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  1. 20h ago

    TD SYNNEX’s Meredith Payne on taking PartnerFirst beyond the distributor portal

    Meredith Payne, TD SYNNNEX’s vice president of digital growth and customer success For decades, the distributor portal has been a central part of how IT resellers do business. Partners log in to check inventory, retrieve pricing, build quotes and place orders. But what happens when those capabilities become available directly within the applications partners already use, or through AI agents that can perform some of those tasks automatically? That’s the direction TD SYNNEX is taking with PartnerFirst, its digital platform for channel partners. And according to Meredith Payne, TD SYNNNEX’s vice president of digital growth and customer success, the goal isn’t to force every partner into a new way of working, but to make the distributor’s capabilities available wherever they make the most sense. Speaking with ChannelBuzz.ca at TD SYNNEX Inspire Canada in Toronto, Payne discussed the company’s evolving approach to digital commerce, the growing role of AI agents, and how partners can begin adopting automation without fundamentally changing their existing workflows. TD SYNNEX says more than 4,000 Canadian partner organizations, representing more than 12,000 users, are using PartnerFirst each month. As adoption grows, the company is expanding the ways partners can interact with the platform. For partners who prefer to work directly within PartnerFirst, the company is introducing AI agents that can help with tasks including product discovery, quoting and ordering. Agent Bridge provides another option, allowing partners to configure predefined workflows that automate repetitive tasks. And for partners already building their own AI applications, TD SYNNEX’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration makes PartnerFirst capabilities accessible from those environments. Payne said the company is seeing early success with relatively straightforward applications, particularly quoting and ordering workflows that previously required significant manual effort. Rather than beginning with a fully autonomous process, she recommends that partners identify repetitive tasks consuming substantial staff time, automate one of them, evaluate the results and expand from there. But the longer-term possibilities go considerably further. Payne said some partners are already considering agentic commerce environments in which AI agents could handle purchasing transactions without routine human intervention. While she declined to offer a timeline, she suggested that such capabilities may be closer than some expect. The conversation also explored how TD SYNNEX is incorporating partner feedback into development, including the needs of Canadian partners and the different industries they serve. And Payne discussed the company’s own experience as what it calls “Customer Zero,” with employees building and experimenting with AI agents internally before lessons from that work inform partner-facing offerings. Beyond AI, TD SYNNEX is also bringing MyShop, its reseller-branded e-commerce storefront offering, to Canada. Payne described a deliberately hands-on rollout, with participating partners receiving support to customize the experience for their businesses and customers. As PartnerFirst evolves, Payne said its success ultimately comes down to whether the capabilities help partners grow their businesses, whether by improving productivity, expanding their services or reaching new customers. In this edition of In the Channel, we discuss: Why TD SYNNEX is moving beyond the traditional distributor portal. How PartnerFirst, Agent Bridge and MCP integrations serve partners at different stages of AI adoption. Where partners are seeing early benefits from automating quoting and ordering. How close the channel may be to more autonomous, agent-driven commerce. Why repetitive, time-consuming tasks are a good starting point for AI. How TD SYNNEX incorporates Canadian partner feedback into its development process. What the company’s internal AI experimentation is teaching it. The Canadian rollout of MyShop and the broader business impact of PartnerFirst. Listen to the full conversation below. 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 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. For decades, one of the defining features of the relationship between IT distributors and their reseller partners has been the distributor portal. Need to check inventory, get pricing, build a quote, place an order? Log in, find what you need, get it done. But what happens when partners no longer need to go to the distributor’s systems to do those things? What if they can bring those capabilities into the applications they already use, or even have AI agents handle some of the work on their behalf? That’s a big part of the vision behind TD SYNNEX’s PartnerFirst platform, which was a major focus at the distributor’s Inspire Canada event in Toronto last week. TD SYNNEX says more than 4,000 Canadian partner organizations are now using PartnerFirst every month, and it’s expanding the platform with AI agents, configurable automated workflows and integrations that allow partners to connect their own AI tools directly to the distributor’s systems. And the company sees a future where more of the routine work of interacting with distribution, including quoting and ordering, can happen automatically, potentially without a human needing to intervene at every step. I sat down with Meredith Payne at Inspire to discuss that evolution, how TD SYNNEX is accommodating partners at very different stages of AI adoption, and what the company is learning from putting AI to work within its own business. We also discussed the arrival of MyShop in Canada, how PartnerFirst is being adapted to the needs of different partners, and what the company is seeing in terms of adoption and business impact. Let’s get right into it. My conversation with Meredith Payne of TD SYNNEX. Robert Dutt: Meredith, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Meredith Payne: Of course. Yeah, I’m happy to be here. Robert Dutt: I wanted to start with MyShop, since that was sort of discussed off the top, and then we’ll get into the PartnerFirst strategy. Jessica McDowell announced this morning it’s launching in Canada. Let’s start there. How does what you do with MyShop differ from the traditional distributor-backed partner web store? What’s the timing for the launch, and what will Canadian partners be able to do that wasn’t possible before? Meredith Payne: Sure. With MyShop, our goal is really to help bring the technology to our partners so they can leverage the expertise and stand that up, and be able to seamlessly drive that digital-first experience for their customers. So as she mentioned, this is something that we’ve seen a lot of success in when we look at North America as a whole. And with Canada, we’re looking at a very thoughtful launch. And so each of the partners that are coming on and starting to deploy MyShop within their own business, we’re handholding them very much through that process, making sure that the experience is set up exactly how they’re looking for it to be. We’ve got opportunities to customize based on how much they want to offer their customers, how much flexibility they want to allow for them to go in and do things on their own, versus where they need to set up guardrails. And so we’re really excited about MyShop expanding because, again, it just gives more of that opportunity for our partners to leverage the technology, using the expertise that we have already and leveraging some of what we’re already seeing success around, to ultimately grow their business, both with their existing customer base, but also going out and finding new customers as well through that offering. Robert Dutt: It sounds like it’s a fairly bespoke process. You’re going deliberately with select partners. Is that about Canada? Meredith Payne: That’s right. Yep, that’s right. So certainly continuing to expand, but those partners that are leaning in with us with this launch are getting that full customized experience to make sure that it’s successful. We’re getting lots of feedback from the partners that are already working with us, and it’s been great so far. So we’re looking forward to seeing that continue to expand. Robert Dutt: Okay. More broadly with PartnerFirst, one of the most interesting things, I think, about the direction things seem to be going recently is the move towards agents, MCP integrations. Traditionally, it was partners went to the distributor’s portal to get things done, and there are a variety of opinions in the partner community about that particular model. Now it seems like we’re talking a lot more about bringing what you guys do and what you’re able to do into the applications, the agents, the systems that partners are already using. Is that sort of ultimately, at least at this moment, the goal for where you’re taking PartnerFirst? Meredith Payne: Absolutely. You hit the nail on the head. I should be interviewing you. Our approach with PartnerFirst, and specifically the way that we’re leveraging AI, is to meet partners where they are, the way that they work, right? And what we have found is that it just looks different for everybody. So we do still very much have those partners within our ecosystem who come into our system and they work that way, and it works well for them. And we’re not looking to disrupt those workflows. Of course, we have ideas on how we can continue to improve there and work alongside them. When we think about how AI is leveraged, Agent Bridge is a great way for them to kind of start entering into this game. Okay, how do I leverage some of these predefined workflows that we’ve worked to build and im

