fraudulent domains ahead of Amazon Prime day. Apple sues a former engineer allegedly stealing confidential data. Our guest is Rob Allen, Chief Product Officer at Threat Locker, discussing why 'Default Deny' could be the Antidote to Security Fatigue. AI image editing blurs the evidence.  Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest On our Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Rob Allen, Chief Product Officer at Threat Locker, discussing From Noise to Control: Why 'Default Deny' Is the Antidote to Security Fatigue. If you want to hear more from Rob or Threat Locker, you can listen to them here. Selected Reading Ingram Micro outage caused by SafePay ransomware attack (Bleeping Computer) Police dismantles investment fraud ring stealing €10 million (Bleeping Computer) SatanLock Ransomware Ends Operations, Says Stolen Data Will Be Leaked (Hackread) Police in Brazil Arrest a Suspect Over $100M Banking Hack (SecurityWeek) Qantas Contacted by Potential Cybercriminal Following Data Breach (Infosecurity Magazine) Arbor Associates reports data breach exposing patient information (Beyond Machines) XWorm RAT Deploys New Stagers and Loaders to Bypass Defenses (GB Hackers) Amazon Prime Day 2025: Deals Await, But So Do the Cyber Criminals (Check Point) Apple Accuses Ex-Engineer Of Stealing Vision Pro Secrets, Silently Accepting Job At Snap Inc., And Covering His Tracks By Wiping Data From Work Laptop (WCCF TECH) Cops Use ChatGPT to Edit Drugs Bust Photo, Goes Horribly Wrong (PetaPixel) Audience Survey Complete our annual audience survey before August 31. Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at cyberwire@n2k.com to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices