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  1. 4h ago

    As AI accelerates software development, AppSec becomes an MSP problem

    Jon Kozimor, vice president of Americas channels at Checkmarx Artificial intelligence isn’t just changing how developers write software. By making it possible to produce code more quickly — and allowing people without traditional development backgrounds to create applications, automations and agents — it’s also changing the application security challenge. Recent research from Checkmarx suggests AI-generated code is already becoming commonplace, while security practices struggle to keep pace. That’s creating a potentially larger role for the channel, according to Jon Kozimor, vice president of channel at Checkmarx. In this edition of In The Channel, Kozimor discusses why existing development and application security processes can struggle to keep pace with AI-generated code, and why partners have an opportunity to help customers close that gap. For MSPs in particular, that could mean application security becomes increasingly difficult to treat as somebody else’s specialty. Kozimor argues that MSPs will need to develop AppSec expertise themselves or gain access to it through vendors and other partners as they take greater responsibility for customers’ technology environments. There is also a managed services opportunity. Checkmarx already works with partners delivering Checkmarx-powered services to smaller customers, Kozimor says, and the company’s AppSec Partner Program specifically supports managed service providers delivering AppSec as a Service. Kozimor expects the ways customers consume application security services to continue evolving alongside AI. We also discuss how different types of channel partners can participate, the still-unsettled question of how much responsibility partners should assume for customers’ AI use, and what MSPs can do now to identify gaps in their capabilities and prepare for growing customer demand. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello, and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. AI isn’t just changing how software gets built. It’s changing who can build it, how quickly they can do so, and potentially who has to worry about securing it. With generative AI increasingly producing code and putting application development capabilities in the hands of people who may never have considered themselves developers, traditional application security processes face a pretty basic challenge: keeping up. And that may have implications for MSPs and other solution providers that have historically regarded application security as a specialized discipline outside their core business. My guest today is Jon Kozimor, vice president of channel at Checkmarx. We’ll talk about why the speed of AI-generated development is putting pressure on traditional security processes, where Jon sees new services opportunities emerging for partners, how MSPs can build or source the expertise they’ll need, and why the channel may increasingly find itself responsible for securing applications its customers can now create almost casually. Let’s get right into it with Jon Kozimor. Jon, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Jon Kozimor: Of course, of course. Thank you, Robert. Robert Dutt: Let’s start with kind of the premise behind the conversation. We’ve spent a couple of years hearing and seeing how AI is going to transform the channel. I’m curious what you’re seeing that’s different now. What are you actually seeing that customers do with AI that changes the job that partners need to do? Jon Kozimor: Yeah, and I’m going to do a little history here, Robert. I mean, I’ve been in the industry now 30-plus years, and in the channel a good two-thirds of that. And in working with partners, whether I was at EMC or HP or OpenText, there was always a need for partners’ services and also their expertise. So that was always there. And I’ve seen partners, and most partners, evolve from being just, I’ll call it, traditional resellers to really value-added resellers providing that expertise. The thing with AI is that it’s changing so rapidly. I use this example: We had our kickoff in January, and there’s a large amount of that content that just changed in the past eight months. And it’s no different for the customers. The key that I see for the channel, and the pivot that I see them making, and I think it’s natural, customers are going to need partner expertise. Because you know why? Partners did client-server, partners did cloud, partners did VMware. We can name all of those, I’ll call them, transformational things that happened. This is no different. I think it’s more complex, but I think the partners are going to be able to really give customers a view because they’ve seen it all across their customers, and they’ve seen it all across the lines they’ve sold. So I really think it’s a great opportunity for partners. Robert Dutt: One thing that seems particularly different about AI, especially when you get into generative AI, is the speed at which customers can create things. Somebody who’s never been considered a developer suddenly can whip out an application, an automation, an agent, whatever the flavour may be. What happens to the security side of things when you can create software so much faster than you can keep an eye on that or lock it down, and when you hand the ability to do that over to someone who isn’t coming at it from the rigour of an app-dev background? Jon Kozimor: It’s a great, great question. And we’ve done certain reports, so I’ll kind of get us started with data. Fifty per cent of the code that’s generated today is done with AI. The other interesting stat is 70 per cent of developers understand that there are vulnerabilities being deployed because there’s just more code being developed and more vulnerabilities. And the issue that we have with that is, first of all, making sure that whatever you’re going to put in a production environment, let’s face it, it’s against the bad guys. It’s against cyberattacks. It’s against making sure that we don’t have bad guys not only accessing applications and data and doing bad things with it, but think about brand, et cetera. What we’re doing, Robert, as being the leader in application security, is bringing not only the expertise and the deep IP we have, but dovetailing it into the speed of AI to make sure that we’re focused on the right vulnerabilities, but we’re also making sure that the application is secure, and we’re at the pace of development with AI, because that’s not going to change. And the key part is to be at the pace. And the other thing I’ll introduce now is it’s not about the technology solution. It really comes down to governance, but it’s really change control. The processes that most customers have today are not built for the speed of AI. And we’ll take coding development as an example, but you can use that in a lot of different ways. It’s really key to have those processes in place as well, where partners, I think, play a big role. Robert Dutt: And I guess that’s true whether it’s something that’s vibe-coded, done by someone who’s not a developer, or someone who’s in a traditional developer role and is just pumping out stuff so much faster because they’ve got their AI assistant of choice riding shotgun and doing the legwork of actually tippity-tap typing it. Jon Kozimor: A hundred per cent. And the key is, look, developers, their job is to develop great code, develop great applications that ultimately bring companies great, I’ll say, customer outcomes in terms of those applications. Obviously, this is revenue generation. But the developers aren’t security experts. Never have been, right? So it’s like, you know, I’m running real fast. I’m able to run really faster, but maybe the treadmill I bought really isn’t equipped for this, right? So I’m breaking down and such, but ultimately it’s the speed to get to the outcome. And we are understanding that and making sure, working with customers, that they have the right tools there that aren’t slowing them down, but make sure that whatever they’re developing is secure. Robert Dutt: So when we’re at this point where code is being generated so much quicker, and the security has to be obviously considered, hopefully somewhere in there, add in the fact that perhaps some of that app dev is going on in places where not everyone in the organization knows it’s going on. Where do you, in practice, see the AppSec or developer security process start breaking down in this new world? Jon Kozimor: Yeah, I think it can really break down from starting the code because it’s so fast that, at the onset, you’re introducing issues regarding security. So it’s really from beginning to end. I mean, it’s not like, well, once you get to this point of your lifecycle, this is really a problem. You’re creating code so quickly, the vulnerabilities are piling up. So it really is from tap keyboard one. I’m probably being a little bit aggressive there, but it really is early stage. And it’s hence why we’ve developed tools and methodology to get at that early stage, because the quicker that you can address the vulnerabilities, the better, because it’s not going to propagate as you get, let’s say, halfway through or 90 per cent through. You really have to have something that’s beginning to end. And really the big, I’ll call it, secret sauce of Checkmarx is our IP. It’s the platform, because that platform has been built over two decades. And we not only have fantastic innovations, but we have so much that we’ve learned over those two decades that you’re now dealing with an end-to-end solution, development pace, but doing it securely at the front end and being able

    As AI accelerates software development, AppSec becomes an MSP problem

  2. 6h ago

    The Buzz: IonQ buys Elisity, TD SYNNEX expands partner AI, Pax8 finds SMB AI governance gaps