    TD SYNNEX’s Meredith Payne on taking PartnerFirst beyond the distributor portal

  2. 22h ago

    The Buzz: Distribution sales surge 29%, Guardz adds browser security, and Microsoft expands AI networking

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: North American IT distribution revenue surges 29 percent to record $28.9 billion North American IT distribution revenue reached a record $28.9 billion in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of 29.2 percent year over year, according to new research from IDC. The November 2 findings come from IDC’s North America Monthly Distribution Tracker, powered by the Global Technology Distribution Council. AI infrastructure was the primary growth driver. Enterprise infrastructure revenue increased 140.1 percent, components and semiconductors grew 79.4 percent, and network infrastructure rose 63.7 percent. Together, those three categories accounted for $4.3 billion of the market’s $6.5 billion year-over-year increase. The growth wasn’t limited to hardware. Software revenue increased 12.5 percent, while services grew 19.6 percent, with both categories reaching record levels. IDC says AI infrastructure demand is increasingly extending beyond hyperscalers to enterprise customers and specialized cloud providers building their own AI capacity. But there are complications behind the headline numbers. Rising memory and storage prices contributed to revenue growth, while tight DRAM and NAND supplies continue to create constraints. IDC expects those supply pressures to persist into 2027. For Canadian solution providers, the report offers another indication of the scale of the AI infrastructure opportunity, while reinforcing the importance of supply-chain planning, pricing and services. The figures cover the United States and Canada together; IDC did not provide a separate Canadian growth rate. Guardz adds Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Browser to its MSP security platform Guardz has integrated Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Browser for Business into its security platform for managed service providers, extending its coverage into an increasingly important part of the small-business attack surface. Announced Monday, the integration connects browser security events with information from email, identity and endpoint systems. For example, if an employee follows a phishing link, Prisma Browser can block the malicious page while Guardz connects the browser event with the original email, related Microsoft 365 activity and endpoint information. That gives an MSP and Guardz’s managed detection and response team a more complete view of the incident. The integration also includes protection against malicious downloads, risky browser extensions and attempts to steal authenticated sessions. Guardz is positioning the offering as a way for MSPs to add enterprise-grade browser security without creating another disconnected security workflow. The company is also expanding its controls around employee use of AI applications, including policies governing copying, pasting and transferring information through browser-based services. For MSPs, the opportunity is to bring browser activity into the broader security services they already manage for customers. Canadian availability remains to be confirmed, as Guardz’s documentation describes regional restrictions on the Prisma Browser integration. More information is available from Guardz’s Prisma Browser integration page. Microsoft and Lumen expand collaboration around AI-ready enterprise networks Microsoft and Lumen Technologies have expanded their collaboration to jointly pursue enterprise networking opportunities tied to cloud modernization and artificial intelligence. The companies announced Monday that they will work more closely on helping customers connect applications, data and infrastructure distributed across cloud platforms, private data centres and enterprise locations. The expanded relationship combines Microsoft’s Azure cloud and AI capabilities with Lumen’s network infrastructure and cloud-native networking services. A central part of the effort is joint account planning and co-selling around opportunities where Azure modernization, network transformation and AI deployment intersect. The companies also intend to explore making more Lumen networking and application connectivity capabilities available through Azure and Microsoft Marketplace. Lumen’s Alkira cloud networking solution is already available through Microsoft Marketplace. For solution providers and systems integrators, the development reflects a growing reality of enterprise AI projects: deploying AI infrastructure and applications also requires work on connectivity, security, data movement and hybrid-cloud architecture. Those requirements create potential services opportunities, although the companies have not announced a new channel program or specific partner incentives as part of this collaboration. Read Lumen’s November 2 announcement. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. I’m Robert Dutt, and today is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. We’ve got some remarkable numbers from the North American IT distribution market today, along with a new security integration aimed at managed service providers, and an expanded partnership between Microsoft and Lumen focused on the networking requirements of enterprise AI. First up, new research from IDC shows just how dramatically AI infrastructure demand is changing the technology distribution business. According to figures released yesterday, North American IT distribution revenue reached a record twenty-eight point nine billion dollars in the third quarter of twenty twenty-six. That’s an increase of twenty-nine point two percent from the same period last year. And while that’s an impressive headline number, the breakdown of where that growth came from is even more interesting. IDC says enterprise infrastructure revenue increased by a remarkable one hundred and forty percent. Components and semiconductors grew nearly eighty percent, while network infrastructure revenue increased almost sixty-four percent. Together, those three categories accounted for four point three billion dollars of the market’s six point five billion dollars in additional revenue. In other words, about two-thirds of the entire increase came from the product categories most closely associated with building AI infrastructure. And the growth wasn’t limited to hardware. Software revenue increased twelve and a half percent, while services grew nearly twenty percent. Both categories also reached record levels. IDC says AI infrastructure demand is increasingly moving beyond the hyperscalers, with enterprise customers and specialized cloud providers building more of their own capacity. That’s particularly interesting for the channel, because distribution is one of the ways those customers get access to the servers, storage, networking and other technologies required for those projects. But there are a couple of important qualifications to these numbers. First, this is a North American report covering both the United States and Canada. IDC hasn’t provided a separate Canadian growth figure. And second, not all of that revenue growth necessarily represents more equipment being sold. IDC says rising memory and storage prices have contributed to the increase, and tight supplies of DRAM and NAND are expected to remain a challenge into twenty twenty-seven. So we’re looking at a combination of very strong demand, rising prices and ongoing supply constraints. For solution providers, that creates both opportunity and complexity. There’s clearly substantial spending on AI infrastructure, but customers also need help navigating product availability, pricing, architecture and deployment. And as we’ve discussed before, the opportunity doesn’t end with supplying the hardware. Designing, securing, integrating and managing these increasingly complex environments is where partners can potentially build additional value. Next, Guardz is bringing a new layer of browser security into its platform for managed service providers. The company announced yesterday that it’s integrating Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Browser for Business into its broader security offering. The idea is to bring browser activity into the same security picture as email, identity and endpoint information. And that matters because so much of what employees do now happens inside a browser. They access business applications, work with customer information, use cloud services and increasingly interact with AI tools. That also makes the browser an attractive target for attackers. Think about a phishing email that sends someone to a fake login page. Prisma Browser can help block that malicious page, while Guardz can connect the browser event with the original email, the user’s Microsoft three sixty-five activity and information from the affected endpoint. Instead of treating those as separate alerts from separate systems, the MSP and Guardz’s managed detection and response team can investigate the activity as a connected incident. The integration also brings protection against malicious downloads, risky browser extensions and attacks designed to steal authenticated sessions. Guardz is also expanding its controls around how employees use browser-based AI applications, including restrictions on moving sensitive information into services that an organization hasn’t approved. For MSPs, the interesting part is the potential to add browser security to the services they’re already delivering, rather than creating another disconnected product to deploy and manage. There is one important question for Canadian partners. Guardz’s documentation describes regional restrictions on the Prisma Browser integration, and we haven’t confirmed its availability for Canadian customer environments. So that’s something partners would need to clarify before making commitments to customers here. But the larger direction is worth watching. As more business activity moves into browsers and AI-powered appli

    The Buzz: Distribution sales surge 29%, Guardz adds browser security, and Microsoft expands AI networking

