Channel catch-up: News in brief

Kaseya

The managed service specialist has released its 2026 State of the MSP report, with the headline finding that AI has become both a tool for the channel as well as their customers. Demand for managed services is continuing but growth is harder to achieve, with the bulk of those quizzed in the report indicating that gaining fresh customers was a challenge. Deal sizes are also declining, which is making life harder.

“The MSP market is maturing, and rising competition is forcing providers to rethink how they grow,” said Dan Tomaszewski, executive vice-president of channel at Kaseya. “The strongest MSPs are tightening their operations, prioritising efficiency and using data to clearly prove their value to customers.”

Azul

The enterprise Java player shared an update on the progress it has been making on the channel front in FY26, with 50% of business going through channel and alliance partners using Azul’s PartnerConnect programme.

“FY26 was a defining year for Azul as enterprises increasingly relied on our platform to run Java with greater performance, predictability and cost control in complex, cloud-first environments,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO of Azul.

“Our momentum reflects strong customer adoption, rapid innovation across our product portfolio and exceptional execution in our go-to-market strategy that positions Azul for continued strong growth and leadership as global enterprises demand best-in-class Java solutions.” 

PFU

The Ricoh company and document imaging specialist has launched its PaperStream Solution Partner Programme across EMEA. The offering will encourage partners to take bundled propositions, including scanning hardware, capture software and integrated workflow capabilities out to customers. The option will be available to partners already enrolled in PFUE’s Imaging Channel Programme (ICP).

Christophe Laurence, EMEA business development director PFU (EMEA), said: “Channel partners are under increasing pressure to protect margins and demonstrate value beyond hardware. The PaperStream solution partner programme gives them a clear framework to do exactly that – combining best-in-class scanning, powerful capture software and integrated workflow solutions into offerings that solve real business challenges. Crucially, it also supports partners in building more predictable, recurring revenue streams, while strengthening their role as trusted advisors to customers.” 

Gartner

The analyst house released its analysis of the Q1 global PC market, which revealed that worldwide PC shipments reached 62.8 million, which represented a 4% increase when compared to the same period last year.

“The 4% year-over-year PC shipment growth in the first quarter of 2026 was artificially inflated,” said Rishi Padhi, research principal at Gartner. “It was not due to genuine demand, but instead because of vendors’ and channel distributors’ increase of inventory levels ahead of expected price hikes in the second quarter of 2026 driven by rapidly rising memory price inflation (memflation), as well as Dram and Nand flash component costs. This is especially true for lower-margin products.”

10ZiG Technology

The thin client specialist has cut the ribbon on its Ready technology partner programme. The expanded offering has been designed to encourage more linking of solutions across the end user computing stack. Partners joining the programme get access to validated offerings that support a portfolio of services, including virtual desktop, security and monitoring tools.

“Customers are looking for solutions that work together without added integration effort,” said Tom Dodds, global strategic alliances manager at 10ZiG Technology. “The expansion of 10ZiG Ready reflects a practical approach to building an ecosystem where partners can align around common use cases, and customers can deploy with fewer variables and more predictable results.” 

Veeam Software

The vendor has shared the findings from its Data trust and resilience report 2026, which has identified a gap between how confident customers are around resilience and their ability to recover after an incident.

“Confidence in recovery from a ransomware attack is high, but the data tells a different story – and AI is only widening that gap,” said Anand Eswaran, CEO at Veeam. “Even the most sophisticated organisations are discovering that confidence in recovery and proof of recovery are fundamentally different capabilities.

“Data resilience is still the hard requirement: knowing what data you have, where it lives, who can access it and proving you can restore clean, trusted data fast when attackers – or operational failures – put the business under pressure.

“The infrastructure for deploying AI has rapidly outpaced the ability to secure it. Organisations need end-to-end capabilities to understand, secure, protect, govern and ensure their data is resilient at machine speed.” 

Medallia

The customer and employee experience player has launched a services partner programme to increase the support it can provide to those that work with the vendor. The tiered programme will provide a progressions roadmap to partners, as well as increased resources.

“Medallia’s partners are central to both our long-term growth strategy and the value we deliver to our customers every day,” said Sid Banerjee, chief strategy officer at Medallia. “With our enhanced leadership, expanded summit programmes, and the new services partner programme, we are strengthening our commitment to provide partners with the visibility, support and opportunities they need to thrive and continue driving strong business outcomes for our customers around the world.”