Best Of Breed 2021

https://event.thechannelco.com/best-of-breed

The Best of Breed (BoB) Conference meets the evolving needs of the IT channel’s largest, fastest-growing, and most progressive solution provider organizations and the top technology vendors and distributors. An invitation-only event, the BoB Conference brings together 100+ attendees from CRN’s elite solution provider lists ─ Solution Provider 500, Tech Elite 250 and Fast Growth 150 ─ to connect and engage over the course of 2 days. The in-person event features empowering CEO interviews, SP 500 solution provider spotlights, economic and market trend sessions, executive panel discussions and briefings, and peer-to-peer networking.

Get all of CRN's coverage of the event here and follow along on Twitter at #bob21.

10 Big Cybersecurity Bets For 2022 From Optiv CEO Kevin Lynch
From data governance, anti-ransomware and managed XDR to advisory services, managed implementation and faster delivery, here’s where Optiv CEO Kevin Lynch plans to place his bets in 2022.

HPE CEO Antonio Neri’s 10 Boldest Statements From Best Of Breed 2021
Neri talks about the growing importance of data, integrated platforms, and opportunities for partners in 5G, connectivity, and the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform.

HPE CEO Neri: Steer Clear Of Public Cloud, Slash Costs By Up To 50 Percent
One solution provider tells CRN that a customer is looking at that level of savings by moving workloads out of the public cloud and into HPE’s GreenLake platform.

HPE CEO Antonio Neri: Dell Apex ‘Is VMware—It’s Not Dell’
Neri says that the early version of the Dell Apex solution doesn’t offer as broad of a set of as-a-service solutions as HPE’s GreenLake offering, and is predominantly built around the VMware control plane.

HPE CEO Antonio Neri To ‘Personally Lead’ Initiative To Boost GreenLake Experience
The CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise says he will oversee a 30-person team working to enhance ‘all aspects of the experience’ involved with the GreenLake as-a-service consumption model.

Hybrid Cloud Doesn’t Have To Be Intimidating, Says IBM
‘We can’t do this alone. With the $1 trillion opportunity around hybrid cloud, the only way we are going to succeed is with you,’ IBM’s Deepa Krishnan tells solution providers.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins’ 10 Boldest Statements From Best Of Breed 2021
‘Software … allows us to move faster, innovate more quickly and allows the customer to actually get to the outcome faster. And if we get it right, it’s better for both our business models because [it provides] more predictability. But we have to get it right because it’s complicated to figure all that out,’ Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins tells an audience of solution providers.

Ingram Micro’s Kirk Robinson: New Ownership Means New Channel Investment
‘Platinum [Equity] is in the business of making great companies greater, and they’re fully prepared to leverage their resources and experience to help Ingram Micro grow. And now that we’re U.S.-owned again, we have additional opportunities, not the least of which is in the public sector market where Platinum has proven experience,’ says Kirk Robinson, Ingram Micro’s chief country executive for the U.S.

Ingram Micro Acquires CloudLogic In Big Cloud Services Play
‘CloudLogic not only advises on the best, most efficient, and effective way to run your customers’ applications, but they can also run reports on your customers’ technology, software licensing, and cloud spend through what we call IT Portfolio Optimization,’ says Kirk Robinson, Ingram Micro’s chief country executive for the U.S.

Frank Vitagliano: ‘The Smart Money … Has Gravitated To The Distributors’
‘The smart money in the marketplace … has gravitated to the distributors. What they see is not only the value of what we’re doing today, but also the opportunity to enhance that,’ says Frank Vitagliano, CEO of the Global Technology Distribution Council.

Cisco’s Chuck Robbins On What Subscriptions Mean For Partners: ‘It’s Better For Both Our Business Models’
‘One thing I’ve told the team all along is I don’t know what the solution is, but the answer is we have to do it with our partner community, and that’s just the way it is,’ Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said at The Channel Company’s 2021 Best of Breed Conference.

Cynet: Automate, Consolidate Security Functions With XDR
‘When you’re selling one consolidated XDR platform, it’s a single setup,. Your win rates are higher, and your margins are higher as well,’ says Royi Barnea, Cynet’s head of channel sales in North America.

Customer Engagement Strategies Changing To Meet New Challenges
‘We are in definitely a hybrid place today of kind of a mix of digital and traditional. And that actually isn’t going away. And expectations of customers are absolutely going to continue to remain in that space, and they’re going to want to interact in that fashion,’ says Jade Surrette, chief marketing officer for The Channel Company.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s 10 Boldest Statements From Best Of Breed 2021
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna talked Red Hat integration plans, supply chain issues, partner opportunities, and took aim at VMWare during a Q&A onstage at the Best of Breed Conference 2021.

Arvind Krishna: IBM ‘Dead Serious’ About Partner Push; Upcoming Growth Has ‘Got To Be’ Through Channel
IBM’s CEO tells partners at The Channel Company’s Best of Breed Conference that the IT giant has stepped up to invest in the channel, and offers major opportunities that include hybrid cloud, Red Hat solutions and security. ‘Now, let’s go grow the business together,’ Krishna said.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna: Chip Shortage ‘More Likely’ Continuing Until 2023 Or 2024
Krishna said he sees any suggestion that a resolution could come by 2022 as ‘optimistic,’ and called upon the U.S. government to do more to support a larger return of semiconductor manufacturing to the country.

‘Geographically Diversify Manufacturing’ To Solve Supply Chain Crisis: Analyst
‘There’s no question we need to geographically diversify manufacturing. We absolutely have put too much dependence on Asia without having a more predictable macroeconomic and geopolitical relationship,’ says Daniel Newman of Futurum Research.