  3. 1d ago

    TD SYNNEX Canada’s Chris Fabes sees near-term growth in cloud, cybersecurity and AI economics

    Chris Fabes, president of TD SYNNEX Canada, at Inspire 2026 Three months into his tenure as president of TD SYNNEX Canada, Chris Fabes has spent considerable time travelling across the country, meeting with partners and getting a better understanding of the distributor’s capabilities and opportunities. And while the company is looking at emerging markets ranging from robotics and space technology to physical AI, Fabes sees more immediate growth opportunities for Canadian partners in familiar areas that are undergoing significant change: cloud, cybersecurity, software and the economics of artificial intelligence. Speaking with ChannelBuzz.ca at TD SYNNEX Inspire Canada in Toronto, Fabes said his first few months have reinforced his confidence in the company’s foundation, while opening his eyes to capabilities that extend well beyond traditional technology distribution. One of the distributor’s priorities is expanding the amount of business flowing through the channel, including by bringing vendors into its ecosystem that have traditionally sold directly to customers. That increasingly means helping partners assemble complete solutions rather than simply source individual products. Fabes described TD SYNNEX’s evolving role as an orchestrator, connecting technology, expertise and services to help partners address customers’ business requirements. AI adds another layer of complexity, particularly when it comes to choosing the right models, managing consumption and ensuring that technology decisions fit customers’ budgets. Fabes said partners need to be able to have those conversations without exposing themselves or their customers to unexpected costs. The conversation also touched on two significant developments for TD SYNNEX’s Canadian business. The recently announced acquisition of BlueStar brings complementary capabilities in areas including mobility, identification and point-of-sale technology, along with access to specialized partners and markets. Fabes said the businesses will continue operating separately while decisions about their future integration are made. Meanwhile, TD SYNNEX is investing in a new 850,000-square-foot distribution facility in Caledon, Ontario. Fabes said the company expects the facility to come online around mid-2028, expanding its Canadian logistics capabilities and creating opportunities to introduce more advanced technology. And in a more personal example of TD SYNNEX’s internal AI adoption, Fabes described building his own AI-powered briefing agent to help him track business performance, outstanding decisions and priorities across the organization. In this edition of In the Channel, we discuss: What Fabes has learned during his first three months leading TD SYNNEX Canada. Where he sees the strongest near-term growth opportunities for Canadian partners. How TD SYNNEX is expanding its role beyond traditional distribution. Why AI economics, governance and cost predictability are becoming important partner conversations. What BlueStar could add to the Canadian business. The company’s planned Caledon distribution facility. How Fabes is using an AI agent to help manage the business. Listen to the full conversation below. 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 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor at ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show.When I last spoke to Chris Fabes back in August, he was just getting settled into his new role as president of TD SYNNEX Canada. At the time, he was embarking on a listening tour, getting to know the business, its partners, and the opportunities and challenges facing the Canadian channel. Fast forward about three months, and Fabes has had a chance to put some miles on the odometer, meet with partners across the country, and get a much clearer picture of where the business stands and where he wants to take it. I caught up with him this week at TD SYNNEX Inspire Canada in Toronto, where the distributor is laying out its vision for helping partners navigate a technology market increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, new consumption models, and the growing importance of delivering business outcomes rather than simply selling products. We discussed what Fabes has learned during his first few months, where he sees the most immediate growth opportunities for Canadian partners, and how TD SYNNEX is looking to expand its reach into new technologies and markets. We also talked about what the recently announced acquisition of BlueStar could mean for the Canadian business, the company’s significant investment in a new distribution facility in Caledon, Ontario, and the economics of AI. And we wrapped up with a look at how Fabes is putting AI to work in his own role, including an agent he built to keep him on top of the business. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Fabes. Robert Dutt: Chris, thanks for taking the time. I know it’s obviously a busy day here, but your first Inspire running the show here. Chris Fabes: Yeah, thanks for being here. It’s been a big couple of days between today and yesterday. Well received, exciting, definitely a different position for me to be in, standing on the stage versus looking at the stage. Robert Dutt: Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that was really good. When we spoke back in August, you were just getting started in the role. You were really fresh into what you talked about: listening, learning, understanding the business, understanding what partners want. You’ve now spent about 90 days, I’m sure, travelling across Canada a whole lot, talking to partners, talking to your teammates. What have you learned that you didn’t know coming into the job? And has anything surprised you enough to change your thinking about where things are at, or where they’re going, for TD SYNNEX Canada or for the Canadian channel at large? Chris Fabes: So you’re right. I’ve travelled quite a bit, and I did say I wanted to listen. And when we first spoke, it was, I guess, 30 days after. Very, very fresh. I still didn’t know what I didn’t know. So it’s helped me shape the expectations, the excitement, the angst maybe that some have in terms of everything coming out of the channel expectations. So by having those conversations internally, as well as with our partners and vendors, it’s been great to shape where we’re going. In terms of things that I would not have known or hadn’t expected, it’s been a pleasant — I’m cautious when I say the word surprise, but I’ll say that — because I’m coming in and I’m learning a lot about what our capabilities are. And a lot of the conversations or the comments that were being generated from our customers, we’re actually able to fill a lot of those gaps with what we’ve built or what we’re building. So coming into a business that my engagements in the past were a little bit more traditional in nature, but now seeing how TD SYNNEX is evolving the way that we approach the channel as an orchestrator, there’s so much more outside of the core distribution capabilities that we can offer. So that has been a very, very pleasant, I guess, enhancement is the best way of saying it, to my view. Robert Dutt: I guess playing into that, the state of the Canadian business. It’s a strong organization, clearly, but there’s economic uncertainty. We’re in the midst of some significant technology transformations, if you hadn’t noticed. Chris Fabes: Sure. I don’t know if it would come up. Robert Dutt: Basically, now that you’ve got a chance to look at things and have those conversations, how would you characterize the state of the business today? Where are you seeing momentum, and where are you hearing from partners that things are a little more challenging? Chris Fabes: The foundation is absolutely solid. And that has been wonderful to see. Not only foundationally at our core, what we’ve been offering to our partners for decades, but also the plans in place to be able to grow where the market is going. We talk about the distribution TAM expansion, because there’s a portion of the business in Canada that goes through the channel and there’s a portion that doesn’t. We have plans to be able to continue to attract additional vendors into the ecosystem, make sure that, as you said, the chaos or the complexity of what’s happening right now — it could be as simple as we understand that these are the technology drivers that our customers are demanding. We need to ensure that we’re ready as a partner, we’ve got those capabilities being built or already built, and we’re having those conversations. But also, the things that are a little bit more challenging for any one partner to understand, maybe collectively we can figure out together. So helping our partners understand how to have AI practices built out that focus on outcomes, help them answer their customer questions around sovereignty of data, sovereignty of access, capabilities to expand province through province. You heard Minister Evan Solomon spoke to us earlier this morning. Just engaging with understanding how we’re building our capabilities and then bringing that to the channel ecosystem, I think that’s going to be so important. Robert Dutt: There was a lot of focus this morning on some interesting new opportunities, areas that maybe haven’t traditionally been channel space. Between you and your team, you talked about defence, robotics, space, energy, agriculture and AI infrastructure, which of course has been the focus for a while for this group. But that’s a pretty broad range. I’m curious about your thoughts on which of those new growth areas represent the biggest tangible near-term opportunity for Canadian partners, and how you guys see yourselves helping the partners reach that. Chris Fabes: So in part, som