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: IonQ agrees to acquire Elisity for up to $1.3 billion: Quantum computing company IonQ has entered a definitive agreement to acquire zero-trust security specialist Elisity in an all-stock transaction valued at up to US$1.3 billion, including as much as $150 million in performance-based earnouts.Elisity specializes in identity-based microsegmentation, using information about users, devices, workloads and AI agents to establish and enforce network access policies. The company says its technology has more than 100 enterprise deployments.IonQ intends to combine Elisity’s existing zero-trust security capabilities with its post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution technologies. The acquisition reflects an effort to address two overlapping security challenges: protecting enterprise networks against today’s attacks and preparing infrastructure for future quantum-related threats. For solution providers, the combination could eventually bring network segmentation, identity security and quantum-readiness projects closer together. However, the companies have not announced a new Canadian channel program or a completed integrated offering. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. TD SYNNEX brings AI agents into partner operations: At its Inspire conference last week, TD SYNNEX introduced new agentic capabilities for PartnerFirst, including an MCP connector that allows partner-built AI applications to access distributor data and business functions.The connector supports 53 operations involving products, pricing, inventory, quotes, orders and other transactions. A new Agent Bridge provides prebuilt AI agents and tools for creating automated workflows, while the existing PartnerFirst Agent gains 40 additional capabilities.The distributor also launched FinOps Fusion, designed to help partners monitor and optimize customers’ AI token spending across cloud and on-premises infrastructure. The offering includes cost visibility, optimization recommendations, training and managed FinOps services. An AI token-consumption assessment is planned for later this year. Together, the announcements point to two emerging opportunities for partners: automating their own operations and developing recurring services around customers’ AI consumption. The PartnerFirst announcement covers North America, although availability of individual capabilities in Canada should be confirmed. Pax8 finds SMBs building AI faster than they can govern it: New research from Pax8 suggests small businesses are increasingly creating their own AI applications and workflows, often without the controls needed to manage them.The Q3 2026 Pax8 SMB AI Pulse surveyed 1,150 business decision-makers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden.Among businesses already engaged with AI, 67 percent reported developing at least one AI solution in regular use. Another 35 percent had discovered unauthorized AI tools, agents or workflows operating in their businesses during the previous six months. Cost management is another emerging problem. Among businesses that paid for AI during the past year, 49 percent received at least one unexpectedly high bill. That figure reached 57 percent among U.S. respondents. Pax8 also found that 55 percent of AI-engaged business decision-makers personally spend at least three hours a week reviewing or correcting AI-generated work. For MSPs, the findings point to opportunities around AI discovery, governance, security, cost monitoring and ongoing management. The research did not include Canadian respondents, but the challenges it identifies are relevant to Canadian service providers supporting SMB customers. In Brief Ingram Micro patents Xvantage integration framework: Ingram Micro has received a U.S. patent for its Vendor and Customer Agnostic Framework, or VCAF. The technology is designed to connect vendor, distributor and solution-provider systems using their existing data formats and workflows, reducing the need for individually developed integrations. It represents another milestone in Ingram’s effort to turn Xvantage into a broader operating platform for the channel. IRONSCALES and Todyl integrate email security for MSPs: IRONSCALES has announced an OEM integration with Todyl, bringing AI-powered email threat detection and automated remediation into the Todyl Security Platform. MSPs will be able to manage email security alongside Todyl’s SASE, endpoint, SIEM, MXDR and governance capabilities. Availability is expected during the fourth quarter. Netrio expands managed cybersecurity services: Netrio has launched eight integrated cybersecurity offeringsaimed at midmarket customers. The portfolio spans security operations, vulnerability management, endpoint protection, identity, third-party risk, penetration testing, compliance and consulting. The MSP is positioning integrated IT and security delivery as an alternative to managing multiple providers. Reach Security raises more than $50 million: Reach Security has secured more than $50 million in Series B financing and introduced Reach Everywhere. The initiative uses APIs, an MCP server and partner integrations to make continuously validated security-control information available across enterprise workflows. The funding will support product development, integrations and international expansion. Ridge Security introduces local AI penetration testing: Ridge Security has launched RidgeOne, a self-contained penetration-testing appliance combining its RidgeGen platform with an AI model running locally on Nvidia DGX Spark hardware. The system is designed to conduct autonomous security testing without sending sensitive test data to an external AI provider. It eliminates external AI token charges, although hardware and software licensing costs still apply. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, October 14, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Quantum computing company IonQ is making a major move into enterprise cybersecurity, with an agreement to acquire zero-trust security specialist Elisity. The all-stock transaction is valued at up to one-point-three billion U.S. dollars, including up to one hundred and fifty million dollars in performance-based earnouts. Elisity specializes in identity-based microsegmentation. Essentially, its technology identifies users, devices, applications and workloads, and then uses that information to determine which systems should be allowed to communicate with one another. That helps organizations contain attacks by limiting how far a compromised device or account can move through a network. It’s an established security market, and Elisity says it already has more than a hundred enterprise deployments. So why is a quantum computing company buying a zero-trust security business? IonQ wants to combine Elisity’s network security capabilities with its own post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution technologies. That brings together two problems enterprises need to address. The first is securing networks against threats that exist today. The second is preparing for a future in which sufficiently capable quantum computers could undermine some of the cryptographic protections those networks depend on. For solution providers, that’s an interesting combination. Network segmentation and identity security are already practical customer projects. Quantum readiness is a longer-term undertaking involving inventories, assessments and infrastructure planning. IonQ sees an opportunity to bring those requirements together. But this is a strategy, not a completed product integration. The companies haven’t announced new Canadian partner arrangements. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. TD SYNNEX, meanwhile, is putting more AI directly into the way its partners do business. At its Inspire conference last week, the distributor introduced a new set of agentic capabilities for its PartnerFirst platform. One of the most interesting additions is a Model Context Protocol connector, or MCP connector. It gives AI applications built or used by partners access to fifty-three supported business operations involving distributor data and services. That includes things like product information, pricing, inventory, quotes and orders. The idea is that a partner’s own AI tools can interact with TD SYNNEX without someone having to move back and forth between applications or manually re-enter information. TD SYNNEX is also introducing Agent Bridge, with prebuilt agents and tools for creating automated workflows. And the existing PartnerFirst Agent is gaining another forty capabilities. But there’s a second part to the announcement that may be just as interesting for MSPs. It’s called FinOps Fusion. The offering is designed to help partners understand and manage their customers’ AI token consumption across cloud and on-premises environments. It includes spending visibility, optimization recommendations and training, along with the opportunity to provide ongoing managed FinOps services. An AI token-consumption assessment is also planned for later this year. Put those announcements together and you can see two directions in which distribution is changing. One is automating the operational work partners already do with distributors. The other is helping partners build services around managing customers’ AI costs. That’s a meaningful evolution from distribution as primarily a purchasing and fulfillment relationship. The PartnerFirst announcement covers North America, although the precise Canadian availability of individual capabilities still needs to be confirmed. And new research from Pax8 suggests sm

    The Buzz: IonQ buys Elisity, TD SYNNEX expands partner AI, Pax8 finds SMB AI governance gaps

