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ChannelBuzz.ca

ChannelBuzz.ca

A Tech News , News and Business podcast

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Cutting through the noise for Canadian VARs and MSPs

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How Huntress and Ingram Micro plan to grow the Canadian MSP security market

21 min

Kevin Hallmark, head of global distribution at Huntress Cybersecurity vendor Huntress is looking to expand its reach in the Canadian IT channel through a new distribution arrangement with Ingram Micro, bringing its managed security platform to a broader community of managed service providers and value-added resellers. The companies announced the Canadian expansion in October, extending an existing U.S. relationship that now covers Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. For Huntress, which has historically built its business through direct relationships with MSPs, distribution represents an opportunity to reach additional partners, including traditional VARs that may not operate managed services businesses. For Ingram Micro, the agreement adds another managed security offering to its Canadian portfolio, backed by the distributor’s technical resources, enablement capabilities, and established partner relationships. In this episode of In The Channel, Kevin Hallmark, head of global distribution at Huntress, and Alistair Edmondson, director of advanced solutions at Ingram Micro Canada, join ChannelBuzz.ca to discuss what the relationship means for Canadian partners. Hallmark explains that Huntress’s focus remains on making enterprise-grade security accessible to businesses that lack the resources to operate their own security operations centres. The company’s platform combines technology with a 24/7 security operations centre staffed by security professionals and supported by AI capabilities. While MSPs remain central to Huntress’s business, Hallmark says Ingram Micro also provides an important opportunity to reach VARs serving customers that maintain their own IT and security operations. He identifies organizations with approximately 50 to 2,500 seats as a particularly relevant target market, although Huntress also supports larger environments. Alistair Edmondson, director of advanced solutions at Ingram Micro Canada Edmondson, meanwhile, says Canadian partne...

The Buzz: N-able patches N-central zero-days, Huntress backs incident responders, and Microsoft names partner award winners

6 min

If you run N-central, today’s top story needs your attention: N-able has released an emergency hotfix after a researcher published working exploit code for dozens of flaws, and took its hosted service offline to respond. Meanwhile, Huntress is offering breached businesses 60 days of free protection through incident response firms, and Microsoft has named the winners and finalists of its 2026 Partner of the Year Awards. Those are the top stories in Thursday’s edition of The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. The Buzz is brought to you in part by Fortinet Canada. Fortinet XPERTS26 Canada runs November 22–27, offering Canadian partners hands-on technical training in cybersecurity. Learn more and register here. N-able patches N-central after researcher publishes exploit code for 33 flaws N-able has released an emergency hotfix for its N-central remote monitoring platform after an independent security researcher published proof-of-concept exploit code for 33 alleged vulnerabilities, forcing the company to take its hosted service offline. The researcher, Sean Bales, posted the code to GitHub late Sunday under the name Able2Shell. Huntress says the flaws can be combined into at least four exploit chains leading to remote code execution or privilege escalation, and BleepingComputer reports one demonstrated chain can create an administrator account with attacker-controlled credentials. N-able took its hosted N-central environments offline Monday and advised on-premises customers to do the same. On Tuesday it released N-central 2026.4 HF2 (build 2026.4.1.26), which Tenable notes fixes seven CVEs rated 8.3 to 9.3 under CVSS 4.0. N-able says hosted environments are upgraded and back online, and on-premises customers should apply the hotfix before restoring internet access. A follow-up hotfix is expected. N-able told Cybersecurity Dive it hasn’t seen active exploitation, though it is aware of scanning activity tied to the published code. The Hacker News reports watchTowr saw exploi...

Fortinet’s Robert May: Why cybersecurity partners need to think beyond individual technologies