    TD SYNNEX Canada’s Chris Fabes sees near-term growth in cloud, cybersecurity and AI economics

  4. 1d ago

    The Buzz: Ottawa backs Cohere, Arrow expands managed storage, and 7AI builds its security ecosystem

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Ottawa commits up to $1.6 billion to Canadian AI developer Cohere The federal government is taking an equity stake in Toronto-founded artificial intelligence company Cohere, committing up to $1.6 billion as part of a major new funding round. Announced Thursday, the investment will be made in stages and comes alongside private investors including NVIDIA, Bell and Germany’s Schwarz Group. Cohere has committed to maintaining its Canadian headquarters and incorporation, creating at least 1,000 Canadian technical jobs, and investing at least $1.7 billion in additional Canadian computing infrastructure by 2030. The company also announced the initial close of a Series E funding round targeting up to $7 billion. Unlike a conventional government grant, Ottawa’s investment gives Canada an ownership stake in the company. For the Canadian IT industry, the announcement is another significant development in the effort to build domestic AI capabilities. It also raises questions about how Canada’s growing sovereign AI infrastructure will be deployed, integrated and managed for enterprise and government customers. The immediate announcement is about investment rather than a new channel program. But the growth of Canadian AI infrastructure and enterprise AI platforms could create opportunities for solution providers with expertise in infrastructure, integration, security and managed services. Arrow introduces managed storage services for NetApp Keystone Arrow Electronics has introduced managed storage services for NetApp Keystone, giving channel partners another way to deliver consumption-based storage offerings without building all the underlying operational capabilities themselves. Announced Thursday, the new service builds on Arrow’s existing Partner XaaS with NetApp Keystone offering. It adds lifecycle management, proactive monitoring, performance and capacity optimization, cyber resilience, data protection and ongoing service reviews. Arrow says it is the first distributor to offer this type of managed storage service. The development illustrates an evolving role for distribution in the managed-services market. Rather than simply providing products or financing for consumption-based infrastructure, distributors are increasingly looking to supply the operational capabilities partners need to deliver ongoing services. For MSPs and solution providers, that could mean expanding recurring-revenue offerings while reducing the need to develop every supporting capability internally. Arrow describes the offering as global. Specific Canadian availability and commercial terms have not yet been confirmed. 7AI expands partner security ecosystem to 200 integrations Agentic security company 7AI says its Technology Alliance Program has reached 200 integrations, expanding the range of security tools, data sources and workflows that partners can connect to its platform. The October 29 announcement covers integrations spanning endpoint security, identity, email, cloud, SIEM, SOAR, ticketing, threat intelligence, vulnerability management and other security operations technologies. The company’s approach is designed to let AI agents investigate and respond to security events using data from systems customers already operate. For solution providers, systems integrators and managed security service providers, the opportunity is to modernize security operations without necessarily replacing a customer’s entire existing security stack. 7AI says nearly 45 percent of its sales pipeline now originates through partners, reflecting the importance it places on its broader alliance ecosystem. The integration milestone also illustrates a larger challenge for agentic security: AI-driven operations depend not just on the capabilities of the AI platform, but on its ability to work across the many systems already deployed in customer environments. Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. I’m Robert Dutt, and today is Monday, November 2, 2026. We’re starting the week with a major investment in Canada’s AI industry, a new managed storage offering from Arrow and NetApp, and an expansion of the partner ecosystem around agentic security company 7AI. First up, the federal government is making a substantial investment in Canadian artificial intelligence developer Cohere. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Thursday that Ottawa will take an equity stake in the Toronto-founded company, committing up to one point six billion Canadian dollars. The investment is part of a much larger financing effort by Cohere, which has announced the initial close of a Series E funding round targeting up to seven billion dollars. Other investors include NVIDIA, Bell and Germany’s Schwarz Group. And there are some significant commitments attached to the federal investment. Cohere has agreed to maintain its Canadian headquarters and incorporation, create at least one thousand Canadian technical jobs, and invest at least one point seven billion dollars in additional Canadian computing infrastructure by twenty thirty. The government’s investment will be made in stages, with reporting requirements tied to those commitments. And there’s an important distinction here: this is an equity investment, not simply another government grant for AI development. Ottawa is taking an ownership stake in Cohere, meaning Canadians would participate in the company’s financial success if that investment pays off. For the Canadian technology industry, it’s another indication of how important sovereign AI infrastructure has become. Cohere is positioning itself around secure enterprise AI, particularly for organizations that need greater control over their data, infrastructure and the way AI systems are deployed. And those requirements are especially relevant in areas like government, financial services and other regulated industries. Now, this isn’t a channel program announcement, and Cohere hasn’t laid out a new set of partner opportunities as part of the investment. But there’s a broader question here for Canadian solution providers. As more investment flows into Canadian AI infrastructure and platforms, who’s going to help customers deploy those technologies, integrate them with existing systems, secure them and manage them over time? That’s where this development becomes interesting for the channel. The investment is about building Canadian AI capacity. Turning that capacity into useful enterprise deployments will require considerably more than the models and infrastructure themselves. Next, Arrow Electronics is expanding its role in managed services with a new offering built around NetApp Keystone. Arrow announced Thursday that it’s introducing managed storage services for NetApp Keystone, building on its existing Partner XaaS offering. The new service adds a layer of operational support around consumption-based storage. That includes lifecycle management, proactive monitoring, capacity and performance optimization, cyber resilience, data protection and ongoing service reviews. Arrow says it’s the first distributor to offer this kind of managed storage service. And the interesting part of the announcement is what it says about the changing role of distribution. For years, distributors have helped partners with financing, logistics, procurement and, increasingly, cloud marketplaces and subscription management. But as more infrastructure moves toward consumption-based models, partners also need help with the ongoing work of operating and supporting those services. That’s where Arrow is looking to play a larger role. The idea is that a solution provider or MSP can expand its managed storage business without having to build every operational capability from scratch. And that could make it easier for more partners to participate in storage-as-a-service opportunities. There are still some details we’d want to clarify for Canadian partners, particularly around local availability and commercial terms. But the broader trend is clear: distribution is increasingly moving beyond enabling the transaction and into enabling the service itself. And finally today, agentic security company 7AI says its Technology Alliance Program has reached two hundred integrations. The company announced the milestone Thursday, describing it as an important expansion of the ecosystem supporting its AI-driven security operations platform. Those integrations span a wide range of technologies, including endpoint security, identity, email, cloud platforms, SIEM and SOAR systems, ticketing tools, threat intelligence and vulnerability management. And the idea is to allow 7AI’s agents to investigate and respond to security events using information from the tools customers already have in place. That’s an important point, because most enterprise security environments are anything but simple. Customers have accumulated years of investments in different security products, data sources and operational processes. And introducing agentic security doesn’t necessarily mean they want to replace all of that infrastructure. For partners, that creates an opportunity around integration and modernization. Instead of approaching every customer with a complete replacement project, solution providers and managed security service providers can look at how AI-driven security operations might work across an existing environment. 7AI says nearly forty-five percent of its sales pipeline now originates through partners. That’s a company-reported figure, but it helps explain why 7AI is investing so heavily in its partner and technology alliance ecosystem. The larger lesson is that agentic security is becoming as much an integration and services challenge as a technology challenge. And that’s a potentially interesting place for the channel to build value. You can

