Ever since Jessica C. Davis got back from Pax8 Beyond 2023, she hasn't stopped raving about the event. In her words, "I really think it's one of the best channel events of the year." So, when she asked me if I wanted to attend this year, of course I said, "Yes!"
Last year, Pax8 Beyond attracted 86 vendor sponsors and more than 1,100 partner attendees -- a sold out crowd for the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. It's sold out again this year, which speaks to the great content and interest from analysts, vendors, channel partners and MSPs, not to mention those of us who write about this stuff!
The agenda seems to focus on many of the major themes resonating in the larger IT industry: Diversity, equity and inclusion, AI, cybersecurity and growing your business. All of these are increasingly important for MSPs, many of whom are SMBs.
I'm especially interested in the half day devoted to women in tech on Sunday -- I plan on attending the panel discussion and the happy hour. There will be multiple keynotes (from Pax8, of course, Microsoft, SentinelOne, CrowdStrike and SuperOps.ai, among others) and breakout sessions and, despite being the opposite of a 'morning person,' I can't wait for the Tuesday breakfast session on Protecting Your MSP: Wrong Answers Only with Matt Lee and a panel of cybersecurity experts. I'll get up early for that one, for sure.
Last year, Pax8 announced the next evolution of its cloud distribution marketplace -- a system to match prospective managed services customers with MSPs. The platform was initially available by invitation only to a select group of managed services partners, and rolled out to the rest of the company’s partners over the next year. Along the way, the company added new vendors to its marketplace, including Auvik, Rewst, CYRISMA and so many more.
Pax8's Chief Product Officer Libby McIlhany will deliver a keynote centered around this year's updates to the Pax8 Marketplace, so stay tuned to learn what's new on that front.
Pax8 also had some leadership additions and changes over the last year, including Rob Rae, Craig Donovan as chief experience officer, Mary Gill as chief compliance officer, David Powell as VP of sales strategy and Robb Reck as chief trust and security officer.
If you're also headed to the event and want to say hi, or have news, tips or info you want to share, drop me a line at [email protected] or look for me at the show. Can't wait!