29 min

Robert May, executive vice president of technology and product management at Fortinet Cybersecurity partners face a growing challenge: Customers increasingly need integrated solutions that bring networking, cloud, security operations, and other technologies together, but building the expertise to deliver those solutions takes time, resources, and careful choices about where to invest. For Robert May, executive vice president of technology and product management at Fortinet, the biggest skills gap isn’t necessarily expertise in individual security products. It’s understanding how those products work together to solve customers’ broader operational and business challenges. In this sponsored episode of In The Channel, May joins ChannelBuzz.ca to discuss how the technical demands on cybersecurity partners are evolving, where partners should focus their investments in skills, and how developing deeper expertise can open new business opportunities. A central theme of the conversation is the importance of building outward from existing strengths. Rather than attempting to become experts in every emerging technology, May suggests partners look first at their current customers, established capabilities, and the adjacent areas where they can deliver additional value. Fortinet’s Engage Partner Program provides a framework for developing those specializations. The discussion also explores the growing role of managed security services. As organizations struggle to find and retain specialized security talent, partners have opportunities to deliver more sophisticated capabilities, including by building services around security operations resources provided by vendors like Fortinet. May also offers a preview of XPERTS26 Canada, taking place in Montreal November 22–27. The event brings Fortinet’s technical partner community together for hands-on workshops covering secure networking, security operations, cloud, operational technology, and AI security. He explains how the event...

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How Huntress and Ingram Micro plan to grow the Canadian MSP security market

21 min

Kevin Hallmark, head of global distribution at Huntress Cybersecurity vendor Huntress is looking to expand its reach in the Canadian IT channel through a new distribution arrangement with Ingram Micro, bringing its managed security platform to a broader community of managed service providers and value-added resellers. The companies announced the Canadian expansion in October, extending an existing U.S. relationship that now covers Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. For Huntress, which has historically built its business through direct relationships with MSPs, distribution represents an opportunity to reach additional partners, including traditional VARs that may not operate managed services businesses. For Ingram Micro, the agreement adds another managed security offering to its Canadian portfolio, backed by the distributor’s technical resources, enablement capabilities, and established partner relationships. In this episode of In The Channel, Kevin Hallmark, head of global distribution at Huntress, and Alistair Edmondson, director of advanced solutions at Ingram Micro Canada, join ChannelBuzz.ca to discuss what the relationship means for Canadian partners. Hallmark explains that Huntress’s focus remains on making enterprise-grade security accessible to businesses that lack the resources to operate their own security operations centres. The company’s platform combines technology with a 24/7 security operations centre staffed by security professionals and supported by AI capabilities. While MSPs remain central to Huntress’s business, Hallmark says Ingram Micro also provides an important opportunity to reach VARs serving customers that maintain their own IT and security operations. He identifies organizations with approximately 50 to 2,500 seats as a particularly relevant target market, although Huntress also supports larger environments. Alistair Edmondson, director of advanced solutions at Ingram Micro Canada Edmondson, meanwhile, says Canadian partne...

The Buzz: N-able patches N-central zero-days, Huntress backs incident responders, and Microsoft names partner award winners

6 min

If you run N-central, today’s top story needs your attention: N-able has released an emergency hotfix after a researcher published working exploit code for dozens of flaws, and took its hosted service offline to respond. Meanwhile, Huntress is offering breached businesses 60 days of free protection through incident response firms, and Microsoft has named the winners and finalists of its 2026 Partner of the Year Awards. Those are the top stories in Thursday’s edition of The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. The Buzz is brought to you in part by Fortinet Canada. Fortinet XPERTS26 Canada runs November 22–27, offering Canadian partners hands-on technical training in cybersecurity. Learn more and register here. N-able patches N-central after researcher publishes exploit code for 33 flaws N-able has released an emergency hotfix for its N-central remote monitoring platform after an independent security researcher published proof-of-concept exploit code for 33 alleged vulnerabilities, forcing the company to take its hosted service offline. The researcher, Sean Bales, posted the code to GitHub late Sunday under the name Able2Shell. Huntress says the flaws can be combined into at least four exploit chains leading to remote code execution or privilege escalation, and BleepingComputer reports one demonstrated chain can create an administrator account with attacker-controlled credentials. N-able took its hosted N-central environments offline Monday and advised on-premises customers to do the same. On Tuesday it released N-central 2026.4 HF2 (build 2026.4.1.26), which Tenable notes fixes seven CVEs rated 8.3 to 9.3 under CVSS 4.0. N-able says hosted environments are upgraded and back online, and on-premises customers should apply the hotfix before restoring internet access. A follow-up hotfix is expected. N-able told Cybersecurity Dive it hasn’t seen active exploitation, though it is aware of scanning activity tied to the published code. The Hacker News reports watchTowr saw exploi...