    The Buzz: Ottawa backs Cohere, Arrow expands managed storage, and 7AI builds its security ecosystem

  5. 4d ago

    CDW Canada’s Glenn Kaul on how AI is changing the solution provider business

    Glenn Kaul, vice president of sales and solutions at CDW Canada Artificial intelligence is creating significant new opportunities for IT solution providers, but it’s also changing the way they operate, the services they deliver, and even the technology investments their customers are making. At Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver, much of the discussion focused on how Cisco is helping partners capitalize on AI, security, and the shift toward a more integrated technology platform. But those changes are already having practical consequences for solution providers and their customers. In this edition of In the Channel, ChannelBuzz.ca sits down with Glenn Kaul, vice president of sales and solutions at CDW Canada for a look at how those trends are playing out in the Canadian market. One of the more unexpected developments has been the impact of AI infrastructure demand on traditional IT spending. Kaul describes how rising memory prices and concerns about hardware availability forced customers to reconsider their purchasing priorities, accelerating some infrastructure investments while delaying other projects. More recently, he says, customers have begun returning to longer-term planning discussions. AI is also changing the cybersecurity business. As AI-powered tools accelerate the discovery and potential exploitation of vulnerabilities, Kaul argues that security services need to become more continuous and responsive. The traditional model of periodic assessments and updates is giving way to an environment where monitoring, remediation, and resilience must be ongoing priorities. At the same time, AI could change the economics of professional and managed services. Some routine tasks that previously required specialized expertise may become increasingly automated, potentially reducing the value of certain traditional services while increasing demand for architecture, consulting, and more sophisticated capabilities. Kaul also sees emerging opportunities for partners to help customers understand and manage the cost of AI consumption. Much as cloud computing introduced new challenges around consumption-based pricing, AI is creating a need for guidance on token usage, budgeting, and choosing the right technologies for different workloads. The conversation also explores the growing importance of data sovereignty in Canada, including how customer expectations are expanding beyond where data is physically stored to questions of access, control, and service provider ownership. And Kaul shares his perspective on Cisco’s integration of Splunk, including the progress being made in bringing the two companies’ technologies and customer-facing organizations together, and the opportunities that could emerge as Splunk becomes a more seamless part of Cisco’s broader portfolio. In this episode, we discuss: How AI infrastructure demand has disrupted customer technology purchasing decisions. Why AI-driven threats are accelerating the shift toward continuous security services. How automation could reshape the economics of professional and managed services. The emerging opportunity for partners to help customers manage AI consumption and token costs. Why data sovereignty is becoming a more complicated requirement for Canadian organizations. How CDW Canada is developing its own AI capabilities and preparing employees for changing customer needs. What Cisco’s ongoing integration of Splunk means for partners and enterprise customers. Listen to the full conversation with Glenn Kaul of CDW Canada, recorded at Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver, in this edition of In the Channel. 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 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. Over the last week, we’ve been bringing you conversations from Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver, where Cisco laid out its vision for how artificial intelligence, security, and an increasingly connected technology platform will reshape the opportunities available to its partners. What does that vision look like from the perspective of a major solution provider? And how are the changes being driven by AI already affecting the way partners work with their customers and build their businesses? Those are some of the questions I explored with Glenn Kaul at CDW Canada when we sat down at Partner Summit. Glenn has a particularly interesting perspective on how AI is changing the market, and not always in the ways you might expect. We discuss how demand for AI infrastructure has disrupted traditional IT purchasing patterns, how increasingly sophisticated security threats are forcing solution providers to rethink the way they deliver their services, and how AI itself could change the economics of professional services. We also get into some of the emerging opportunities around managing AI consumption costs, the growing importance of data sovereignty for Canadian customers, and what Cisco’s ongoing integration of Splunk means for partners and their customers. It’s a conversation that goes beyond the announcements of Partner Summit to explore what these changes actually mean for the business of a solution provider. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Glenn Kaul from CDW Canada. Robert Dutt: Glenn, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Glenn Kaul: Glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Robert Dutt: Let’s start big picture. You’ve been here at Partner Summit the last couple of days, hearing the announcements, talking with Cisco leadership. What’s standing out to you? What are the things you’re taking away from Vancouver that will matter the most to CDW going forward? Glenn Kaul: Well, there’s a couple of things. One is that our customers’ need for having access to a platform and not just a number of point solutions, that’s not news. That’s been a trend that’s been going on for a few years, particularly in the security space, but in general. I’d say that’s accelerating now. And it’s accelerating for lots of reasons, including pressures that our clients have with budgets, managing price increases because of some of the component prices. Their budgets have stayed the same, having some of the needs they have to have all the skills they need to go and run multiple platforms and systems, having visibility. So I think that’s accelerating, number one. And number two, I think the importance of networking, network refresh, and secure networks for AI defence as a general statement, but as a broader statement, just to have resilience and sovereignty in a secure network, that’s more important now than it was a year ago. And it’s dramatic. Robert Dutt: Is that accelerating too, especially the sovereignty side of things? Glenn Kaul: The conversations are accelerating. I think defining what sovereignty means — is it physical sovereignty? What does it mean in Canada? What does it mean elsewhere? Is it access? Is it controls? People say, “Well, it’s all of the above.” And so, well, how do you solve for that? It’s an important conversation. The exact meaning of it and the implications for each customer are going to be, I think, segment- and use-case-specific. Robert Dutt: And that’s where you guys get to have fun defining and scoping all that and making it stand up and real. Glenn Kaul: Right. And asking our customers, interviewing them and doing assessments, understanding what’s important to them. For some customers, if it’s healthcare, it’s going to be different. But look, we had a small regional public school system — or a midsize regional public school system — recently that we were responding to an RFP on, and they said, “This has to be sovereign.” And we said, “Well, what does that mean?” “The provider has to be sovereign. It has to prove to us that everything’s in Canada and it’s never going to leave Canada.” We said, “Well, hang on a second. That’s about eight conversations in one.” They wouldn’t have even asked that before. And this isn’t the federal government asking. This is a small school system. Robert Dutt: Yeah, yeah. The three big messages that I keep taking away from this week are the push around AI, security, and the evolution of the partner ecosystem and partner program. When you look at those priorities through CDW’s lens, where do you see the biggest opportunities to grow the business right now? Glenn Kaul: It’s secure networking and AI defence. And these are related items. The new partner program has been announced for some time. We’re very fortunate, and I think the scale partners are fortunate, in that we have the resources and more specializations and master specializations than anyone in the country. And so we have the breadth and depth of the resources we need. It’s a question of, within that very broad portfolio, making sure we focus on the right things that are important to our customers and that fuel our growth. Robert Dutt: One of the things that I keep hearing is that AI is changing what customers need from you guys in the partner base. Jeetu Patel talked about the need to rethink business processes rather than just layering AI onto existing workflows, for example. Is that consistent with what you’re seeing and what customers are either looking for or ultimately needing, whether they’re looking for it or not? And how does what you’ve learned and heard here change the conversations you’re having with customers around that? Glenn Kaul: Well, first of all, I’d say every time somebody says AI, which we hear frequently, I always ask, “What’s the word before or the word after AI?” Because what are we talking about? Are we talking about how we use AI internally? How Cisco uses AI internally? How the tools, and particular