  3. 1d ago

    Fortinet wants Calgary cybersecurity hub to be a home base for Western Canadian partners

    Gord Phillips, regional vice president of Western Canada sales at Fortinet Fortinet’s new $30 million cybersecurity innovation hub in Calgary is a substantial investment in Western Canada, but the company wants it to be much more than another regional office. In this edition of In The Channel, Gord Phillips, Fortinet’s Western Canada chief, explains why the company chose Calgary and how it expects partners to take advantage of the facility. Partners can already use its conference facilities for customer meetings, QBRs and events, while Fortinet’s local SE lab can recreate customer environments and demonstrate potential solutions hands-on. As the centre is built out further, Fortinet plans dedicated partner touchdown space, meeting rooms and even a content-creation studio. That could be particularly valuable to smaller VARs and MSPs that don’t have their own labs, event facilities or deep benches of cybersecurity specialists. Phillips says Fortinet wants partners to view the centre as a resource they can use to extend their own capabilities. Calgary also puts Fortinet close to Western Canada’s large critical-infrastructure and operational-technology securitymarket. Phillips sees opportunities for traditional IT partners as historically isolated OT systems become more connected and their data increasingly valuable, but cautions partners to work with rather than against established industrial control vendors. Fortinet’s 2025 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity research similarly points to increasing convergence between enterprise IT and OT security. The new Calgary innovation hub, decked out for the Stampede as Phillips describes on the podcast The company’s ambitions go further still. Fortinet is building training facilities and an OT-focused customer experience lab in Calgary, working with post-secondary institutions on cybersecurity skills, and planning additional managed-services and threat-intelligence capabilities. Phillips ultimately sees an opportunity for the facility to help make Calgary a broader cybersecurity centre for Western Canada — bringing together Fortinet, its partners, customers, educators and the region’s growing technology community. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello, and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. Fortinet recently made a pretty substantial bet in Western Canada, opening a new $30 million cybersecurity innovation hub in downtown Calgary. But what interested me about the announcement wasn’t so much the building itself as what Fortinet plans to do with it, and particularly what it plans to do with partners. The company wants the Calgary facility to become something of a home base for its Western Canadian ecosystem. Partners will be able to bring customers into the facility, hold their own meetings and events there, work with Fortinet engineers to model and demonstrate customer environments, and eventually even use dedicated touchdown and content creation space. There’s also a distinctly Western Canadian element to the investment. Calgary puts Fortinet closer to a large concentration of critical infrastructure and operational technology customers, and the company sees a growing opportunity for traditional IT partners to participate in the OT security market, although, as we’ll hear, there are some important differences that partners need to understand. To talk about why Fortinet chose Calgary, how partners can take advantage of the new centre, the convergence of IT and OT security, and the company’s bigger ambitions for the cybersecurity ecosystem in Western Canada, I am joined by Gord Phillips, Fortinet’s Western Canada chief. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Gord Phillips. Gord, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Gord Phillips: Thanks, Rob. Robert Dutt: Let’s start with the whys here. Fortinet has obviously been doing business in Western Canada for a long time and hasn’t had a facility like this one. So I guess: Why this centre? Why Calgary? And why now? Gord Phillips: Yeah, there’s a few things. Fortinet really started, kind of, in Canada. Our first products were designed and engineered in Burnaby, actually, 26 years ago. So when we founded the company — when I say “we,” I was not one of the founders — we actually built the first product there, and it still is the location of our largest R&D centre in the whole wide world. So we’ve just kind of taken advantage of that all the time from the West. We’ve been able to obviously grow the market very large because we have that in our backyard. That’s made a big difference. So we’ve got a very large customer base in the West. Calgary was really interesting for a number of reasons. One is critical infrastructure. The energy sector is such a big part of critical infrastructure across Canada and even globally. We do a lot of unique work there around the operational technology security side. So Calgary was logical from that perspective. As you can imagine, it’s hard to attract people to move to the Lower Mainland. Fortinet is growing very fast. We add between 20 and 30 per cent more people every year to Fortinet. To get those developers and to get the right people around the support side and the professional services side, it’s very hard to keep that level of growth in B.C. B.C. is a very mature tech centre, so lots of the big companies are competing for that talent. Even though the schools are great at turning out talent, it’s just hard to maintain that growth level. So we looked at where we could put another office. We’ve got a centre in Ottawa that works a lot with FedGov and does a lot of our global training program. We looked at where we could put one in Canada and looked at a few different locations, but we kept coming back to Calgary for a number of reasons. The biggest thing was proximity to Burnaby, so proximity to our teams there. It’s easy to build those satellite teams here because they’re only an hour and a half away, really close time-zone-wise. There’s a whole bunch of advantages like that. Calgary is a booming tech market. There’s a lot of tech talent in town. With the aerospace and defence industry investing in Calgary, with some of the big startups that have come in, Calgary is really finding its own in that tech world, and the post-secondaries are supporting that. So we see this availability of talent right now. That’s really, really important for our growth and for what we’re doing. That was another big factor. And then supporting that critical infrastructure industry — that’s such a high-growth vertical for us — it made a lot of sense to just focus on Calgary. Robert Dutt: What does having the facility there let you do now that you either couldn’t do before, or couldn’t do nearly as well? Gord Phillips: I think there’s a few things. One is optionality of where our solutions are based to serve our customers. What you really want anytime you’re looking at data sovereignty is three locations, kind of a two-plus-one scenario. So having Calgary allows us to put a lot of those products, data, all that kind of thing in another location in Canada to serve our Canadian clients a little bit better. The other piece of it, outside of data sovereignty — when I say data sovereignty, I’m not just talking about the information we have with our customers, but even how we handle customer support tickets. We can actually handle all those within Canada. We’ve got multiple support teams in Canada. We can keep that ticket or that data in Canada. So we can support the customer right from the beginning to the end through a support process without data leaving the country. That’s a big piece of it. You’ll see some announcements from us around managed services as well, working with service providers and some of the things we’re doing on our own. Being in Canada and having that extra location has certainly helped that along as well. So that was a big piece of it. Anytime we look at where we’re going to put one of our FortiCloud points of presence, which supports our FortiSASE business and all the other pieces around it, having our solutions close to the customer is very critical for us globally. Our executive has invested heavily to make sure that we have offices in strategic locations that we own, where we can provide our solutions to our customers faster. So, less latency. And obviously, you’re less dependent if there’s a technical problem or any sort of global problem. The more individual locations you have shores all that up and makes sure that the failover is here. So this being our second location in Western Canada, we’ve got a really cool ecosystem being built from a tech availability perspective for our customers and partners as well. Robert Dutt: Let’s look at this a bit from the partner perspective. What’s the expectation around what channel partners across Western Canada will be able to do in terms of interacting with the centre? What do you see partners being able to do there in Calgary? Gord Phillips: I think that’s a great question, and I’ve been very lucky. The company’s given me a lot of leeway on this. I come from the channel and have been in IT sales my whole life, so I had a bit of a different vision on what I wanted. One of the things I love about Fortinet is we have one of the largest sales teams in Canada. What does that mean? It means our partners don’t have to be experts on everything because we have account managers to go on those calls with those partners. In Calgary alone, I think we have 11 account teams. In Alberta, we have almost 20. In B.C., a similar size. We have account teams in Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well. We’re very fortunate in that our par

