Preview: CRN Channel Madness Tournament 2016

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CRN’s second annualChannel Madness Tournamentof channel chiefs kicks off March 17, but you can perfect your bracket now.

Round 1 will pit 32 channel execs at some of the industry’s hottest companies against one another and CRN’s Most Influential Channel Chiefs list.

This year's bracket features four divisions: Infrastructure, Hardware, Cloud and Software. Key matchups in the round of 32 include a showdown between Dell's Cheryl Cook and Extreme's Bob Gault, as well as VMware's Frank Rauch and Netsuite's Craig West.

2015 Channel Madness Tournament champion Mike Valentine of Sophos will square off against Oracle's Bill Swales. If he wins in the opening round, he will face the winner of a competition between Fortinet's Joe Sykora and Mark Enzweiler of Red Hat in the round of 16.

Download your brackethereand be sure tosubmitit before 9 a.m. Eastern on March 17.