    CDW Canada’s Glenn Kaul on how AI is changing the solution provider business

  6. 4d ago

    The Buzz: HP Canada changes leaders, TD SYNNEX puts Canadian investment in focus, and Ingram Micro rides AI demand

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: HP Canada leadership changes put John Cammalleri in charge HP Canada is undergoing a leadership transition, with president and managing director Michelle Biase moving to a new role as vice president of U.S. Corporate Sales. Longtime Canadian channel chief John Cammalleri will step into the top Canadian position on an interim basis, while April Marshall assumes the role of vice president of Canada Commercial Channel Sales. The changes continue an interesting pattern: HP Canada’s last three leaders have all come from channel backgrounds. Cammalleri has led the company’s Canadian channel organization for years; Biase returned to HP after a stint at distributor D&H; and her predecessor, Mary Ann Yule, joined HP from CDW Canada. HP confirmed the latest leadership changes directly to ChannelBuzz.ca. TD SYNNEX highlights Caledon investment and MyShop at Inspire Canada TD SYNNEX held its Inspire Canada conference in Toronto Thursday, highlighting investments in its Canadian distribution infrastructure and new digital tools for partners. Among the developments discussed was its planned 850,000-square-foot distribution facility in Caledon, Ontario. The facility, which has room to expand by approximately 40 percent, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2028. TD SYNNEX also discussed the Canadian rollout of MyShop, its partner e-commerce offering. The initial approach involves working with selected Canadian partners on customized implementations rather than launching the same experience across the entire partner base at once. The discussions fit into TD SYNNEX’s broader PartnerFirst strategy, which includes expanded AI-powered capabilities intended to simplify partner transactions and workflows. We’ll have more from Inspire Canada next week on In The Channel, including conversations with TD SYNNEX Canada president Chris Fabes about the company’s Canadian strategy and Meredith Payne about PartnerFirst, MyShop and agentic commerce. Ingram Micro reports strong Q3 as AI infrastructure drives growth Ingram Micro reported $15.2 billion in third-quarter net sales, an increase of 20.8 percent year over year, as demand for AI infrastructure and cloud solutions helped drive growth. The distributor also reported adjusted earnings of 91 cents per share, up 26.4 percent from a year earlier. Both sales and adjusted earnings exceeded analyst expectations, and Ingram raised its financial outlook. Growth was particularly strong in its Advanced Solutions business, including GPU and AI infrastructure, and in cloud-based solutions. But the results also illustrate an important trade-off in the current AI infrastructure market. Ingram reported pressure on its gross margin as lower-margin GPU and AI infrastructure products accounted for a greater proportion of its sales. For channel partners, it’s a reminder that the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure spending doesn’t necessarily translate into equally rapid margin growth. The opportunity extends beyond supplying hardware to the higher-value services, integration and ongoing management that customers need around those investments. Source: Ingram Micro investor relations Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. I’m Robert Dutt, and today is Friday, October 30, 2026. We’ve got a particularly Canadian edition to wrap up the week, with a leadership shakeup at HP Canada, a look at TD SYNNEX’s Inspire Canada conference in Toronto, and strong quarterly results from Ingram Micro, driven in part by demand for AI infrastructure. First up, some significant leadership changes at HP Canada, affecting both the company’s top Canadian position and its channel organization. Michelle Biase, HP Canada’s president and managing director, is moving into a new role as vice president of U.S. Corporate Sales. Taking over HP Canada’s leadership on an interim basis is John Cammalleri, who has been the company’s Canadian channel chief for years. And with John moving into that position, April Marshall will assume responsibility for Canada Commercial Channel Sales. HP confirmed those changes to ChannelBuzz.ca this week. There’s an interesting bit of history here, because HP Canada’s last three leaders have all come from channel backgrounds. John, of course, has spent years leading HP’s Canadian channel business. Michelle returned to HP after spending time at distributor D&H. And before Michelle, Mary Ann Yule came to HP from CDW Canada. So while there’s a leadership transition underway, there’s also considerable continuity in the kind of experience HP is putting at the top of its Canadian organization. We’ll be interested to see what that means for Canadian partners as the new leadership team settles in. Next, TD SYNNEX held its Inspire Canada conference in Toronto yesterday, and there were a couple of interesting developments worth highlighting. One is a substantial investment in the company’s Canadian distribution infrastructure. TD SYNNEX is planning a new distribution facility in Caledon, Ontario, measuring approximately eight hundred and fifty thousand square feet, with room to expand by another forty percent. The company expects the facility to be completed in the first half of twenty twenty-eight. It’s a significant investment in TD SYNNEX’s Canadian operations, and one that should give the distributor additional capacity as its business evolves. The other development is the Canadian rollout of MyShop, TD SYNNEX’s e-commerce offering for partners. I spoke with Meredith Payne about the rollout, and she explained that the company is working with selected Canadian partners on customized implementations. So this isn’t a broad launch where every Canadian partner gets exactly the same experience on day one. It’s a more deliberate approach, with TD SYNNEX working closely with participating partners. And that fits into the company’s broader PartnerFirst strategy. TD SYNNEX has been expanding the AI-powered capabilities of its digital platform, with the goal of making it easier for partners to find products, prepare quotes, place orders and manage transactions. Some of those developments were announced earlier this month at the company’s U.S. Inspire event, but they were an important part of the discussion in Canada as well. One of the particularly interesting themes from my conversation with Meredith was how quickly agentic commerce could change the way partners interact with distributors. We’ll have much more from Inspire Canada next week on In The Channel. I’ve recorded conversations with TD SYNNEX Canada president Chris Fabes about the distributor’s Canadian strategy, including the Caledon investment, and with Meredith Payne about PartnerFirst, MyShop and the evolution of agentic commerce. And finally today, Ingram Micro has reported a strong third quarter, with AI infrastructure and cloud solutions helping drive significant growth for the distributor. Ingram reported fifteen point two billion dollars in quarterly sales, an increase of twenty point eight percent from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share rose twenty-six point four percent to ninety-one cents, and both revenue and earnings came in ahead of analyst expectations. The company also raised its financial outlook. Ingram says growth was particularly strong in its Advanced Solutions business, including GPUs and AI infrastructure, as well as its cloud solutions business. But there’s an interesting wrinkle in those results. While AI infrastructure demand is helping drive substantial sales growth, Ingram also reported pressure on gross margins because those GPU and AI infrastructure products generally carry lower margins. And that’s a useful reminder that the AI infrastructure boom isn’t necessarily an uncomplicated profitability story. There’s clearly a tremendous amount of money being spent on the infrastructure required to support AI workloads. But the real opportunity for solution providers may be in the services around that infrastructure: helping customers design, deploy, secure, integrate and manage increasingly complex environments. Ingram’s results offer another indication of just how significant AI infrastructure demand has become for the channel, while also illustrating the importance of finding ways to capture value beyond the hardware transaction itself. You can find more details on all three stories at ChannelBuzz.ca. And before we go, a couple of notes on In The Channel. Later today on In The Channel, we’ve got my conversation with Glenn Kaul of CDW Canada, recorded at Cisco Partner Summit in Vancouver. Glenn offers a particularly interesting solution-provider perspective on how AI is changing the market. We discuss how demand for AI infrastructure is affecting traditional IT purchasing patterns, how increasingly sophisticated security threats are changing the services partners need to deliver, and how AI itself could reshape the economics of professional services. And if you haven‘t heard it yet, yesterday’s In The Channel featured my conversation with Raj and Erin from Cisco Partner Summit, looking at the opportunities emerging for partners as Cisco’s technology and partner strategy evolve. Both episodes are available through ChannelBuzz.ca and wherever you get your podcasts. And that’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.

