Channel Stalwart Ken Marks Named VP At Network Intelligence Provider Kentik

‘It’s the right time, the right market environment and it is the right product,’ says new Kentik Vice President of Channels and Alliances Ken Marks. ‘Everything is lining up for the Kentik platform with this AI boom!’

Ken Marks, a 30-year-plus channel veteran who has led multiple successful channel sales efforts, is set to put his talents to work on the booming AI opportunity as the new vice president of channels and alliances for network intelligence software provider Kentik.

“It’s the right time, the right market environment and it is the right product,” exclaimed Marks, who was most recently the chief revenue officer at cybersecurity provider Cynomi. “Everything is lining up for the Kentik platform with this AI boom! You couple that with the right go-to-market strategy which is all about partners. You can’t beat it! That is why this is so exciting. This is a wave like I have never seen before!”

Marks, who put his own channel stamp on SentinelOne, Splunk, Palo Alto Networks and IBM, said he is looking forward to moving Kentik from a predominately direct sales company to a channel stalwart.

The new job reunites Marks with Kentik Senior Vice President of Sales Daniel Donovan.

Marks and Donovan worked together at SentinelOne to build out a successful channel go-to-market model. In fact, Marks said, the chance to work with channel-savvy Donovan was key to his decision to join the company. “What drew me to Kentik was the opportunity to come in to work with a head of sales that understands the value of partners and partnerships and is all in on working with partners,” he said.

The channel buildout comes as Kentik’s sales have doubled over the past year with 500 enterprise customers and service providers now using the platform. That growth has the company now monitoring one trillion network telemetry points each day.

Marks’ first order of business will be rolling out Kentik’s first-ever partner program – Kentik Connect – in December. That program will include education and enablement on the Kentik platform and all the services that can be built on top of it, said Marks. In addition, the program will also include co-marketing activities, reference selling and joint sales planning.

Marks said he plans to rely on his longstanding relationships with channel partners to recruit top channel partners around the world and to foster long-term relationships with MSPs and resellers and to drive marketplace connections. “It’s all about trust and confidence,” he said.

Ray Ruemmele, chief revenue officer for Evolve Security, an offensive security provider with continuous penetration testing, said Kentik is “very lucky” to get a channel leader with the stature of Marks.

“Ken brings a level of confidence to partners that this is a good company,” said Ruemmele, who has worked with Marks for three decades. “It’s a big deal. Having someone like Ken adds a lot of credibility to Kentik’s channel efforts. With the kind of relationships Ken has, you take the call.”

Ruemmele said Marks’ longstanding channel relationships built on trust and integrity speak for themselves. “Ken has a high level of authenticity and integrity,” he said. “When he gives his word, you know it’s good. I have observed that in decades of knowing him in the channel.”

Ruemmele said he sees it as an “exciting time” for Kentik with Marks coming on board. “With the explosive growth in AI networking is back at the forefront of everyone’s budget and thoughts,” he said. “To really do well you need someone like Ken with his connections and strategic thinking. Hiring Ken puts them in a great position to capture a lot of that revenue.”

Michael Goldstein, CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based LAN Infotech, said he sees Marks as an old guard channel leader that partners can count on to build a world-class channel go-to-market model.

“When you look at Ken’s proven track record building successful channel programs at SentinelOne, Splunk, Palo Alto Networks, Juniper Networks and IBM you know he is going to build out a world-class channel program,” said Goldstein. “Kentik got a real winner when they got Ken. It’s not easy to find someone with channel track record.”

Goldstein said the trust and relationships that Marks has built are sure to pay off for Kentik. “Partners want to know that there is someone like Ken that is there that they know and trust when looking at an opportunity like this with an emerging company,” he said.

Marks said the big technology differentiator for Kentik is the breadth and depth of its network intelligence platform. “All the other vendors have pieces of what Kentik’s platform can provide, but no one has the full suite of AI capabilities that we are bringing to partners,” he said.

In January, Kentik launched Kentik Network Monitoring System (NMS) to observe, manage, and optimize network health and performance via real-time monitoring and alerting.

Among the company’s AI offerings are Kentik Cause Analysis, which is aimed at automatically identifying root cause of network traffic issues and anomalies; Kentik Journeys, which provides AI assisted network troubleshooting; and Kentik Query Assist, a large language ChatGPT-like model that partners can query to help resolve network issues.

Marks said the new offerings provide a “profit-rich and services-rich” market opportunity for partners. “We are at the forefront of this AI explosion,” he said. “This is an opportunity for partners to help their clients through that AI journey, which is going to rely more and more on the network. They can leverage the Kentik platform to provide valuable services to their clients that will differentiate themselves against their competitors.”

As to just how big the AI opportunity ahead is for Kentik, Marks said: “We aspire to be the market leader for this new AI network intelligence revolution.”