The Marriott Wardman Park in Northwest Washington, D.C., hosted this week’s ChannelCon, which drew about 1,000 participants and 150 exhibitors and sponsors.
Retired General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan, delivered the opening keynote. Other speakers included Pete Peterson, president of Xerox Channels at Xerox Corp., and Alex Taylor, the 17-year-old founder and CEO of Wind Craft Aviation; Taylor last year became the youngest commercial drone pilot in the United States.
Scroll through our gallery below for highlights.
Color RushTwo big trends at ChannelCon: socks in all colors and styles, including these from
Sophos MSP, and sassy badge ribbons. This editor selected “#Tag Me” and “Will Work for Coffee.”
ContronexChannel Partners also spotted some unfamiliar suppliers.
Contronex is a VAD specializing in security software solutions, serving 500 resellers and managed service providers in the United States and Canada. The company’s site contains a knowledge base of useful articles, and its line card includes Bitdefender and HornetSecurity.
AltaroAltaro VM Backup offers protection for Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines, focused on small and midsize businesses. It’s already signed on 7,000 partners and provides MSPs a multitenant, cloud-based management console for centralized monitoring and management of customers’ VM backups. There’s also a reseller program.
InsperityGot HR angst?
Insperity offers full-service outsourced HR for companies with 5 to 5,000 employees.
Services include health insurance and benefits administration, 401(k) and payroll, and HR professionals on call. The company also has a partner program with co-selling and co-promotion offerings. Its fruit-filled, infused water bottles were a popular swag item.
InfogressiveMSSP
Infogressive provides both its own managed security services and a partner program for MSPs looking to offer customers a complete slate of security technologies without the expense of developing these bundles in-house. Besides expertise in compliance standards including PCI, FFIEC and HIPAA, the company can deliver specialized penetration testing, risk assessment and incident-response services.
ImagIT SolutionsOne of the more popular exhibitors was
ImagIT Solutions, which offers nationwide, on-site support for
partners and IT professionals from some 400 contracted engineers. Services include network and systems engineering, structured cabling and project management. The company is based in Chicago.
CrushBankThe brain in a jar anchoring
CrushBank’s booth was a reference to the company’s use of IBM’s Watson to transfer knowledge from “your engineer’s heads” to what it describes as “the most intelligent help desk ever.” The company says it can save MSPs a significant amount of money on support tickets while delivering a faster time to resolution and improved customer satisfaction.
IoTSSAGot customers interested in IoT but held back by security worries?
IoTSSA is in the business of connecting partners to experts in IoT security through podcasts, live virtual panels and roadshows presented by experts from associated providers including Auvik, Datto and Fortinet.
FileCloudFileCloud feels it can carve out a space in the crowded file-sync-and-share and mobile-access space by allowing partners to white-label its offerings. It has both reseller and MSP programs and offers a variety of hosting options. Pricing ranges from about $4 up to $15 per user, per month.
CoreDialCoreDial is a familiar name in UCaaS; at ChannelCon, the company highlighted its new CoreNexa platform that includes an integrated UC and mobile app, a contact-center-as-a-service module and an improved management portal.
Space Party
The ChannelCon 2018 party was held at the Air and Space Museum. Attendees could take a an inverted turn in the flight simulator — preferably before grabbing a dish from the pasta buffet, or an adult beverage from the bar.
Great event here in D.C.! Thanks for having us.