    The Buzz: HP Canada changes leaders, TD SYNNEX puts Canadian investment in focus, and Ingram Micro rides AI demand

  7. 5d ago

    Cisco Canada leadership on the partner opportunities ahead for Splunk, Cisco IQ, and Cisco 360

    Erin Gertner, vice president of the Partner Organization and SMB sales at Cisco Canada Cisco Partner Summit 2026 brought a wide range of announcements around artificial intelligence, security, customer experience, and the evolution of the company’s partner ecosystem. But for Canadian partners, the biggest question is how to translate those announcements into practical business opportunities. In this edition of In the Channel, wet sit down with Raj Juneja, president of Cisco Canada, and Erin Gertner, vice president of the partner organization at Cisco Canada, to discuss where they see the biggest opportunities for Canadian partners and what partners should be doing to capitalize on them. One of the more immediate opportunities comes from Cisco’s growing integration of Splunk into its broader portfolio. Juneja argues that partners with established Cisco networking and security businesses should look beyond simply reselling Splunk and consider how its data capabilities can help them deliver new services to existing customers. By collecting and analyzing data from infrastructure customers already own, partners can potentially develop new offerings around security, observability, operational intelligence, and business insights. For partners that haven’t worked extensively with Splunk, Juneja suggests starting by understanding the platform’s capabilities and identifying opportunities within their existing customer base. Raj Juneja, president of Cisco Canada Cisco IQ is another potential foundation for new partner services. Gertner points to network inventory, infrastructure assessments, vulnerability management, and modernization planning as natural starting points for partners looking to build advisory and lifecycle practices around the platform. The conversation also explores Cisco’s new Ecosystem Deal Registration initiative, which is designed to recognize partners that influence customer technology decisions even when they aren’t responsible for the eventual transaction. Gertner says Cisco Canada sees an opportunity to build relationships with advisory firms, consultants, and other organizations that have historically played a less visible role in Cisco’s partner ecosystem. She also acknowledges that Cisco has work to do in identifying the full range of organizations influencing customer decisions. And as Cisco continues its transition to the Cisco 360 Partner Program, Gertner emphasizes the importance of developing adoption and lifecycle services capabilities. Cisco has provided transitional protections intended to give partners time to adapt, but those protections won’t last indefinitely. Gertner says Cisco Canada is working closely with partners to help them prepare for the next stage of the program, and reports that many partners have been pleasantly surprised by their initial payments under Cisco 360. Looking at customer demand, both executives identify secure networking and network modernization as significant opportunities in Canada, particularly as organizations prepare for the growing demands of AI-driven workloads. But their message to partners is that a network refresh shouldn’t simply be a like-for-like replacement. Instead, it should be an opportunity to introduce additional capabilities around security, observability, infrastructure visibility, and ongoing services. In this episode, we discuss: The biggest opportunities for Canadian partners emerging from Cisco Partner Summit 2026. Why existing Cisco networking and security partners should consider building services around Splunk. Practical first steps for partners looking to get started with Splunk without making a major upfront investment. How Cisco IQ could become the foundation for new advisory, assessment, and lifecycle services. What Ecosystem Deal Registration means for consultants, advisors, and other non-transacting partners. How Canadian partners are responding to Cisco 360 and what they should be doing to prepare for the next stage of the program. Where Cisco Canada sees the strongest customer demand heading into 2027. Why network modernization represents an opportunity to expand customer relationships rather than simply replace existing infrastructure. Listen to the full conversation with Raj Juneja and Erin Gertner of Cisco Canada, recorded at Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver, in this edition of In the Channel. 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 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. We’re continuing our coverage of Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver, where Cisco has been laying out its vision for a new generation of partner opportunities around artificial intelligence, security, and an increasingly integrated technology platform. But with so many announcements, new capabilities, and changes to the partner program, there’s an important question for Canadian partners: Where do you start, and how do you turn this into a profitable business? That’s what we’re exploring in today’s episode, as I’m joined by Raj Juneja and Erin Gertner from Cisco Canada. We discuss some of the biggest opportunities they’re seeing for Canadian partners, including how existing Cisco networking and security partners can begin building a business around Splunk, and how Cisco IQ could become the foundation of new advisory and lifecycle services. We also get into the evolution of the Cisco 360 Partner Program, including some of the early feedback from Canadian partners and what they need to be doing now to protect and grow their profitability as the program continues to evolve. And we look at Cisco’s new Ecosystem Deal Registration initiative, which recognizes that the partners influencing customer decisions aren’t necessarily the same partners ultimately selling the technology. Finally, we discuss where Canadian customers are spending their technology budgets, and why Cisco sees an opportunity for partners to rethink their traditional network refresh rather than simply replacing what’s already there. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Raj Juneja and Erin Gertner. Robert Dutt: Erin, Raj, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Erin Gertner: Thank you for having us. Robert Dutt: I guess let’s start with the obvious, given where we’re sitting right now. What does it mean to the Cisco Canada team and to your partners to have home-ice advantage this week? And I guess I should add, between Vancouver once before and Montreal, we’re back on home ice. Erin Gertner: Yeah, I think it’s just such a privilege to have everybody join us in Vancouver. I think I can speak for myself and probably on behalf of Raj. We’re such proud Canadians, and Cisco Canada had such a fantastic year this year, and we have so much to celebrate. We’re so grateful for our partners. So I think being back in Canada, and specifically in Vancouver, has been amazing for us. And it’s been really nice to hear feedback from the partners as they’re walking by, saying how much they love the city and that they’ve gotten to explore. If you look out the window, it’s so picturesque when you get to look at the mountains. I think our city shows very well, so I’m very happy to be here. Raj Juneja: Yeah, I think I would echo everything that Erin is saying. I’ve heard nothing but positive sentiment about coming to Canada and what they’re surrounded by here. This venue in downtown Vancouver, overlooking the ocean. What can you say? It’s beautiful, and it brings joy to folks who are visiting for the first time. It’s a good representation of what Canada has to offer. Robert Dutt: Now, with Vancouver 2010, there was the strategy leading up to it to position the team well for that. Was there a similar long-term strategy behind getting Cisco Canada to have that great year, with Partner Summit coming here? I ask entirely in jest. Erin Gertner: And own the podium! That was great. I think we just had a great opportunity this year in Cisco Canada, and being able to show off our success here is an even bigger blessing. I think we’re always intentional around our success, and we’ve been asked to replicate it year on year. If you hear everybody talk about the notion of durable growth, Raj talks a lot about that, and growth on growth. We’re proud of the year we had, and I think we wish we had this year again next year so we can demonstrate another growth-on-growth year. But we’ll be in luck even if we’re doing this in Vegas. Robert Dutt: Yes, even if we’re doing it in Vegas. We’ve heard a lot this week about the vision around the next generation of the ecosystem, particularly around AI, security, and services. When you look at the announcements through a Canadian lens, what stands out as particularly important? What do you see as the biggest opportunities for Canadian partners in this moment, especially the stuff that’s been talked about here this week? Erin Gertner: I think that Ecosystem Deal Registration that was announced this week is particularly interesting for our Canadian partners. Raj and I were actually talking about this on the way here. That’s something Splunk has always done very well, and it was something that I don’t think Cisco had completely figured out. But we know as the world evolves, we’re seeing different types of partners spending time advising our customers, helping them figure out how to build AI, how to build out a secure network, and how to drive digital transformation. And the fact that we can have multiple partners in an opportunity delivering value to a customer, and each of those partners be rewarded in some capacity, I think that’s a really exciting opportunity. The other feedback we’ve gotten from partners over the last few days has been around Cisco IQ.