    Fortinet wants Calgary cybersecurity hub to be a home base for Western Canadian partners

  4. 5d ago

    The Buzz: CyberFOX buys Optimize365, Microsoft secures Windows AI agents, AWS cuts Marketplace fees

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: CyberFOX acquires Optimize365 to expand Microsoft 365 security: CyberFOX has acquired Optimize365, adding continuous Microsoft 365 tenant monitoring and security hardening to its growing portfolio.Optimize365 helps organizations identify configuration problems, monitor changes and strengthen Microsoft 365 environments. For MSPs managing dozens or hundreds of customer tenants, that addresses a familiar challenge: keeping security configurations consistent as settings, permissions and requirements change.The acquisition extends CyberFOX beyond its existing privileged access management, password management, DNS filtering and SASE offerings. It follows the company’s acquisition of Timus Networks earlier this year and its September distribution agreement with TD SYNNEX covering North America.The broader story is CyberFOX’s effort to assemble more of the managed security stack under one vendor. The opportunity for MSPs is potentially simpler security management, although the value will depend on how successfully the acquired products are integrated. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, and the announcement doesn’t establish immediate Canadian distribution arrangements for Optimize365. Microsoft puts security boundaries around Windows AI agents: Microsoft has outlined its hybrid-intelligence strategy for Windows, combining local and cloud AI capabilities while giving agents greater ability to work with applications and files.A particularly significant development is Microsoft Execution Containers, or MXC, now generally available on Windows 11.MXC allows developers and administrators to establish policy-enforced boundaries around the resources an AI agent can access, including files, networks and desktop interactions. Those restrictions are enforced independently of the agent’s own instructions, helping limit the consequences of unexpected or inappropriate actions.Microsoft also introduced new AI-focused hardware, including the Nvidia-powered Surface Laptop Ultra. For solution providers, the bigger opportunity may be helping customers manage AI agents as they become part of everyday computing. That includes determining which agents can operate, what information they can access, and how their activity should be monitored and governed. AWS reduces Marketplace fees for professional services: AWS has lowered fees for professional services sold through AWS Marketplace, reducing the standard listing fee from 2.5 percent to 0.5 percent.The company has also introduced a zero-percent base listing fee for qualifying professional services sold as part of multi-product solutions. Additional fees, including those associated with Channel Partner Private Offers and regional requirements, may still apply.The changes, announced in September and highlighted in recent channel coverage, are intended to make AWS Marketplace more attractive for partners selling implementation, migration, consulting and other professional services alongside cloud technology.For Canadian solution providers, the significance is straightforward: lower transaction costs can improve the economics of selling services through Marketplace, particularly when those services accompany larger software or infrastructure deals. The move also reinforces the growing importance of cloud marketplaces as procurement channels for services, not simply software subscriptions. Partners still need to understand the applicable fee structure and eligibility requirements before assuming a particular transaction qualifies for the lowest rate. In Brief Check Point flags sensitive-data exposure through GenAI: Check Point Research’s September threat reportfound that one in every 39 enterprise GenAI prompts posed a high risk of sensitive-data leakage. Network and IT infrastructure information was the most frequently observed sensitive-data category, appearing at 71 percent of organizations in the dataset. The findings reinforce the importance of AI-use policies, data controls and employee guidance for MSP customers. Securonix adds AI-agent behavioral detection: Securonix has introduced Advanced Behavioral Analytics, extending behavioral monitoring to AI agents as well as human users. The company says the technology can identify unexpected agent actions, unusual data access and other activity that may be technically permitted but operationally suspicious. Consequential response actions remain subject to human approval. Accenture and Dell establish private AI business group: Accenture and Dell Technologies have expanded their partnership with a dedicated business group focused on private, hybrid and sovereign AI deployments. Accenture plans to train more than 3,000 practitioners on Dell technology, combining infrastructure with consulting, integration and industry expertise. The move underscores the growing importance of implementation and services in enterprise AI projects. Upscale introduces networking architecture for mixed AI infrastructure: Upscale has announced Token Fabric, combining networking silicon, systems and software to connect different types of AI accelerators. The company is targeting hyperscalers, neoclouds and enterprises building heterogeneous AI infrastructure, with general availability planned for early 2027. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Friday, October 9, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. CyberFOX is continuing to assemble a broader security platform for MSPs, this time with the acquisition of Optimize365. The deal adds Microsoft 365 security monitoring and hardening to a CyberFOX portfolio that already includes privileged access management, password management, DNS filtering and secure access. Optimize365 focuses on a familiar problem for MSPs: keeping Microsoft 365 environments securely configured as settings, permissions and user requirements change. For a service provider managing dozens or hundreds of customer tenants, those changes can create a substantial ongoing security and administrative burden. And the acquisition is interesting in the context of what CyberFOX has been doing this year. In June, it acquired Timus Networks to add SASE and zero-trust network access. Then, at the end of September, it signed a North American distribution agreement with TD SYNNEX covering its existing security portfolio. We covered that distribution agreement here on The Buzz last week. Now CyberFOX is extending its reach from devices, credentials and network connections into Microsoft 365 itself. There’s a clear strategy developing: bring together more of the tools that smaller IT teams and MSPs need to manage security across their customers. Optimize365 will continue operating under its existing brand for now, with integration into CyberFOX’s partner program and product roadmap planned over the coming quarters. Of course, buying the pieces of a security platform and integrating them into a genuinely simpler operating environment are two different things. That’s the question worth watching as CyberFOX brings these acquisitions together. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, and there’s no announcement yet about whether the newly acquired technology will be available through the company’s Canadian distribution relationship. Microsoft, meanwhile, is laying the groundwork for a Windows environment in which AI agents can do considerably more work on behalf of users. And that means Windows needs a new set of security controls. At its Windows event Wednesday, Microsoft outlined what it calls hybrid intelligence, combining AI processing on local devices with cloud-based models depending on the task. The company also introduced new AI-focused hardware, including the Surface Laptop Ultra, powered by Nvidia technology. But for solution providers, the more consequential development may be Microsoft Execution Containers, or MXC. MXC is now generally available. It allows developers and administrators to establish policy-enforced boundaries around what an AI agent can access and do. For example, an agent might be allowed to read and modify files in a particular project directory, but not access personal documents or change system settings outside its assigned task. Those restrictions are enforced outside the agent itself. That’s important because an AI agent can make a decision that seems reasonable in the context of its task but still goes beyond what a user or administrator intended. Microsoft is also working to distinguish agent activity from human activity through Entra, and to extend Agent 365 management capabilities to agents running locally on devices. Those additional identity and management capabilities are still coming. For partners, the implication is that managing AI agents could become part of everyday endpoint management. Customers will need help deciding which agents are allowed, what resources they can access, how their activity is monitored and who remains accountable when something goes wrong. That’s a much bigger opportunity, and responsibility, than simply deploying another AI application. And AWS is making it considerably cheaper for partners to sell professional services through AWS Marketplace. The cloud provider has reduced its standard Marketplace listing fee for professional services private offers from two and a half percent to half a percent. And for qualifying multi-product solutions that combine professional services with other paid products, the base listing fee on the services component can fall all the way to zero. There are some qualifications. Channel Partner Private Offers can still carry an additional half-percent fee, and regional fees may also apply. The lower standard fee applies to new private offers, rather than retroactively changing existing agreements. The standard reduction was introduced earlier this year, and AWS highlighted the br

