7 Channel People of the Week at Broadcom, Sprinklr, Intelisys

A federal judge sentencd Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a Ukraine-based malicious hacker, to 13 years and seven months in priso. He als must pay more than $16 million in restitution for his role in the Kaseya ransomware attack in 2021.

The threat actor pleaded guilty to 11 counts in a Dallas courtroom. Robert Cioffi, co-founder of Progressive Computing, was one of those heavily affected by the attack.

“He faced 115 years for his crimes, but the judge ordered only [less than] 14,” Cioffi said. “Some may lament, wishing he’d rot for eternity in a jail cell instead. I’m with you. But consider this: It was a massive victory for all of us, the MSP community, countless businesses that we serve and our national interests. It tells the world that although you may be hiding behind protective borders in enemy states, you can still be held accountable for crimes. So kudos to the Department of Justice and the FBI for their unwavering work and professionalism to seek justice. I for one feel a bit relieved knowing a victim can have his say in court and be witness to seeing his attacker pay the price.”

You can read more about Vasinskyi here.

Investors were introduced on Tuesday to ScanSource's plan to grow its agency model amid diminishing demands on hardware. The company expanded on news Channel Futures previously report that it was building a customer-facing agency business that would work alongside tech services distributor Intelisys. The project is expected to offer additional opportunities for business among some partners, but hasn't been without controversy, as some fear it will compete with them.

"Margins have really started to get compressed on the Intelisys side as the agent is taking more of the margin share," chief financial officer Steve Jones said. "So we think for ScanSource, this will help expand our margin opportunity in this agency channel. That's the way we're looking at it; that's the way we're modeling it."

You can learn more about this business opportunity and its impact on partners.

Well-known investor Warren Buffett turned his attention toward IT distributors during a recent Q&A. Buffett was asked a question about tech distribution at a public meeting hosted by Berkshire Hathaway, specifically about distributors.

"It’s not a business that you can dream about. It’s a decent business. For example, for many of the items, the manufacturers just don’t want to tie up their capital. If you have a million-plus SKUs, it’s like selling jelly beans or something like that," Buffett said. "You’re serving a purpose to a degree, but it isn’t your product, in effect. You’re just a good system for the producer of the equipment to get it to the end user without tying up a lot of capital being in a business they don’t want to be in. We understand, but there’s no magic to it.”

At least one distributor saw Buffett's remarks as positive.

"If you look at Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, it's a lot of value investing — companies like Coca Cola and HP [that are] longstanding, reliable businesses that generate good return on working capital," Canalys VP of Channels Alex Smith told Channel Futures. "It's much more that type of investing than it is high-growth, unicorn-type companies."

Learn more about Buffett's remarks and its implications for distributors here.

One of the biggest stories at this week's RSAC 2024 was the launch of LevelBlue, which is much more than just a rebranding of AT&T Cybersecurity. It's a joint effort with WillJam Ventures, an investor with a longstanding history of cybersecurity investments.

Bob McCullen, WillJam Ventures’ managing partner, will take on the role of LevelBlue CEO.

“If you look at AT&T’s history, obviously they've been involved in networks for 100 years or so, and cyber has always been an important part of networks and securing their customers,” McCullen said. “This business has grown to the size where it needed a focus and attention, and an opportunity for us to invest in it. I've had a relationship with AT&T for a long time, and I've been in the managed services industry for over 25 years, so this was like a perfect marriage.”

To learn more about LevelBlue and RSAC 2024, go here.

Unified customer experience management platform Sprinklr made its second set of job cuts in the last year. The company cut an estimated 3% of its workforce as of Monday, a continuing trend among technology companies across the market.

"I was not surprised by this by any means, and to see what they do with their channel program will be interesting," a source told Channel Futures. "By the end of the month, there will be a far more interesting story to share."

You can learn more about Sprinklr's layoffs here.

Meantime, Sprinklr has a new channel leader. It's Jim Nairn, who fills the shoes of Jay Vigeland, who himself was laid off in the previous round of cuts. He brings channel experience from digital adoption platform WalkMe, ServiceNow and EMC.

ScanSource-owned tech services distributor Intelisys announced the hiring of Eddie Acosta, an executive with history at the company's rival, Avant. Acosta will work as the vice president of sales for the company's Central region, where he will oversee the company's sales team in that part of the U.S.

Acosta worked for Intelisys in the past, having been hired in 2014, where his roles ranged from senior manager of partner development to senior director of sales.

“Eddie has a proven track record of success and sales leadership within the channel and will bring a commitment to deliver exceptional value to our sales partners,” said Bob Farbak, Intelisys' senior vice president of sales. “We’re excited to welcome Eddie back to the Intelisys team and look forward to the contributions he will make as we drive growth opportunities for our partners.”

Learn more about Acosta's hire at Intelisys and what it means for the company here.

Broadcom made a number of concessions with regard to its product line to help appease VMware cloud service providers, who have been uneasy about the company's $61 billion acquisition of VMWare.

Ahmar Mohammad, the vice president of partners, managed services and solutions sales at Broadcom, offered additional details about Broadcom's product changes. These include expanding access to the VMware cloud service provider Premier tier while also ensuring that all other tiers are maintained. The company also intends to do its best to provide exceptions to users who may be operating in countries with more restrictive regulatory regimes.

To learn more about the VMWare concessions and what they mean for cloud service providers, click here.

Broadcom made a number of concessions with regard to its product line to help appease VMware cloud service providers, who have been uneasy about the company's $61 billion acquisition of VMWare.

Ahmar Mohammad, the vice president of partners, managed services and solutions sales at Broadcom, offered additional details about Broadcom's product changes. These include expanding access to the VMware cloud service provider Premier tier while also ensuring that all other tiers are maintained. The company also intends to do its best to provide exceptions to users who may be operating in countries with more restrictive regulatory regimes.

To learn more about the VMWare concessions and what they mean for cloud service providers, click here.