The content team at the MSP Summit site tracks stories of interest to the managed services provider community. Anyone selling managed services or partnering with MSPs will want to know about these developing stories or catch up on ones they have missed. With the help of ChatGPT, Claude and AI tools our parent Informa has developed, we're tracking top stories based on web traffic, mentions, impressions, reposts, and social media engagement. All links are current as of Nov. 3.
Azure Outage Takes Down Microsoft Services, Customer Websites
A technical issue in Microsoft Corp.’s Azure cloud platform disrupted several online services operated by the tech giant and its customers, just a few days after an AWS outage wreaked havoc across the internet. Starbucks, Costco Wholesale and Capital One Financial were among the affected Microsoft customers. The outage was caused by an error in Azure Front Door, Microsoft’s content delivery network. Read the SiliconAngle story.
Welcome to Channel Dive
Channel Dive, Informa TechTarget’s new channel publication has replaced Channel Futures. Channel Dive’s mission is to deliver daily news and analysis for executives at North American channel partners — the diverse ecosystem of companies that resell, deliver and add value to technology products and services. Read the Channel Dive story.
Channel Partner Rationalization Underway as Vendors Copy VMware, Microsoft
Channel partners that previously bought direct from vendors are now being told to work through IT distributors instead as part of a new wave of partner rationalization. This consolidation is a domino effect spreading through the channel, analysts and partners said at Canalys Forum Americas last week. Partner rationalization is a term for a vendor canceling its agreements with resellers and instructing them to work underneath a larger reseller or distributor. VMware by Broadcom leaned heavily into rationalization earlier this year, removing its lowest partner tier and significantly trimming the rolls of its cloud services provider program. Read the Channel Dive story.
Ingram Micro Adds Agentic AI Capabilities Using Gemini LLMs
Ingram Micro launched the first enterprise-grade AI Agent built within its patented Ingram Micro Xvantage AI Factory, using Google’s Gemini large language models. This new agent, known as the Sales Briefing Assistant, marks the company’s first production release of an AI Agent built using Gemini models. The AI-powered digital sales companion is built to synthesize real-time, context-aware market insights, sales signals and recommendations into a single brief for Ingram Micro’s sales teams. Read the press release.
MSSPs vie with disaster recovery specialists for cyber dollars
As businesses invest more in cyber recovery as part of their larger security strategy, they’re being pulled in two directions. Traditional MSSPs have a lock on threat detection, incident response and regulatory compliance, while disaster-recovery specialist firms prepare clients for an attack’s aftermath. Organizations need both services — and may need both partners. Read the Channel Dive story.
How to Avoid Common AI Pitfall
According to research from Omdia, a division of Informa TechTarget, 91% of organizations said they are making or planning to make significant infrastructure investments to support new AI initiatives. AI's potential has never been in doubt. Finding success, however, can be elusive. An analysis conducted by MIT and published in its "State of AI in Business 2025" report found that 95% of respondents said their organizations are getting zero return from their AI investments. This story provides three questions that can help avoid AI failure. Read the story on TechTarget.