COVID’s impact on the Channel in Canada: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A study commissioned by Intel specifically in Canada found that most channel partners have suffered from the pandemic. There was a fair amount of optimism for the year ahead however, although many partners said they need help to realize emerging opportunities in the cloud, IoT and AI.

Channel program enhancements highlight news at Fortinet Accelerate

Fortinet’s big product news, the launch of FortOS 7.0, actually took place a month ago, although its importance meant it was strongly emphasized at the event, but their channel announcements, including new specializations and the expansion of consumption-based billing to new products, were new.

Ottawa-connected Algoblu looks to reshape telco business with Network Element Virtualization Platform

Algoblu uses some novel hardware-centric technology to virtualize the network, enabling telcos to pool network resources and splice them into separate SLA levels that allow more customized service levels. They are just starting to build out their North American channel, which in China consists of telcos, MSPs and CSPs.

iXsystems unveils novel partner program that provides ready-to-close fulfilment leads in return for the partner closing deals

iXsystems’ open source storage model both facilitates the economics of the new program, and brings in leads that their internal people nurture until they are ready to close, then pass them on to partners who have brought in a deal of equivalent value.