    Cisco Canada leadership on the partner opportunities ahead for Splunk, Cisco IQ, and Cisco 360

  8. 5d ago

    The Buzz: Cisco details November price increases, ThinkOn expands sovereign cloud opportunity, Digitate advances AI operations

    Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Cisco says November price increases will be smallest of recent rounds Cisco is preparing another round of price increases effective November 7, but the company says the adjustments will be more selective than previous increases. CRN reported October 24 that Cisco plans mid-single-digit increases on affected networking and security software, along with adjustments to selected hardware. Speaking at Cisco Partner Summit in Vancouver, Cisco CFO Mark Patterson said rising costs for memory, printed circuit boards, power supplies and logistics continue to pressure the company. However, he emphasized that many products will see no increase at all. Patterson said the November adjustment will be Cisco’s smallest recent price increase when measured across its global price list. Cisco is also pursuing more than 30 memory-efficiency initiatives, including engineering changes that have reduced memory requirements by approximately 50 percent in one of its Wi-Fi 7 products. For partners, the immediate consideration is reviewing affected products and outstanding quotes before the November 7 effective date. Read CRN’s original reporting on Cisco’s November 7 price increases. ThinkOn and Preservica expand Canadian sovereign cloud opportunity Canadian cloud provider ThinkOn has partnered with Preservica to help government organizations preserve permanent digital records while keeping them under Canadian jurisdiction. The offering combines ThinkOn’s Canadian cloud infrastructure with Preservica’s digital preservation technology, targeting long-term records management, accessibility and compliance. ThinkOn plans to bring the solution to market through its network of more than 200 channel partners. For solution providers serving Canadian government customers, the partnership creates an opportunity to expand existing cloud and infrastructure relationships into digital preservation and information governance services. Read ThinkOn’s October 27 announcement of its partnership with Preservica. Digitate adds autonomous agents to IT operations platform Digitate announced ignio Hummingbird on October 28, introducing additional agentic AI capabilities designed to move enterprise IT operations beyond detecting problems and recommending fixes. The new release targets workflows including service desk operations, incident management and patch planning, with AI agents intended to execute approved tasks under defined governance controls. The announcement reflects the broader shift toward autonomous IT operations, with potential implications for service delivery, operational efficiency and the economics of managed services. For MSPs, the important question is how these capabilities can be incorporated into services while maintaining appropriate oversight and accountability. Read Digitate’s ignio Hummingbird announcement. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. I’m Robert Dutt. Today is Thursday, October 29, 2026. We’re looking at three developments for the Canadian IT channel: Cisco’s upcoming price increases, a Canadian cloud partnership focused on data sovereignty, and new AI agents designed to automate enterprise IT operations. First, Cisco is preparing another round of price increases, effective November seventh. CRN first reported the changes last week, including mid-single-digit increases on affected networking and security software, along with selected hardware. But during Cisco Partner Summit in Vancouver this week, the company offered some additional perspective on how those increases will affect its overall portfolio. Cisco chief financial officer Mark Patterson discussed the changes during a session with Tim Coogan, the company’s senior vice president of global partner sales. Patterson said Cisco continues to face increasing costs for memory, printed circuit boards, power supplies and logistics. With demand for AI infrastructure putting additional pressure on supply chains, those costs are becoming more difficult to avoid. But he emphasized that raising prices is a last resort, and that Cisco is taking steps to limit the impact. Those efforts include more than thirty initiatives aimed at improving memory efficiency. Patterson pointed to one example involving Cisco’s Wi-Fi 7 products, where engineering work has reduced memory requirements by approximately fifty percent. And when Cisco does increase prices, Patterson said it’s trying to be selective rather than applying the same adjustment across its entire portfolio. Some products will see mid-single-digit increases, but many others won’t see an increase at all. In fact, Patterson said that when Cisco measures the November seventh adjustment against its overall global price list, it will be the smallest of the company’s recent rounds of price increases. That’s an important distinction for partners. The increase on an individual product isn’t necessarily representative of the change across Cisco’s entire portfolio. It also means partners need to understand which products are affected, particularly where they have customer quotes or projects already in progress. And coming out of a Partner Summit where Cisco spent considerable time discussing partner profitability, it’s an interesting reminder that improving the economics of the channel involves more than incentives and rebates. Partners also have to manage the costs of the products and services they’re delivering. Next, Canadian cloud provider ThinkOn has announced a partnership with Preservica focused on digital preservation and data sovereignty for Canadian government organizations. The partnership combines ThinkOn’s Canadian cloud infrastructure with Preservica’s technology for preserving permanent digital records. The companies say the offering will help government organizations manage long-term records preservation, maintain access to important information, and keep that data under Canadian jurisdiction. And there’s a direct channel component to the announcement. ThinkOn plans to bring the solution to market through its network of more than two hundred channel partners. For partners already working with government customers, that creates an opportunity to extend existing infrastructure and cloud relationships into information governance and digital preservation. It also gives those partners another way to address data sovereignty requirements, which continue to be an important consideration for Canadian public-sector organizations. The opportunity here isn’t necessarily just selling another cloud service. It’s helping customers manage information that may need to remain accessible, trustworthy and under their control for decades. Our third story is another example of how agentic AI is moving from assisting IT teams toward taking a more active role in their operations. Digitate has introduced ignio Hummingbird, an update to its AI operations platform that adds new capabilities for autonomous action. The company is targeting workflows including service desk operations, incident management and patch planning. The idea is to move beyond identifying problems and recommending what someone should do about them, toward AI agents that can execute approved tasks within defined governance controls. It’s a direction we’re seeing from a growing number of enterprise technology vendors, and it has some potentially significant implications for managed service providers. Routine operational work has traditionally been an important part of managed services delivery. As more of that work becomes automated, providers will need to consider how they differentiate their services and demonstrate their value. And there’s also the question of oversight. Giving AI agents the ability to act on enterprise systems creates opportunities for efficiency, but it also makes governance, accountability and security particularly important. Those are questions service providers will increasingly have to address as they build AI into their own operations and the services they deliver to customers. Later today on In The Channel, we’re continuing our conversations from Cisco Partner Summit with Raj Juneja and Erin Gertner, Cisco Canada’s president and channel chief respectively, looking at Cisco’s evolving partner strategy and the opportunities it creates. And if you haven’t heard it yet, yesterday’s episode featured Cisco’s Andrew Sage discussing how agentic AI is transforming technology distribution, including the work Cisco is doing with Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX. You’ll find that interview, along with links to today’s announcements, at ChannelBuzz.ca. That’s how wer’re seeing the headlines. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca. Thanks for listening. Have a great day.

    The Buzz: Cisco details November price increases, ThinkOn expands sovereign cloud opportunity, Digitate advances AI operations
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Cutting through the noise for Canadian VARs and MSPs

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