Channel Brief: Credit Increases, New Hires, AI

After yesterday's flurry of news, we'll try to keep it short and sweet (dare I say 'brief?') today. Here are 5 things to pay attention to in today's channel market, including credit line increases from D&H, new executive hires at Slalom and Cayosoft and an ITSM maturity model from SolarWinds.

Don't forget to check out our industry Mergers and Acquisitions list, updated daily, with a data archive that stretches all the way back to 2020. Check out the whole thing here. Scroll down for a quick view of upcoming in-person channel and MSP events at the bottom of this post (while we spiff up our industry calendar behind the scenes. It will return!)

And please send your news tips, information, and industry chatter to editorial director [email protected].

A. Today’s Tech, Channel, and MSP News

1. D&H Credit Increase: D&H just rolled out its latest round of credit line extensions to more than 600 SMB VARs and MSPs to help boost their purchasing power. The lines are being increased by an average of 50%. These increases bring the total amount of credit extensions offered throughout D&H’s FY24 to $400 million—the largest annual credit extension in D&H’s history. D&H said the increases are necessary in inflationary times when customers are tightening their belts.

2. Beefing up the Leadership Bench: Cayosoft is beefing up its leadership bench with a slate of high-profile hires and advisory board appointments, including Larry Kraft, Cayosoft's new senior vice president of global partnerships. Kraft brings over 25 years of partner and corporate development experience in high-tech firms, leading the global partnering efforts for companies such as CloudBolt Software, StealthBits (now part of Netwrix), SecureAuth, Exact Software, Quest Software and Sterling Commerce (now part of IBM). Kraft has been recognized multiple times as an industry leading channel chief and has proven success building and executing go-to-market partner strategies with the full spectrum of partner types, including: Technology alliance partners, global system integrators, managed service providers, cloud service providers, value-added resellers and distributors, and delivery/implementation-focused partners.

3. Slalom's New CISO: Slalom, the global business and technology consulting company, announced Christopher Burger will serve as the company’s first chief information security officer. In addition to overseeing Slalom’s security team, Burger will engage the company’s experts and elevate its global security and risk services to help customers improve their security posture and performance. Burger is known as an expert in the cybersecurity industry and has led teams and deployed secure solutions for companies including Washington Mutual, Corbis, Clearwire, and Russell Investments.

4. SolarWinds ITSM Maturity Model: SolarWinds today released a new approach to IT service management consulting with the launch of the ITSM Maturity Model, a free online evaluation and assessment tool. The ITSM Maturity Model enables enterprises to understand and advance the readiness of their IT services to tackle emerging challenges and resolve issues—without the high costs and complex processes associated with traditional IT consultancy.

5. SentinelOne and Smarttech247 MDR: SentinelOne and Smarttech247 are teaming up to deliver AI-backed MDR solutions to the mid-market. Here’s the gist: Smarttech247 is building a new MDR offering by integrating its VisionX MDR platform with the SentinelOne Singularity™ Platform. With SentinelOne as the foundation and driven by PurpleAI, Smarttech247 will provide threat detection, analysis, and response capabilities. 

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events