Cloud
According to the latest Gartner forecast, as enterprise demand for AI workload computing surges and data sovereignty regulations become increasingly stringent, Neocloud providers will capture a 20% share of the $267 billion AI cloud market by 2030. AWS, Microsoft, and Google still dominate the overall cloud market, but Neocloud is emerging as a significant alternative with its specialized AI infrastructure and flexible deployment models.
Cloudflare announced the launch of the Cloudflare One Design partner certification program, offering technical training, financial support, and a library of SASE deployment blueprints to a select group of channel partners. Arctiq, Presidio, and three other companies are among the first beneficiaries. The company's Chief Partner Officer called this 'the deepest channel co-investment to date.' The program was introduced one month after Cloudflare announced a 20% workforce reduction, aiming to fill sales and service gaps through partners and align with the trend of customers needing strategic guidance and implementation support for complex transformation projects.
GTS recently partnered with NinjaOne, a professional services automation platform, allowing sales partners to resell products under their own billing. CEO Mark Stackpoole stated that this move aims to provide MSPs with multiple leverage options, drawing lessons from previous cloud marketplace collaborations where partners were lost due to the lack of such a model. GTS also reminds MSPs to carefully evaluate security service costs to avoid losing customers due to excessive billing increases.
Cloud adoption acceleration parallels active attackers, and MSPs' security visibility gaps in customer cloud environments are widening. This article analyzes the core challenges MSPs face—tool fragmentation, configuration drift, shadow IT, and identity threats—and proposes the necessity of continuous monitoring and unified platforms (such as WatchGuard CloudDR).
At its annual Beyond conference, Pax8 announced the integration of token tracking into its MSP operations platform and a partnership with Microsoft to launch a Copilot multi-tenant dashboard, aimed at helping managed service providers (MSPs) solve the pain point of usage-based billing for AI agents. The company also introduced the Managed Intelligence Provider and Managed Intelligence Services programs, expanded its agent marketplace, and added a new strategic operations layer. Industry analysts noted that Pax8 is providing a structured path for MSPs to enter the agentic AI market, but execution complexity is high, and MSPs face competitive threats from AI-native service providers.
Customer experience and cloud contact center vendor Nice is accelerating its partnerships with global system integrators (GSIs). Its new Chief Partner Officer, Dorothy Copeland, stated that the company offers flexibility and clear partnership rules that other vendors do not provide. Over the past year, Nice's annual contract value (ACV) related to GSIs grew 3.6 times, with GSI share of ACV rising from 4% to 14%. Capgemini recently signed a $679 million contract with a major UK institution to implement the Nice CXone platform. Meanwhile, Nice is addressing an industry trend where point solution vendors deploy forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) to customer sites, encroaching on partner business opportunities.
Opex Technologies acquires Intellys Corporation, strengthening its Dallas market position and technical capabilities. This transaction marks Opex's first major acquisition following the investment from Bregal Sagemount, and will integrate both companies' consulting businesses in cloud, communications, customer experience, and connectivity.
Thrive's new CFO Matt Kosovsky recently sat down with CFO.com, discussing how his nearly decade-long experience at employee-owned private equity firm Berkshire Partners shaped his leadership style, as well as Thrive's positioning in the fragmented IT market. He highlighted the intensifying competition in the private equity industry, the complexity of integrating cybersecurity and AI, and offered career advice for young finance professionals.
IBM and Google Cloud announced a strategic partnership on Thursday to integrate IBM's Consulting Advantage platform with Google's Gemini enterprise agent platform and establish a Google Cloud business unit staffed with thousands of certified consultants. The collaboration aims to help clients modernize legacy systems, manage hybrid cloud infrastructure, and drive AI adoption, representing an estimated multi-billion-dollar market opportunity.
Enterprise content management platform Hyland announced an upgrade to its global partner network to align with the launch of its agentic AI product line. The new program unifies channel frameworks and terminology and introduces incentive systems based on deal registration and customer acquisition, aiming to shift partners from mere sales channels to deep collaborative roles. Hyland also announced the latest collaboration progress with AWS, Microsoft, and SAP, further expanding its AI-driven enterprise content management ecosystem.