    The Buzz: CyberFOX buys Optimize365, Microsoft secures Windows AI agents, AWS cuts Marketplace fees

  5. 6d ago

    Flare launches partner program to take cyber threat intelligence downmarket

    John Williamson, CRO at Flare Cyber threat intelligence may traditionally be associated with large enterprises and dedicated security teams, but Montreal-based Flare sees an opportunity for MSPs and other channel partners to bring those capabilities to a much broader customer base. The cybersecurity vendor recently launched a new partner program as it looks to expand its channel business and give partners more support for selling — and building services around — its threat intelligence platform. In this edition of In The Channel, Flare chief revenue officer John Williamson and director of partner marketing Eunice Leung join us to discuss the company’s growing channel ambitions and where cyber threat intelligence can fit in an MSP’s security portfolio. Eunice Leung, director of partner marketing at Flare For Flare, the opportunity starts outside the customer’s traditional security perimeter. While organizations have invested heavily in protecting their own infrastructure, attackers may be working with information found elsewhere, including exposed credentials, leaked data and other information available across the clear and dark web. That creates an opportunity for partners to help customers understand what attackers can see about them — and turn that intelligence into something actionable. Williamson and Leung discuss why Flare believes that opportunity is moving beyond the largest enterprises, how MSPs can make CTI accessible to customers that don’t have dedicated threat intelligence teams, and where the technology fits alongside existing security offerings. They also detail Flare’s new partner program, the resources the company is putting behind its channel push, and the opportunity for partners to go beyond simply reselling the platform by wrapping their own managed and professional services around it. We also discuss what kinds of partners Flare is looking for, how the company plans to work with its channel as it grows, and why the Canadian cybersecurity vendor sees partners as central to its next stage of expansion. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: 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 talking about a Montreal-based company that’s been growing quickly in the threat intelligence space and just formalized its channel strategy. Joining me are John Williamson, chief revenue officer at Flare, and Eunice Leung, director of partner marketing at Flare. We’re going to talk about Ignite, their new partner program, what it means for Canadian MSSPs and resellers, and why identity has become the central battlefield in cybersecurity. Let’s get right into it, my chat with John Williamson and Eunice Leung of Flare. John, Eunice, thanks for taking the time. Nice to chat with you. I appreciate it. John Williamson: Our pleasure. Robert Dutt: John, you guys have been growing for years now — triple-digit growth, 300-plus clients, half of them MSSPs. That’s pretty impressive. Why formalize the program now? What were you seeing in the business that made this the right moment to go from ad hoc or organic working with MSSPs to the more structured program? John Williamson: It’s a great question. I think a lot of it has to do with probably the most obvious talking point that dominates the airwaves these days, and that was AI. I think, as we have been for many years from our founding, when we were really focused on the dark web — at that time it was primarily Tor, or The Onion Router, and potentially fraud and identity theft, things of that nature — from that time, we’ve been focused as an identity-first cyber threat intelligence platform. And the reason for the release of this partner program at this time is this really coming to a head. We had made a bet that identity was going to be the last frontier, the last attack surface standing. And because of the way AI has progressed, it’s really made it much more dynamic for vulnerability assessments and scanning and exploitation. Technical barriers have been demolished and are continuing to be shortened. For us, though, the human and non-human identity element is still highly subject to risk. And so for us, we’ve kind of hit a particular, call it momentum, with the business. And as we’ve grown and scaled — 150 people, we’re growing very quickly, to your point, we’ve experienced double- and triple-digit growth — we felt that it was time to really formalize our channel partnerships. You’d mentioned, I know in our previous conversation, we were talking about how many MSSP partners we do have, which is anomalous. I mean, we have more than probably most. And I think that’s also a testament to how we’ve been dialing in our program since the beginning. It’s not like this Ignite program is ushering in anything revolutionary in regard to how we’ve developed products, how easy it is to use, how it can be deployed through channel partnerships, both resellers and MSSPs. But we’ve entered a point where we’re starting to really understand how those are optimized, how resellers can leverage the timing, the AI backdrop, to sell more of these types of products, how MSSPs can so easily integrate this and take advantage of identity remediation, and how, importantly, both of them can sell something very different. We’ve really, over the last — and this puts the end on your question — we’ve really rounded the corner on a promise that we’ve been making for quite some time. Threat intelligence up to this point has largely been, “Look at me. Look at me. You need to know this.” And it’s informational. One of our vision goals was, let’s put a closed loop on it. How about we tell you, “Hey, instead of you have an identity that’s been breached,” what if we could say, “Hey, you have an identity that’s been breached, and we validated against your live identity access management system, and we’ve prioritized it for automated remediation. Would you like us to take action? We can reset those passwords right now, or we can revoke that session.” That’s the last turn for us that’s really given us the impetus to say, “Let’s formalize a program. We’ve got a great product. We’ve been growing very quickly. It’s differentiated in the marketplace. Let’s now take a channel-first attitude and say, let’s really make sure that the program is designed for success and scale.” Robert Dutt: You mentioned the role of identity and the importance of identity figuring prominently in the decision to go this way, and it certainly maps with what I’m seeing both from you and your peers in the vendor community and in the halls at partner conferences this year. Identity is showing up so much more on the security side of things. I’m curious how you are seeing the kind of questions, the kind of sophistication your partners are coming at identity with, changing as it’s become more prominent and as the tools from yourself and others have evolved. John Williamson: It’s funny that it’s not as if it’s changed, it’s just that AI has industrialized it. It’s kind of one way of looking at it. The leverage — and as we’ve talked about, this is synchronous warfare. I mean, it’s AI against AI. It’s good versus bad. But what it’s done is it’s created the dynamics where attacks on identities have multiplied, primarily because of just the sheer scale. Phishing kits, infostealer kits, these things are being deployed en masse because of how quickly they can be developed. One of the things we’ve talked about, too, is how AI against AI — I think it’s now 70, almost 80%. I think it was 78% of all companies, this is kind of a global standard, have deployed AI in their security technology stack. So the ability to automatically remediate technical vulnerabilities and patch management and whatnot. Microsoft is releasing patches now, and there’s over 800, I think, in the last Microsoft patch remediation. That was as much as they used to do in a year, and you’ve probably seen these. And you can see the acceleration of AI. However, this industrialization of AI, particularly as it relates to credential attacks, number one, it’s making it much more scalable. And it’s really an area that’s actually increasing. That is the human element. Humans are still subject to phishing. They’re subject to infostealer malware by malicious links, and it’s happening en masse. But I think, importantly too, AI has had another effect, and that is that, in many ways, the whole concept of identities is shifting. Not only is it human identities, but I don’t know if you’re familiar with NHI, or non-human identities, the sheer magnitude of the proliferation of non-human identity. So again, these are things that are just starting to become evident. And I think that’s where — and again, I’m obviously Flare and I represent Flare — but I think Flare is particularly well positioned, obviously, for this. We’ve been planning for this for quite some time. And I think our channel program is really a way for us to be able to scale the distribution of our capabilities. Robert Dutt: Eunice, Ignite is positioned specifically around, as John said, both MSSPs and resellers, which are two different camps that increasingly — there’s some interchange and intermingling. The multi-tenant platform, obviously a big part of your pitch. When you were designing the program, what did you learn from the existing folks, those 300-odd MSSPs you’ve been working with, about what they actually need and want versus kind of the vendor-side lens of what the program should be? Eunice Leung: What our partners really wanted to see from us was what it would look like to have a scalable growth path with Flare, primarily. And so we built

