As the channel closes out a year defined by rapid growth and strengthening partnerships, one theme will carry over to 2026: consolidation and modernization across IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) will define the year.
Managed service providers (MSPs), solution providers, and vendors will recalibrate their strategies in response to market disruption, rising security threats, and increasing architectural complexity.
Virtualization upheaval, hybrid-cloud expansion, cyber resilience, AI-ready networking, and automation-driven efficiency will lead the charge on evolving the channel’s infrastructure playbook. MSPs are focused increasingly on modernizing stacks, simplifying operations, and delivering resilient, security-first services to support hybrid, edge, and AI-driven environments.
By looking at common threads in the channel and the most popular topics covered on Channel Insider, here are some of the key I&O trends shaping the channel and the priorities that will carry into 2026.
Virtualization and Infrastructure Modernization Accelerated
One of the most significant developments in 2025 with a substantial downstream impact on the channel is the Broadcom-VMware acquisition. Pricing changes, licensing complexity, and uncertainty around VMware’s partner strategy prompted many IT leaders to reevaluate long-standing virtualization assumptions.
The resulting shift has accelerated interest in alternatives, such as Scale Computing, Nutanix, and Pure Storage. These vendors positioned themselves as providers of modern, turnkey virtualization and hybrid-cloud infrastructure stacks.
These platforms emphasize simplicity, predictable pricing, and tight integration with backup, disaster recovery, and cloud management tools to ease uncertainty in the market.
Edge computing has also played a role in accelerating modernization. Remote sites, retail locations, healthcare clinics, and manufacturing facilities are just a few examples of those who increasingly require lightweight, automated virtualization platforms that can be deployed and managed with minimal on-site IT.
Implications for 2026
MSPs may leave behind a single-vendor virtualization mindset. Instead, demand will grow for multi-hypervisor expertise, migration services, and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) integration. Providers that can guide customers through VMware exits or hybrid coexistence strategies will find new revenue opportunities.
Edge-focused managed infrastructure offerings are also poised to grow, especially where automation and resilience are built in by design. On the vendor side, expect expanded certification programs and partner enablement around alternative virtualization ecosystems as suppliers compete to win displaced VMware workloads.
Hybrid, Multi-Cloud, and Private Cloud Management Took Hold
This past year, channel enterprises increasingly embraced hybrid and multi-cloud strategies to balance flexibility, performance, and cost control.
Legacy virtualization platform instability has accelerated this shift, making hybrid cloud that combines on-prem infrastructure with public cloud scalability an attractive option for many customers.
Enterprises looked to MSPs to manage both on-prem and cloud environments – rather than choosing between the two.
This included private cloud environments built on modern HCI, public cloud services, and integrated orchestration layers to manage workloads across environments.
Implications for 2026
MSPs should continue to invest in cloud-management platforms and multi-cloud orchestration capabilities. Customers increasingly demand “single-pane-of-glass” visibility across hybrid workloads, along with governance, compliance, and cost-management services that prevent cloud sprawl.
Bundled services provide an opportunity by combining on-prem virtualization, private cloud infrastructure, and public cloud resources under a single managed framework. Providers that can simplify hybrid complexity while delivering predictable outcomes will stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
Backup, Disaster Recovery, and Cyber Resilience Became a Non-Negotiable
Backup and disaster recovery (DR) were once considered optional add-ons, but in 2025, escalating ransomware attacks and data breaches made these core infrastructure requirements.
Channel partnerships have been an indicator of this shift. Integrations such as Veeam with Scale Computing and Commvault with Platform9 have highlighted a growing demand for tightly coupled infrastructure and data protection.
Rubrik and Cohesity are examples of vendors that have advanced platforms to emphasize resilience, cross-cloud snapshots, and faster recovery times.
Customers increasingly expect frequent DR testing, immutable backups, and ransomware recovery capabilities as standard features and not premium upgrades.
Implications for 2026
MSPs could move beyond standalone backup services toward full cyber-resilience portfolios. Unified data protection platforms that span on-prem systems, hybrid environments, public cloud, containers, and virtual machines will be in high demand.
AI-assisted backup workflows, ransomware-resilient architectures, and automated recovery testing will gain traction. Additionally, data protection is shifting earlier in the sales cycle, while infrastructure and cloud conversations increasingly start with resilience requirements rather than treating backup as an afterthought.
AI workloads have reshaped infrastructure conversations in 2025, particularly around networking. Training models, running inference at the edge, and supporting data-intensive applications shine a new light on throughput, latency, and reliability.
As a result, AI-ready networking, MSP-delivered connectivity services, and secure SD-WAN and SASE offerings increased in adoption. Networking discussions also became linked with zero-trust security models and seamless integration across cloud and private environments.
Implications for 2026
MSPs are more likely to bundle network services more tightly with virtualization and cloud offerings, positioning connectivity as an integral part of infrastructure and not a standalone component.
Investments in higher-bandwidth, low-latency edge connectivity and AI-ready network architectures are expected to increase.
Secure-by-design networking will also become standard as zero-trust frameworks, segmentation, encrypted transport, and identity-aware networking become expected capabilities – especially in hybrid and edge deployments.
As customer environments grew more hybrid and complex in 2025, manual management became a greater liability. MSPs struggled with tool sprawl, fragmented dashboards, and operational inefficiencies that cut into margins and increased risk.
Partners have since begun prioritizing platforms that integrated virtualization, backup/DR, and automation into unified stacks. The emphasis is shifting toward simplifying operations while maintaining flexibility.
Implications for 2026
Tool consolidation will accelerate, and MSPs will seek platforms that automate deployment, lifecycle management, compliance, backup, and recovery across hybrid environments. Automation will shift from a cost-saving tactic to a core differentiator in competitive bids.
Operational efficiency will become a selling point next to security and resilience. Vendors that offer tightly integrated, easy-to-manage ecosystems – while reducing the burden of day-to-day operations – are likely to gain strong channel traction in 2026.
Security-First Delivery Became Mandatory Across IT Layers
Security has always been a top priority, but the scale and frequency of attacks pushed resilience to the forefront. Cybersecurity, data protection, and compliance increasingly converged with infrastructure decisions.
Immutable backups, ransomware-proof architectures, and rapid cyber recovery moved from “advanced” features to baseline expectations. Risk surfaces expanded as hybrid and edge deployments proliferated, raising the stakes for both MSPs and vendors.
Implications for 2026
Resilience-first service packages will become the norm in 2026. MSPs will increasingly deliver security-by-default offerings, bundling data protection, disaster recovery, compliance, and risk mitigation into every infrastructure or cloud deployment.
Integrated security and data protection services will be essential as workloads span data centers, clouds, and edge locations. Channel partners demonstrating measurable resilience, regulatory compliance, and reduced risk exposure will be market differentiators.
The Big Picture for 2026
Over the next year, the channel’s I&O strategy will be less about chasing the next trendy technology and more about simplifying, securing, and modernizing what already exists.
Consolidation, automation, and resilience will be the throughlines that connect virtualization, cloud, networking, and data protection.
For MSPs, success will depend on their ability to modernize internal stacks, reduce operational complexity, and deliver outcomes that align with customer priorities: uptime, security, performance, and predictability.
For vendors, standouts will offer integrated platforms, clear partner programs, and ecosystems that support hybrid and AI-driven architectures without adding unnecessary friction.
2026 will reward those who help the channel do more with less complexity, while delivering modern, resilient, and future-ready infrastructure.