Fortinet’s Robert May: Why cybersecurity partners need to think beyond individual technologies

29 min

Robert May, executive vice president of technology and product management at Fortinet Cybersecurity partners face a growing challenge: Customers increasingly need integrated solutions that bring networking, cloud, security operations, and other technologies together, but building the expertise to deliver those solutions takes time, resources, and careful choices about where to invest. For Robert May, executive vice president of technology and product management at Fortinet, the biggest skills gap isn’t necessarily expertise in individual security products. It’s understanding how those products work together to solve customers’ broader operational and business challenges. In this sponsored episode of In The Channel, May joins ChannelBuzz.ca to discuss how the technical demands on cybersecurity partners are evolving, where partners should focus their investments in skills, and how developing deeper expertise can open new business opportunities. A central theme of the conversation is the importance of building outward from existing strengths. Rather than attempting to become experts in every emerging technology, May suggests partners look first at their current customers, established capabilities, and the adjacent areas where they can deliver additional value. Fortinet’s Engage Partner Program provides a framework for developing those specializations. The discussion also explores the growing role of managed security services. As organizations struggle to find and retain specialized security talent, partners have opportunities to deliver more sophisticated capabilities, including by building services around security operations resources provided by vendors like Fortinet. May also offers a preview of XPERTS26 Canada, taking place in Montreal November 22–27. The event brings Fortinet’s technical partner community together for hands-on workshops covering secure networking, security operations, cloud, operational technology, and AI security. He explains how the event...

The Buzz: Canadian cyber readiness declines, Netskope names channel chief, and Flashpoint launches agentic AI

6 min

Only one in five Canadian organizations considers itself completely ready to manage a cyberattack, according to new research from Kyndryl. Meanwhile, Netskope has appointed an experienced global channel leader as it expands its partner ecosystem, and Flashpoint is introducing specialized AI agents to automate threat-intelligence workflows. Those are the top stories in Wednesday’s edition of The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. Kyndryl finds Canadian cyber readiness falling despite growing AI adoption New Canadian findings from Kyndryl’s 2026 Readiness Report reveal a widening gap between organizations’ ability to detect cyber threats and their confidence in managing an attack. According to the research, only 20% of Canadian respondents say their organizations are completely ready to manage cyberattacks, down from 36% in 2025. At the same time, 79% say AI helps their organizations identify threats faster than traditional approaches, and 78% consider AI essential to effective cybersecurity operations. The research also finds that 65% believe AI is increasing the sophistication and scale of cyber threats, while 52% say cybersecurity risks are growing faster than their ability to address them. Kyndryl reports that 80% of Canadian organizations are deploying AI beyond pilot projects, although nearly half say their current AI strategy emerged without deliberate planning. The findings highlight an important distinction between identifying an attack and being prepared to contain it, maintain critical operations and recover afterward. For Canadian solution providers and MSPs, the results point toward opportunities in cyber resilience, recovery planning, operational continuity and AI governance, alongside traditional detection and prevention services. Netskope appoints Carrie Francey to lead global channel sales Netskope has appointed Carrie Francey senior vice president of global channel sales, placing an experienced technology channel executive in charge of its worldwide...

Cisco Canada CTO: Cybersecurity’s biggest problem isn’t a lack of technology

28 min

Cherif Gress, vice president and chief technology officer for Cisco Canada Canadian businesses aren’t necessarily suffering from a shortage of cybersecurity technology. They may be suffering from an inability to use that technology effectively. That’s one of the central findings of Cisco’s Relentless Defense report, and a key theme of this episode of In The Channel, featuring Cherif Gress, vice president and chief technology officer for Cisco Canada. The research found that 92 per cent of Canadian organizations experienced a material, business-disrupting cybersecurity incident in the past year. Yet only 13 per cent can update security controls in real time or near real time when new risks emerge, while 56 per cent take longer than a day. And despite increased investment, many organizations aren’t seeing better outcomes. Nearly half of Canadian respondents reported increasing cybersecurity spending over the past two years without seeing a corresponding reduction in incidents. For Gress, the challenge is often organizational rather than technological. Security tools need to be supported by clear governance, coordinated teams and established response procedures that allow organizations to act quickly when threats emerge. That’s particularly relevant for managed service providers. Gress argues that MSPs’ close relationships with their customers position them to address these challenges, helping businesses understand security risks in operational and financial terms rather than simply selling and managing technology. The conversation explores how MSPs and customers should establish responsibilities and preauthorize incident-response actions, why buying managed security services doesn’t eliminate a customer’s own obligations, and how providers can demonstrate value beyond deploying additional products. It also examines the growing role of AI and automation, including the risk that organizations could accelerate threat detection while leaving response processes stu...