    Flare launches partner program to take cyber threat intelligence downmarket

  6. 6d ago

    The Buzz: TD SYNNEX buys BlueStar, HPE launches ProLiant Gen13, and Cisco puts AI agents in Webex

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: TD SYNNEX agrees to acquire BlueStar: TD SYNNEX has entered a definitive agreement to acquire specialty distributor BlueStar, adding expertise in automatic identification and data capture, operational technology, mobility, RFID, point-of-sale, digital signage, networking, robotics and security. BlueStar has an established Canadian operation with locations in Montreal, the Toronto area and Vancouver, giving the transaction direct relevance to Canadian VARs serving retail, warehousing, logistics and other specialized markets. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the companies will continue operating independently pending regulatory approval. TDSynnex News HPE launches its first ProLiant Gen13 servers: HPE has introduced the first four ProLiant Gen13 systems, powered by sixth-generation AMD EPYC processors and aimed at workloads ranging from virtualization and analytics to AI inference and agentic AI. The lineup includes the 1U DL525, the GPU-dense DL585a and two OCP-based high-density systems, while iLO 8 adds automatic drive encryption, multi-person authorization and expanded post-quantum readiness. The first system arrives later this year, with the remainder following in 2027, and HPE is making the new generation eligible for its 90/9 Advantage financing program. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Cisco puts AI agents directly into Webex: At WebexOne, Cisco unveiled a broad set of agentic collaboration and intelligent-workplace updates, including Claude Managed Agents and collaborative agents that can join Webex spaces, meetings and calls to carry out multi-step work across Webex and third-party applications. Cisco is also introducing RoomOS 27, adding native Google Meet support alongside Webex, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and extending workplace management through Cisco Cloud Control. Dialog, meanwhile, brings long-running AI-agent workflows and persistent customer context to the Webex customer-experience platform. Cisco Newsroom In Brief Canadian AI adoption outruns governance: New CPA Canada research based on responses from 5,000 Canadian CPAs finds organizational AI use rose from 5 percent in 2023 to 43 percent in 2026. But only 45 percent of respondents report having a formal AI policy, and 34 percent say their organization has implemented employee training or a formal AI strategy, leaving a potentially significant governance and advisory gap for technology providers. GlobeNewswire EfficientIP sees malware overtake phishing in DNS threat data: EfficientIP’s H1 2026 DNS Threat Intelligence Report, based on analysis of more than 150 billion DNS transactions per day, says malware nearly doubled from the second half of 2025 and became its largest DNS threat category. Daily malware activity climbed from 8 million hits in January to 32.6 million in April, while rising domain-generation-algorithm activity appeared earlier, suggesting DNS telemetry can provide warning before malware campaigns accelerate. EfficientIP TD SYNNEX takes KUKA robots to European partners: TD SYNNEX and KUKA have signed a distribution agreement giving partners access to KUKA autonomous mobile robots, initially in the U.K., France, Spain and Benelux. The distributor will provide enablement, technical training and demand-generation support, with collaborative robots, education packages and industrial software expected to follow; Canada is not part of the initial rollout. KUKA Switzerland BlueVoyant names John Hultman CRO: BlueVoyant has appointed former Druva chief revenue officer John Hultman as CRO, putting him in charge of global sales and revenue operations. Hultman’s previous roles include Americas sales leadership at Cohesity and nearly two decades at Dell EMC. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Thursday, October 8, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. TD SYNNEX has agreed to acquire BlueStar, a specialty distributor with a significant presence in Canada. BlueStar specializes in some corners of the channel that sit outside traditional broadline IT distribution: automatic identification and data capture, mobility, RFID, point-of-sale, digital signage, networking, robotics and security. And this one matters directly in Canada. BlueStar has Canadian operations in Montreal, the Toronto area and Vancouver, serving VARs in markets including retail, hospitality, warehousing, transportation, logistics and healthcare. For TD SYNNEX, the acquisition adds specialized expertise in technologies that increasingly connect traditional IT with physical operations. That’s particularly interesting as areas like warehouse automation, edge computing and robotics begin overlapping more heavily with the infrastructure and AI practices already familiar to solution providers. In fact, TD SYNNEX separately announced Wednesday that it’s taking KUKA autonomous mobile robots to partners in several European markets. Put the two announcements together and there’s a pretty clear direction of travel toward operational technology and physical AI. Financial terms for the BlueStar acquisition weren’t disclosed. It’s a definitive agreement rather than a completed deal, and the companies will continue operating independently while it goes through regulatory approval. HPE has introduced the first four systems in its next generation of ProLiant servers. ProLiant Gen13 starts with sixth-generation AMD EPYC processors and covers a pretty wide range of infrastructure. At one end is the DL525, a 1U single-socket server with as many as 256 CPU cores. At the other is the DL585a, which supports two EPYC processors and as many as eight double-wide PCIe GPUs for AI inference, model fine-tuning and other accelerated workloads. HPE is also introducing two dense Open Compute Project-based systems aimed at AI and high-performance computing. But the generational change isn’t only about feeding more AI into the data centre. HPE is adding new security features through iLO 8, including automatic self-encrypting drives, two-person authorization for high-impact administrative actions and expanded post-quantum cryptography readiness. Compute Ops Management also gets new power-management and low-touch onboarding capabilities. That’s useful territory for infrastructure partners because customers don’t necessarily need a dedicated AI server project to enter the Gen13 refresh cycle. Virtualization, analytics, databases and conventional infrastructure modernization are still part of the pitch, with AI capacity available as requirements evolve. Availability is staggered. The DL525 is due later this year, the DL585a in early 2027, and the two dense systems later in 2027. HPE is also making Gen13 available through its 90/9 Advantage financing program. And Cisco is turning Webex into a workplace not only for people, but for AI agents. At WebexOne Wednesday, Cisco announced that Claude Managed Agents are coming to Webex, along with collaborative AI agents that can participate directly in spaces, meetings and calls. The idea is that instead of someone privately asking an AI tool for help and then bringing the answer back to the team, the agent becomes part of the shared workspace. A user might ask an analytics agent for data inside a Webex space, then hand the result to another agent to update a presentation. Cisco says those agents will also be able to carry out multi-step work across Webex and third-party applications, with identity, security and governance controls around what they’re allowed to access and do. There’s also a substantial physical-workplace piece. RoomOS 27 will add native Google Meet support to Cisco collaboration hardware alongside Webex, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, while Cisco Cloud Control increasingly brings collaboration devices, networking and workplace intelligence into one management layer. And in customer experience, Cisco is introducing Dialog, designed to let AI agents maintain customer context and keep working across systems even after an individual conversation ends. For partners, the bigger story may be that Cisco isn’t treating collaboration, networking, room systems and AI as separate practices. It’s increasingly trying to make the workplace itself one managed technology environment. In Brief – CPA Canada says organizational AI use among respondents has increased from five percent in 2023 to 43 percent this year, while fewer than half report having a formal AI policy. EfficientIP says malware has overtaken phishing as the largest category in its DNS threat data, with daily malware activity quadrupling between January and its April peak. TD SYNNEX has signed a European distribution agreement with KUKA for autonomous mobile robots, backed by partner training and enablement. BlueVoyant has named former Druva chief revenue officer John Hultman as its new CRO. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. And if you haven‘t heard it yet, Wednesday’s In The Channel introduces Kurt Mills, KnowBe4’s new channel chief, and looks at his plans for distribution, partner programs and the company’s MSP business. We’ll have more new conversations coming soon on In 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.

