Partners loved @HPE’s surprise announcement at its Partner Growth Summit last week that it’s extending price quote validity from 14 days to 30 days for server storage in @HPE_GreenLake Flex, @StevenJBurke said live from HPE Discover 2026 in Las Vegas. That means fewer pricing fire drills, less back-and-forth, and a smoother sales process. HPE executives say they still see cost pressures, but as pricing begins to moderate, they’re leaning in to support the channel. The result? A major competitive advantage that could push other OEMs to follow. For more of Steve’s takeaways from HPE Discover, watch our latest episode of CRN In Depth, hosted by @WadeMillward, here: okt.to/yNPp6X.

CEO of @Microsoft’s commercial business, @judsonalthoff, says AI agents and @Copilot create massive managed services opportunities for partners, and the CEOs of EY, @SoftwareOne, @5Ktech and Alvarez Technology Group agree. Read our May cover story by @WadeMillward to learn more: @msPartner okt.to/H3cEx6

New tomorrow: In this week’s edition of CRN Channel Essentials, @CRN Senior Associate Editor @WadeMillward digs into the keys to solution provider success in the agentic AI era, according to @Microsoft’s Commercial CEO, @judsonalthoff. In our May cover story, Althoff reflects on the importance of Microsoft’s 500,000-strong partner ecosystem in dominating enterprise AI. To hear from the following Microsoft partner CEOs on how they’re transitioning into the AI era with the tech giant, subscribe here to receive CRN Channel Essentials in your inbox: okt.to/uZ49Iw. - Janet Truncale, global chair and CEO, EY - Melissa Mulholland, co-CEO, @SoftwareOne - Corey Kirkendoll, CEO, @5Ktech - Luis Alvarez, CEO, Alvarez Technology Group CRN Channel Essentials is a weekly newsletter written by a CRN editor on a particular news story, topic or trend that is pertinent to the channel community. -- @msPartner

Microsoft’s Commercial CEO, @judsonalthoff, has a bold goal for @Microsoft’s 500,000-member partner ecosystem over the next 12 months: He hopes to see more “impactful frontier transformation scenarios come to life across our customer base” through applied AI enabled by partners. Read @WadeMillward’s Q&A with Althoff to learn more about the opportunity for solution providers to unlock AI transformation for customers: @msPartner okt.to/wyG04E

CRN Senior Associate Editor @WadeMillward breaks down @Microsoft Commercial CEO @judsonalthoff’s AI channel strategy in this month’s episode of CRN Uncovered, a series highlighting our monthly cover stories. You can watch the entire episode here: okt.to/BXYo1Z. Althoff says the vendor’s 500,000 partners give it a major competitive edge in the AI race, and that winning isn’t just about models or silicon. @msPartner

After covering @NVIDIAGTC for @CRN this week, Senior Editor @DylanOnChips discusses the most important news from the event for the channel, including @nvidia’s answer to OpenClaw with NemoClaw, Vera Rubin AI data center platform and BlueField-4 STX storage architecture, in the latest episode of CRN In Depth. You can watch the entire episode, hosted by Senior Associate Editor @WadeMillward, here: okt.to/ixH3lp.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff continues to assert that growing demand for AI and agentic AI will have a multiplier effect on Salesforce’s core cloud-based products, and that concerns that AI will destroy its SaaS business are overblown. $CRM okt.to/0iFr3v

Microsoft cloud product management platform vendor @GetNerdio is taking its platform beyond use cases in virtualization with new innovation supporting @Microsoft’s Windows 365 cloud PC offering and its Intune endpoint management service. #NerdioCon2025 okt.to/K1dQAh

Multiple Microsoft solution providers have told @CRN about a recent wave of phone calls, emails and even unsolicited calendar invites to their customers by Microsoft contractors without prior notice to partners. okt.to/Fp6clW

The Trump administration’s decision to impose new tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico could hit the expected PC refresh wave as buyers face higher prices to upgrade to next-generation devices, @Gartner_inc’s Ranjit Atwal told @CRN. okt.to/veBXyS

Yves Sandfort, CEO and founder of Comdivision, one of Broadcom-VMware’s top partners in Europe, discusses Broadcom’s 2025 channel strategy and what types of partners will come out on top while others might be left by the wayside. okt.to/O60Qci