The Buzz: Huntress uncovers deeper backup-server compromise, Devolutions expands PAM, and GTIA sees security growth

7 min

Today’s headlines for Canadian IT solutions providers. Huntress finds deeper compromise of AhsayCBS backup servers Huntress has published new findings from its investigation into attacks against AhsayCBS backup management servers, revealing additional malware, persistence mechanisms and tools that could have enabled attackers to access sensitive backup infrastructure. The investigation builds on Huntress’s October reporting into exploitation of two AhsayCBS vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-105133 and CVE-2026-105134, which attackers chained together to bypass authentication and execute commands with SYSTEM privileges. The new research examines three compromised servers within a single organization, breached between October 8 and October 11. Investigators found five families of malicious webshells, including one capable of extracting encrypted code hidden within PNG image files and running it in memory. They also identified a second cryptocurrency miner, a Python-based implant designed to communicate with a command-and-control server, and various tunneling and remote-access tools. Perhaps most concerning for MSPs, Huntress also observed activity consistent with an attempt to retrieve credentials from a related Veeam backup environment. The company has not established that backup data was stolen, and the research should not be interpreted as confirmation of successful exfiltration. Ahsay has released hotfixes addressing the exploited entry point, including version 10.3.4.45 for version 10 installations and 9.15.2.70 for versions 7 through 9. However, Huntress warns that patching does not remove malicious software already installed on compromised servers. Organizations with potentially affected systems should investigate for indicators of compromise and consider rebuilding compromised hosts from trusted sources. The broader lesson for MSPs is that backup infrastructure itself can become a high-value attack target, particularly when it contains privileged access to ot...

D&H Canada sees double-digit growth as advanced solutions business accelerates

25 min

Peter DiMarco, general manager, D&H Canada D&H Canada is seeing double-digit growth in 2026, driven in part by significant momentum in advanced solutions, as the distributor continues to invest in the people and capabilities needed to support an expanding Canadian partner base. Speaking with ChannelBuzz.ca at the company’s THREAD conference in Toronto, Peter DiMarco, general manager of D&H Canada, said the company’s performance has exceeded expectations, with growth in some advanced solutions categories running between 40 and 60 per cent. The results follow a year of investment and expansion. When we spoke with DiMarco earlier this year, he argued that companies willing to invest through uncertain market conditions would emerge in a stronger position. The distributor has also seen strong uptake from solution providers looking to expand the scope of their business with D&H. DiMarco said 262 partners have begun purchasing advanced solutions through the distributor this year, making partner acquisition one of the company’s biggest areas of progress. But growth isn’t the only issue on partners’ minds. Rob Brown, vice president of sales, D&H Canada Rob Brown, vice president of sales at D&H, said rising technology prices and supply chain pressures have become dominant concerns for Canadian resellers, many of whose customers are trying to stretch budgets that haven’t increased alongside hardware costs. For D&H, that has created opportunities to provide additional support, including inventory reservation programs that allow partners to purchase and hold products at current prices for future deployment. At the same time, D&H is expanding its focus on helping smaller solution providers pursue more sophisticated opportunities in infrastructure, cloud and AI, without requiring them to build all of those capabilities internally from the outset. DiMarco said the company has invested in additional sales resources and greater partner segmentation to maintain its high-touch...

The Buzz: Auvik automates network operations, Kyndryl expands AWS modernization, and Fortinet secures distributed AI

