data centre

Channel Programs

Cisco 360, three months in: Canadian partners are responding better than expected

April 24, 2026 Robert Dutt 0
Cisco Canada’s VP of Partner Organization and SMB Sales takes stock of the first quarter of the new Cisco 360 Partner Program – including the partner feedback that caught her off guard, what “Preferred” means now that Gold is gone, and why Canadian partners should start building their adopt-and-renew practices before the incentive structure forces them to.

In The Channel

The evolution of an MSP: WBM’s 75-year journey and the “curse” of the entrepreneur

April 14, 2026 Robert Dutt Comments Off on The evolution of an MSP: WBM’s 75-year journey and the “curse” of the entrepreneur
WBM Technologies president JoeAnne Hardy discusses the company’s transition from a 1950s typewriter shop to a leading Canadian MSP. She opens up about the “curse” of the entrepreneur, the deliberate pivot that aligned business growth with personal well-being, and why knowing your non-negotiables is the key to navigating private equity and growth capital.

Identity

Okta’s Canadian bet: Data cell, 600 employees, and a plan to triple the business

April 6, 2026 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Okta’s Canadian bet: Data cell, 600 employees, and a plan to triple the business
Okta is running over 80 percent of Canadian revenue through partners and betting big on regulated verticals with a new Montreal-based data cell. Country manager Ryan Sydor talks about what that investment looks like and where it’s headed.

In Case You Missed It

ICYMI: Sherweb goes global, Broadcom’s VMware reckoning arrives, and the commercial refresh just got more expensive

March 30, 2026 Robert Dutt Comments Off on ICYMI: Sherweb goes global, Broadcom’s VMware reckoning arrives, and the commercial refresh just got more expensive
This week’s In Case You Missed It: Sherweb secures its first outside investment in 28 years and expands into the UK. Broadcom faces an EU antitrust complaint as the VCSP deadline hits. Intel and AMD both signal price hikes squeezing the commercial PC refresh. And converging data from Auvik and OpenText reveals how far AI adoption has outrun AI governance.

Data Centre

Why hyperconverged won’t slow down in 2019: Dell EMC

February 22, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Why hyperconverged won’t slow down in 2019: Dell EMC
Chad Dunn, who runs HCI product management at Dell EMC, thinks the stars are aligned for hyperconverged to continue its breakneck growth rates this year

Data Centre

Pivot3 creates new U.S. sales head position to expand leadership team

February 12, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Pivot3 creates new U.S. sales head position to expand leadership team
While undergoing the hiring process for a new head of sales that landed Rance Poehler, Pivot3 found they also liked the skillset of Dan Flood, so they made an additional hire, and created the position of VP of U.S. sales for him, as part of a more aggressive strategy to expand in the enterprise.

Ed Galasso, general manager of Tech Data Canada
Distribution

New Year’s Podcast Series: Ed Galasso of Tech Data Canada

January 24, 2019 Robert Dutt Comments Off on New Year’s Podcast Series: Ed Galasso of Tech Data Canada
Tech Data Canada boss Ed Galasso joins the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast to discuss the distributor’s highlights of the year 2018 and offer his thoughts for what’s to come in 2019.

Backup

Commvault, Cisco extend partnership with integration around Cisco HyperFlex HCI systems

January 16, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Commvault, Cisco extend partnership with integration around Cisco HyperFlex HCI systems
The new integration extends ScaleProtect with Cisco UCS to Cisco’s HyperFlex hyperconverged products, and validates Commvault’s IntelliSnap snapshot technology with them.

Networking

Lenovo adds open source networking portfolio through new partnership with Cumulus Networks

December 12, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Lenovo adds open source networking portfolio through new partnership with Cumulus Networks
Lenovo is the last major infrastructure vendor to join the roster of Cumulus partners. They will offer three ThinkSystem RackSwitch models with support for Cumulus Linux out of the gate, with more coming in 2019.

Artificial Intelligence

HCI vendor Maxta deepens analytics capabilities with new MxIQ analytics-insight platform

November 6, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on HCI vendor Maxta deepens analytics capabilities with new MxIQ analytics-insight platform
Maxta provided analytics previously, but it was limited to data on an individual cluster, MxIQ broadens this to add metrics from additional clusters and additional data, to provide a greater degree of visibility and insight.