CRN Channel Madness Semifinals: IBM's Dupaquier Trails For First Time

The Field of Four is battling it out in the semifinal round of the CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs, with one of the executives surging to a wide margin.

In Round 4 voting, which opened Thursday and continues through Monday, Verizon's Adam Famularo is out to an early lead in his face-off with IBM's Marc Dupaquier. This puts Dupaquier on unfamiliar ground, as it's the first time he has found himself trailing an opponent in this tournament. Famularo's strategy of building strong support right at tip-off served him well in his Round 3 victory over VMware's Frank Rauch, where Famularo built an early lead that proved too steep to overcome, and he appears to be attempting a repeat. Famularo is ahead 62 percent to Dupaquier's 38 percent.

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The other half of the Field of Four, Shannon Sbar of APC by Schneider Electric and Sophos's Mike Valentine, are locked in a closer battle. Valentine leads 54 percent to 46 percent. But Sbar has been a fierce competitor throughout this tournament, so don't expect her to go quietly.

Voting for the semifinals continues through the weekend and closes Monday, April 6 at noon ET. Then the winners of these matchups will meet later Monday as the final round kicks off April 6 at 4:00 PM ET. Visit CRN.com/madness to cast your votes and choose your chiefs.

PUBLISHED APRIL 3, 2015