    The Buzz: TD SYNNEX buys BlueStar, HPE launches ProLiant Gen13, and Cisco puts AI agents in Webex

  7. Oct 7

    KnowBe4 channel chief Mills looks to bring greater focus, distribution to partner strategy

    Kurt Mills, senior vice president of Global Channel Sales at KnowBe4 Kurt Mills is just a few weeks into his new role as global channel chief at KnowBe4, but he’s already identified some significant changes he believes can help the company reach its next stage of growth. Mills, who most recently led global channels at Trellix, tells In The Channel that KnowBe4 has built a very large partner community, but one where a relatively small percentage of partners account for most of the business. His goal is to build a more focused, “segment optimized” channel, while making greater use of distribution to support the company’s long tail of partners. That will include changes to KnowBe4’s partner program and pricing structure, as well as greater field coverage. And Mills says that need to be present in the market applies particularly to Canada, where relationships with partners and MSPs can’t effectively be built remotely. MSPs are another area where Mills sees room for improvement. Asked what he would tell an MSP that knows KnowBe4 but hasn’t figured out how to make money with the company, his answer is direct: “We can do better.” In this edition of In The Channel, Mills discusses his plans for KnowBe4’s channel, what he learned transforming the partner business at Trellix, the company’s evolving distribution strategy, opportunities around AIDA and AI-driven security and partner services, and what needs to change to build a stronger MSP business. 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. Kurt Mills is the new channel chief at KnowBe4, the company you probably already know for security awareness training, though they’d like you to think of them now as digital workforce security. Kurt’s held channel leadership roles at Trellix, Check Point, Mimecast, FireMon and Blue Coat. He’s basically done the full cybersecurity channel tour. He joined KnowBe4 about a month ago. He’s still very much getting the lay of the land, but he came in with a clear diagnosis: too many partners, too much non-standard pricing, not enough presence in the field. He’s also walking into an interesting company moment. Brian Palma has been CEO for about a year and a half. The company is owned by Vista Equity Partners, and the product story is expanding from phishing simulations toward AI agent security and a broader human risk platform. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Kurt Mills from KnowBe4. **Robert Dutt:** Kurt, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. **Kurt Mills:** Yeah, it’s a pleasure to be here, Robert. I always enjoy talking to our friends across the pond there in Toronto and look forward to, like I said, having a good hang today. **Robert Dutt:** We were discussing, dear listener, before we got into this, that Kurt is located in Chicago, and exchanged some of the Great Lakes weather dynamics, as it were, which are a constant topic of conversation. You’ve spent a long time in the industry, most recently running global channels at Trellix, where you made it to SVP. You’ve done Check Point, Mimecast, Blue Coat, FireMon. What was it about this moment and about KnowBe4 specifically that made you say, “Yeah, this is the next fit?” **Kurt Mills:** Yeah, well, let’s start by saying when you mention all those, it makes me feel a little bit old, Robert. But yeah, 25 years in the industry, and you learn a lot over that time. I will say it’s gone fast. But when I say you learn a lot, you learn a lot about the type of cultures, the leadership and the opportunities that you want to participate in. And for me, that means it starts with leadership. Having the opportunity to work with Brian Palma, our CFO and a few others here, again, was a really exciting opportunity for me. When you take that and you really look at the bones of this company and the opportunity to scale through a billion dollars, that’s what I like to do. I like to find companies with good bones, and maybe, Robert, they have just a lever or two that they need to pull to get to that next level of growth. And in many cases, that comes from the channel. **Robert Dutt:** How much of your job do you see as kind of preserving what works there versus looking for those opportunities to find the scale? I’m just curious because KnowBe4 has traditionally had that kind of identity as Stu’s company, with Kevin Mitnick as the face. Now Brian’s been in the chair for a while — I know a familiar face to you — and you’re coming in as channel chief. I’m curious where the balance between optimize for scale and maintain the founder’s company kind of sits for you right now. **Kurt Mills:** Yeah, well, like I said, they’ve done an amazing job as far as good bones, getting it to a certain point. But as you know, there are certain levers when we talk about channel where the growth started to slow down a little bit with the model they had, which was very much an inside-out type model. In the worlds that I’ve come from, you have to be present to win, and that’s a big part of it. But ultimately it is a balance, because I don’t want to distract from the great amount of energy this company has. It’s very infectious. I’ve had the opportunity to spend time in our Clearwater office as well as our D.C.-area office over the last few weeks, and it just blows me away how much energy there is through that place. It just kind of resonates. So I want to make sure I maintain that, with the idea of evolving the company in such a way from a channel perspective that we are really improving our coverage, bringing in certain best practices from the industry. I had a background in Mimecast, as you highlighted, and so I was used to working against or competing against KnowBe4 in the past. And I think what we did very well in my past days is make sure we had the right partners selling the right solutions to the right customers. But we also made sure we focused on the right partners and had the coverage, as far as being available and present from a channel perspective, and then really the enablement piece. Weaving those pieces in, if you will, Robert, to complement what was already going on here as a company. **Robert Dutt:** At Trellix, you were there in the aftermath of the big merger of McAfee and FireEye coming together, trying to build a unified channel, unified story out of those pieces. KnowBe4 is a very different kind of situation. It’s one product line, very strong brand recognition, but maybe the challenge is around building that enterprise channel over time. Without asking you to choose which of your children you love the most, which challenge do you prefer? **Kurt Mills:** Again, there are a lot of similarities between the two, believe it or not, although they came to where they are in very different fashions. In both cases, they needed to evolve as a company. One was taking two giants together and trying to integrate them, and there was a lot to do there. In the case of KnowBe4, they are adding solutions to be what we’ll call a fully integrated solution. But in both cases, it’s really a matter of: how do you do that? I wouldn’t say there’s a favourite one over the other. I’m here at KnowBe4 now, so that’s where I’m excited to be. But when all is said and done, it’s about how do you evolve a company and move a ship in the next direction. **Robert Dutt:** Speaking of that evolution, the language or the message of the company has shifted a bit of late. Security awareness training used to be the byline, the mantra. Now it’s much more about digital workforce security, securing humans and AI agents. For Canadian partners who are listening, what does that mean in terms of how they position you to their customers? Is this still kind of a compliance checkbox kind of sale, or do you see the conversation moving up the stack a bit? **Kurt Mills:** Let me start by going back to the whole Trellix thing. It’s always still about where, how and when do you win, right? When you’re talking to partners, the speeds and feeds are interesting, but they really want to understand how you win. And so that’s the really big component of what we’re trying to do here as we move the ship. As it relates to the Canadian partners, it’s how do you leverage all different types of routes to market? I know from working in Canada for many, many years, it’s not just about the reseller community. It’s about the MSPs, how you leverage the hyperscalers, for instance, like AWS and others, as well as distribution. And so there is an opportunity here at KnowBe4 to make sure we are leveraging all these different channel routes to market, those levers, if you will, to make sure we get to a point here, hopefully early in the new year, where we’re really focused on scale, leverage and growth. What I’m trying to do, Robert, between now and then is set the table to serve up dinner for our Canadian partners, as well as our partners globally. **Robert Dutt:** Speaking of the Canadian market, from what I can see, Canada represents around five percent of the customer base. The Canadian channel market, as you suggest, is very heavily MSP-driven. A lot of mid-market and SMB customers, obviously given the nature of the nation. How are you thinking about Canada? Is this kind of a mini-America market, or is there a distinct strategy, programs, maybe distinct distribution for Canada that fits because it is a little bit different than just take the American strategy and shrink it? **Kurt Mills:** Yeah, and again, I don’t know if there’s an American strategy versus a Canada strategy, but I’ll go back to my original comments: you’ve got to be present to win. Certainly in Canada, the relationships ar

