Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.
ITWC webinar to explore how best to build successful channel in Canada
Canada can provide many avenues for success for those in the channel, assuming of course, the right steps are followed.
According to Mark Collins, the president of the Canadian Channel Chiefs Council (C4) and the CEO of consultancy Form2Factor, “there is the long standing impression that Canada is, on the one hand, a great place to innovate – there is public sector support for it, we have a great education system. We have good ingredients in terms of a willing public sector – a government that wants to innovate — and we have an excellent education system.”
Those, he says, are all positives, However, one thing that has not changed is that “Canada is still a massively distributed country, it is huge, with somewhere between nine and 11 large cities, and then many, many, many small communities.
In Canada, says Collins, “you really need to understand the art of small medium business (SMBs), or you are going to be missing 60 per cent of the opportunities. And it starts there.”
On Feb. 28 at 1 p.m., he and Jim Love, chief information officer (CIO) and chief content officer for IT World Canada will host a webinar that will examine what it takes to build a successful channel. Topics covered will include what makes Canada unique, what fails and what succeeds here, how to build, find, recruit, and support channel partners and last, but not least, recipes for success in the Canadian market.
To register, click here.
SolarWinds adds AI to its observability products
SolarWinds, a provider of observability and IT management software, has announced enhancements to its SaaS-based and self-hosted, on-premises observability products built to monitor and observe complex, distributed environments from anywhere.
The AI-powered enhancements, it said in a release, “enable teams to manage on-prem, hybrid, or cloud-native ecosystems with full-stack visibility across networks, infrastructure, databases, applications, user experiences, and security through a unified, integrated solution available either on-premises or in the cloud.”
The new capabilities include further enhancements to the company’s network and infrastructure Observability platform to offer complete hybrid visibility across on-premises and cloud networks.
This includes on-premises and cloud network devices, virtual machines, hypervisors, containers, Kubernetes, and infrastructure-as-a-service resources. SolarWinds also extends its database observability capabilities by adding query explorer and visual explain plans.
Additionally, the release said, AIOps-enabled pattern recognition and anomaly detection provide insights into correlated alerts and events to accelerate root cause analysis, allowing IT teams to be more productive as an organization scales.
The enhancements will be unveiled during an upcoming SolarWinds Day virtual event on Feb. 28 at 11:00 a.m. ET/10:00 a.m. CT. To attend, register here.
SonicWall honours its partners, distributors with annual awards
SonicWall today acknowledged its “distinguished” partners and distributors with its annual SonicWall Partner Awards, which recognize organizations worldwide that it said “have displayed uncommon excellence on delivering cybersecurity solutions to their customers.”
Partners were nominated in various categories in each region for outstanding performance throughout the past year. For each category of the Partner Awards, SonicWall selected one partner per region from a large pool of nominees who demonstrated consistent excellence over the past year.
“These partners have delivered tremendous performance, comprehensive expertise and unsurpassed service,” the company said.
For a list of all the winners, visit this link.
Are you one of Canada’s Top 100 solution providers
With 2023 now in the rearview mirror, it’s time to take a quick look back and determine how you rank within Canada’s solution provider field. Here at Channel Daily News, we have begun accepting online submissions for the annual rankings, which will be unveiled on Thursday, April 18.
The Top 100 list celebrates Canadian success based on total 2023 gross revenue from ICT goods and services sold and purchased by organizations located in Canada.
To get in the running for this year’s honour roll, all you need to do is complete a 10-minute survey. In addition to helping us determine the final rankings, this survey will be used to create our annual benchmark report, which is a uniquely valuable resource for understanding the state of Canada’s IT Channel.
You worked hard last year – get the recognition you deserve! The deadline to make your submission is March 1, 2024.
Dell enhances its partner program with 3 new competencies
Dell announced this week that its 2024 Dell Technologies Partner Program is “investing in key growth areas aligned with customer priorities” by launching three new competencies: Data Science & AI Competency, Edge Solutions Competency and Sustainability & ESG Competency.
In announcing the program expansion, Denise Millard, senior vice president, global alliances and industries, partner strategy and programs at Dell, said, “this year GenAI will move from proof of concept to proof of productivity and is forecasted to be a US$158.6B opportunity for the channel ecosystem by 2028. GenAI is driven by data generated at the edge and hosted in the cloud. Partners that can demonstrate capability with AI, edge and multicloud solutions are the best positioned to capitalize on this market opportunity.”
She wrote in a blog that the Data Science & AI Competency and Edge Solutions Competency will validate partners’ expertise on Dell’s offerings.
The Sustainability & ESG Competency assists partners in addressing customer needs through sustainability training, enablement, tools, and resources, Millard said.
Cohesity and Veritas merger creates US$7 billion company
Cohesity, a company that specializes in AI-powered data security and management, and Veritas, a provider of secure multicloud data resilience offerings, today announced an agreement under which Cohesity intends to acquire Veritas’ data protection business.
Sanjay Poonen, former chief operating officer (COO) of VMware, will lead the combined organization as CEO and president, and Greg Hughes, chief executive officer (CEO) of Veritas, will serve as a board member and strategic advisor to Poonen after the close of the transaction.
The latter described the deal as a “win-win for our collective 10,000 customers and 3,000 partners.” Cohesity sells only through the channel.
While the value of the transaction was not announced by the two companies, a release stated the move “values the combined company at approximately US$7 billion.”
According to the release, the “combined company will continue to invest in and advance the roadmap and strategy of all Cohesity products and services, as well as Veritas NetBackup, NetBackup appliances, and Alta data protection offerings, while working towards the delivery of an integrated solution combining the best technology across the two companies.”
The two companies, said Hughes, “share a common vision of empowering businesses to protect their critical data assets in the face of evolving cyber threats and complex hybrid cloud environments.”
Nomination deadline extended for CDN Channel Innovation Awards
Each year, Channel Daily News celebrates the best in innovation from Canada’s IT channel. Do you know – or are you – a solution provider who pushed the envelope last year? We want to know what you/they did – and how it helped the client. Winning solutions will be celebrated at the Channel Innovation Awards on Thursday, April 18. Deadline for nominations has been extended until March 8.
You can submit nominations in any of the following categories – and yes, you can nominate yourself:
Data Analytics Master: Recognizing innovation in data or analytics offerings that solves a business problem/challenge or creates additional value for clients
Innovator(s) of the Year: Recognizing any initiative or a solution that has helped a partner or client succeed in an extraordinary fashion
Remote Work and Collaborative Workspaces Wunderkind: Recognizing innovative initiatives that increased collaboration, communication, and productivity in the workplace
Cybersecurity Ninja: Recognizing an innovation in the form of a new or enhanced security offering that results in increased cybersecurity protection for new and existing clients
AI Trailblazer: Recognizing innovation in employing artificial intelligence technologies to create or transform solutions to deliver significant business impact
C4 Award for Diversity and Inclusion: Recognizing an organization that has been working hard to meet challenges around diversity and inclusion