6 min

Today’s headlines for Canadian IT solution providers. The Buzz: Auvik automates network operations, Kyndryl expands AWS modernization, and Fortinet secures distributed AI Auvik is extending its network management platform with new automation and vulnerability-monitoring capabilities. Meanwhile, Kyndryl is expanding its modernization work with AWS using agentic AI, and Fortinet and Equinix have validated a new approach to securing distributed enterprise AI environments. Those are the top stories in Monday’s edition of The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca. Auvik brings automation and vulnerability monitoring to network operations Waterloo, Ontario-based Auvik has announced the general availability of its Automation Framework and CVE Monitoring Agent, extending its network management capabilities from identifying and troubleshooting problems toward helping IT teams take action. The Automation Framework enables technicians to define and execute jobs across groups of network devices. Administrators can select devices, specify commands and run jobs immediately or on a schedule, reducing the need to make repetitive configuration changes individually. The CVE Monitoring Agent addresses a different operational challenge: determining which network devices may be affected by published vulnerabilities. It automatically matches vulnerability information from sources including the National Vulnerability Database and vendor advisories against devices discovered in customer environments. Both capabilities became generally available November 1. The announcement builds on Auvik’s earlier AI agents for troubleshooting, alert management and command assistance. The company describes the additions as part of its longer-term vision for autonomous IT, with technicians retaining control over automated operations. For MSPs managing large numbers of customer devices, the potential benefit is reduced manual work, more consistent network operations and faster identification of security exposure...

The Buzz: D&H Canada reports strong growth, federal budget backs innovation, and Huntress expands security platform

8 min

Today’s headlines for Canadian IT solution providers. D&H Canada reports 47% growth, expands advanced solutions strategy D&H Canada says its business has grown 47% over the past two years, as the distributor looks to help partners build broader solutions around the hardware they sell. Speaking at the company’s THREAD Technology Roadshow in the Toronto area Thursday, D&H Canada general manager Peter DiMarco highlighted strong performance across its Canadian business, particularly in advanced solutions. That business is up 49% in revenue year to date, including 150% growth in servers and storage and 86% growth in networking. D&H also reported adding 262 advanced solutions customers. Perhaps the most significant indication of the distributor’s evolving business is the change in its revenue mix. Advanced solutions now account for 28% of D&H’s business, compared with just 5% in 2019. D&H’s PartnerFi community has also expanded from nine members to 50, as the distributor continues investing in partner engagement, technical expertise and Canadian operations. But beyond the growth figures, the central theme of the event was the increasing complexity of technology opportunities. Colin Blair, D&H’s vice president of cybersecurity and emerging technologies, argued that AI is bringing compute, data, networking, security and infrastructure decisions closer together. As a result, partners have opportunities to deliver more complete solutions rather than focus solely on individual products. D&H is developing practices around VMware alternatives, power and cooling, data resilience and AI, providing partners with additional expertise to pursue opportunities they might not be equipped to address independently. On a vendor panel featuring HP Canada, Dell Canada and Lenovo Canada, executives also discussed continuing pricing uncertainty. HP Canada’s April Marshall advised partners to prepare for volatility through 2027 and potentially beyond, emphasizing flexible agreements an...

Nutanix wants partners to make more money beyond the infrastructure sale

38 min

Christian Goffi, Nutanix‘s channel chief for the Americas Nutanix is rolling out significant changes to its Elevate Partner Program today, with new incentives designed to encourage partners to look beyond the initial infrastructure sale and build more profitable businesses around the entire customer lifecycle. The company describes the changes as its largest investment in Elevate to date, introducing new rewards for cross-selling additional Nutanix technologies, improving customer renewals, and developing services capabilities. It’s also formally expanding the program to include systems integrators and consulting partners, recognizing that the partners influencing customer decisions aren’t necessarily the same ones transacting the deals. For Christian Goffi, Nutanix’s channel chief for the Americas, the changes reflect both the company’s evolution and a broader transformation in what customers need from their technology partners. Nutanix has moved well beyond its hyperconverged infrastructure roots, with a growing emphasis on hybrid multicloud, Kubernetes, and AI. At the same time, its expanding relationships with vendors including Cisco, Dell, NetApp, and Everpure are creating opportunities for partners to deliver more complex, integrated solutions. That requires a different set of partner capabilities, Goffi told In the Channel in an interview recorded ahead of today’s announcement. Rather than focusing primarily on landing new customers, Nutanix wants partners to remain engaged after the sale, helping customers adopt its technologies, expand their deployments, and ultimately get more value from their investments. And the company is putting new incentives behind that strategy. Among the changes is a new earned business development fund for Premier partners, providing the equivalent of one per cent of total contract value on qualifying software sales. Goffi emphasized that this funding is incremental to existing incentives, rather than money shifted from els...

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

29 min

AI is creating new opportunities for solution providers, but it's also changing customer spending priorities, security requirements, and the economics of services. CDW Canada's Glenn Kaul joins In the Channel from Cisco Partner Summit 2026 to discuss what those changes mean for Canadian partners.

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