    KnowBe4 channel chief Mills looks to bring greater focus, distribution to partner strategy

  8. Oct 7

    The Buzz: Frontline buys KL Software, WatchGuard expands AI security, and Dell tackles the AI data gap

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Frontline Managed Services buys KL Software: Frontline Managed Services has acquired KL Software Technologies and KLoBot, adding Microsoft 365, Azure, Copilot, application engineering and legal technology expertise. The acquisition also becomes the foundation for Frontline Intelligent Applications, a new business combining advisory and implementation work with ongoing managed application services. WatchGuard expands AI security and secure access for MSPs: WatchGuard announced a series of Unified Security Platform updates at its IMPACT North America partner event. The changes include additional AI-driven security operations and the WatchGuard Access App, which brings AuthPoint identity and FireCloud secure access into a common client and management experience. Dell tackles the enterprise AI data problem: CRN reports on a major expansion of Dell Technologies’ AI Data Platform, including new agentic context capabilities, Nvidia-accelerated data preparation, multi-tenancy and managed PowerScale for Microsoft Azure. Dell sees partners playing a significant role in helping customers prepare, govern and integrate enterprise data for AI, with new certifications and training also planned. In Brief AWS puts partner credentials behind its $1 billion FDE push: AWS global channel chief Ruba Borno tells CRNthat new partner credentials will support the company’s $1 billion investment in forward-deployed engineering for agentic AI. It follows yesterday’s Buzz look at Anthropic’s $100 million investment in deployment skills, adding to the evidence that AI channel opportunities are moving beyond access to models and toward the expertise needed to put them into production. Kaseya puts human error atop its security concerns: Kaseya’s 2026 Cybersecurity Report found 68 percent of respondents consider human error their biggest security concern. The research is based on responses from 1,132 MSPs and IT professionals across more than 60 countries. Ricoh begins strategic review: Ricoh says it has launched a strategic review led by independent outside directors. The review comes as the workplace technology company reassesses its strategic direction and profitability. SignWell lands TD SYNNEX distribution: SignWell has signed a distribution agreement with TD SYNNEX that makes its SaaS and API-based electronic-signature platform available to TD SYNNEX resellers in the United States. The deal gives TD SYNNEX partners access to SignWell’s e-signature tools and developer APIs, although the agreement is explicitly U.S.-only. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Wednesday, October 7, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Frontline Managed Services is expanding deeper into Microsoft cloud, applications and AI with the acquisition of KL Software Technologies and its KLoBot affiliate. The deal brings KL Software’s Microsoft 365, Azure, SharePoint, Copilot, application development and legal technology expertise into Frontline, an MSP focused specifically on law firms. Frontline is also creating a new business called Frontline Intelligent Applications around the acquisition. It will combine consulting and implementation with ongoing managed application services, covering everything from Microsoft platform strategy and AI readiness to document management and application modernization. KL Software says it works with more than 30 Am Law firms, while its applications are used by law firms and legal departments in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Europe and India. What’s interesting here is the shape of the acquisition. Frontline isn’t simply buying another MSP to add customers or geographic reach. It’s buying specialized application and engineering expertise and turning that into a managed-services practice. That’s another example of MSP consolidation moving beyond simply getting bigger. In specialized markets like legal services, the value increasingly comes from combining operational knowledge with deep expertise around the applications, cloud platforms and AI tools customers actually use. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. WatchGuard is expanding its Unified Security Platform with new AI security and secure-access capabilities aimed specifically at MSPs. The company announced the updates Monday at its IMPACT North America partner event in Nashville. Among the changes is additional AI-driven security operations, including capabilities designed to identify risky configurations and identity threats. WatchGuard is also introducing the WatchGuard Access App, which brings its AuthPoint identity technology and FireCloud secure-access capabilities into a single client, sign-in and management experience. WatchGuard’s pitch is that MSPs increasingly have to manage network security, endpoint security, identity and secure access as one operational problem rather than as a collection of separate products. That’s significant for service providers because consolidation only really pays off if it reduces technician workload. Putting more security products under one vendor logo doesn’t accomplish much on its own; integrating deployment, visibility and management potentially does. The new capabilities begin rolling out this month. We’ll have considerably more from WatchGuard soon on In The Channel, when CEO Joe Smolarski joins us to discuss how AI is changing both cybersecurity and the MSP security business. And Dell Technologies is going after one of the less glamorous but increasingly important problems in enterprise AI: getting a company’s data ready for AI to actually use. Dell is expanding its AI Data Platform with new capabilities around agentic context, Nvidia-accelerated data preparation, multi-tenancy and cloud storage, including managed PowerScale for Microsoft Azure. The idea is to give enterprises a more unified way to prepare, govern and make their data available to AI systems, rather than leaving information scattered across different platforms and formats. And there’s a substantial channel angle here. Dell executives tell CRN that partners have an opportunity to help customers prepare and integrate their data, build AI applications around it and then move those projects into production. Dell also plans new certifications and training around the platform. That’s important because the AI conversation is increasingly moving past simply having access to models and infrastructure. Customers have spent the last few years experimenting. Getting useful AI into production means dealing with the much messier questions of where enterprise data lives, whether it’s usable, how it’s governed and how applications and agents get access to it. For solution providers, that’s potentially a much larger and stickier services opportunity than simply supplying the hardware underneath an AI project. In Brief – AWS is putting new partner credentials behind its one-billion-dollar forward-deployed engineering push for agentic AI, following yesterday’s look at Anthropic’s investment in the same emerging deployment skill set. Kaseya says 68 percent of respondents to its new cybersecurity report rank human error as their biggest security concern. Ricoh has launched an independent-director-led strategic review of its global business. SignWell has signed a distribution agreement with TD SYNNEX in the United States. Full details and links in the show notes or the blog post. Later today on In The Channel, we’ll meet Kurt Mills, KnowBe4’s new channel chief, and talk about his plans for the company’s partner business. And if you haven‘t heard it yet, Tuesday’s In The Channel looks at Barracuda’s approach to agentic AI and security with Brian Downey. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.

    The Buzz: Frontline buys KL Software, WatchGuard expands AI security, and Dell tackles the AI data gap
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Cutting through the noise for Canadian VARs and MSPs

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    ChannelBuzz.ca
  • Years Active
    2011 - 2026
  • Episodes
    150
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    Clean
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    Copyright © ChannelBuzz.ca 2026
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