CRN

That means scheduled backups aren't running, customers can't access affected backup archives or restore data, and certain security monitoring and cloud management functions remain unavailable.

The disruption affects several thousand MSP partners worldwide, according to ConnectWise's chief technology officer, David Rasipour, who spoke with CRN on Monday.

But there's a more serious security concern behind the service interruption.

Researchers at Huntress have documented unauthorized authentication to customer Microsoft 365 environments using comprised credentials associated with ConnectWise Cloud Backup.

The company also says its existing backup archives remain encrypted and isolated, with no evidence they've been accessed.

And there are some encouraging signs on the recovery front.

Roy Sapur told CRN on Monday that the company has made significant progress in its investigation and remediation.

For MSPs, the immediate priority is to review their own Microsoft 365 environments and every customer tenant they manage.

Today's guest is someone this audience knows well.

Matt Yorke is the CEO of The Channel Company, parent of CRN and the leading platform for the global IT channel.

Matt sits on the Revenue Room CXO Advisory Board, and this is his third appearance with us.

We first talked with Matt when he was Chief Revenue Officer at Foundry, overseeing media, data, events, and SaaS.

Since taking the CEO role in January 2024, Matt has driven international expansion into Australia, Latin America, and Germany.

He's unified the channel company's agency services under a new brand called Partner Ignite and set a public mandate, become an AI-native company within two years.

The channel company has gone from a small pilot group to company-wide co-pilot access, from zero custom AI agents to 19, and from AI as a side experiment to AI embedded directly into revenue-facing products like CRN Answers, CIO Pulse, and Aurora.

Today we go beyond the revved up talk.

McCord's appointment is effective immediately.

CRN spoke with several MSP partners about the transition, and the reactions were generally positive.

Partners interviewed by the magazine expressed confidence in McCord's ability to lead the company while recognizing the work FAS had done to get Slide to this point.

For MSPs, the bigger question is what happens next.

All good.

So this is a CRN article I stumbled across.

And the headline of the article is Top VMware Partner Insight Deauthorized by Broadcom in North America.

Now...

They're overplaying their hand.

They don't have that kind of power.

It's funny your mention about how end customers will seek alternatives because in this same article, CRN reports about a new Gartner study where Gartner, and I'm quoting the article again here, this month, market research firm Gartner said in a strategic planning assumption in its magic quadrant for distributed hybrid infrastructure that The report said that it expects by 2029, here's the key part here, by 2029, 55% of enterprises will initiate proofs of concept for alternative distributed hybrid infrastructure products to replace their VMware-based deployments and embrace hybrid cloud infrastructure delivery up 25% from 2026.

So there it is.

And there's a substantial channel angle here.

Dell executives told CRN that partners have an opportunity to help customers prepare and integrate their data, build AI applications around it, and then move those projects into production.

Dell also plans new certifications and training around the platform.

That's important because the AI conversation is increasingly moving past just having access to models and infrastructure.

Broadcom is explaining why Insight lost its VMware resale authorization in North America, and the explanation puts partner requirements back in the spotlight.

CRN reported Monday that Broadcom's Laura Falco says Insight did not meet the program's requirements.

Insight previously described the decision as Broadcom narrowing its partner ecosystem.

Responding to Falco, Insight says its VMware and hybrid cloud expertise remain part of its customer offering.

The removal itself was reported in September.

The new development is Broadcom's explanation and Insight's response.

Insight has told CRN it will complete booked work and continue client-funded VMware and Cloud Foundation services through October 31.

Its EMEA authorization remains in place.