Veeam, Federal Cuts, AT&T: Week's Top Channel Stories (2025)

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Federal spending cuts for the channel, VeeamOn 2025 and the future of data resilience, and surges in cybercrime were some of the top channel stories this week.

The Channel Futures editorial team handpicked the headlines that we believe will have the most impact on channel partners, distributors, vendors and everything in between.

Here's our selection of the week's top channel stories, in no particular order.

Trump, DOGE Prompt Steep Federal Channel Revenue Drop

New research has caused analysts to predict a $5 billion decrease in revenue due to budget cuts by the the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Expect education and health care verticals to be most affected by the cuts, although don't expect to feel the tangible effects until later this year. The cuts could impact systems integrators the most.

“[GSIs are] attracting a lot of the attention from DOGE,” Canalys research analyst Noah Dantes said. “They're viewed as big places to see cuts. But that's just going to open up a void for other partners to come in later down the line once they realize they need someone to come in and do that integration work. But that's not going to be this year; that's going to be 2026.”

Canalys, now part of Omdia, is Channel Futures' sister research and analyst firm. You can read about the Trump cuts in senior news editor Edward Gately's coverage.

Related:Intel CEO: 'Unnecessary Silos Led to Bad Execution'

Veeam CEO: Cybercrime Business Is 'Booming'

Veeam hosted its annual event, VeeamON 2025, in San Diego this week, where it unveiled a number of new products and addressed several of the issues facing companies in 2025. Veeam CEO Anand Eswaran specifically identified how companies were at risk of being attacked and how the risk was spreading as cybercrime grows more profitable with shifting technologies.

"Cybercrime is a business, and that business is booming," Veeam CEO Anand Eswaran told attendees atVeeamOn 2025in San Diego on Tuesday. "And if you think that's the end, AI is changing the game again with deep fakes, autonomous malware, and soon we're going to see quantum-powered attacks that will crack today's data security in seconds."

Read all about Eswaran's remarks in technology reporter Christopher Hutton's coverage. The company also launched reports on ransomware, new CrowdStrike Falcon extensions and protections for Microsoft Entra ID. You can also check out Veeam's other big stories in our event wrap-up.

New AT&T TSD Channel Leader Talks Investment, Wireless, More

AT&T recently appointed Alliance Channel and ACC Business area vice president Jush Danielson to oversee the carrier's efforts with regard to tech service distributors. It has put a heavy emphasis on creating more touch points between channel partners and AT&T Business leadership. This includes investing more in the TSD route to market, which Danielson thinks will make the AT&T TSD organization more visible to the executive leadership team at AT&T. She also hopes to drive more wireless sales through the TSDs.

Related:Latest Intel Layoffs to Hit More than 21,000 Workers

"We have been on this journey where we've added over three times the resources for our support structure in the channel space [in the last year]," Danielson said. "That's great, and we also are exposing the goodness and the greatness AT&T can have if we can turn on the faucet a little bit more with this partnership with the TSDs."

You can learn more about Danielson's plans going forward for TSDs and AT&T in senior news editor James Anderson's conversation with Danielson.

Verizon DBIR: Cyberattacks Surge, Ransom Payments Down

Verizon Business' Data Breach Investigations Report included mixed news for the cybersecurity industry. Third-party involvement in breaches and the exploitation of vulnerabilities surged in 2024, while ransomware attacks rose around the same time. Ransomware accounted for nearly half of all breaches despite the median ransom amount paid declining year over year.

Related:Xerox, Tektronix Vet Aaron Woods Dies, Leaves CompTIA Legacy

“I expected the percentage of ransomware would increase, but I was a bit surprised by the degree that it did,” David Hylender, associate director of threat intelligence atVerizon Business, said. “I did not expect that 64% of victims would not pay. I think this is excellent news and begs a couple of questions. Why are they not paying? Does this mean that whileransomwareis still ubiquitous, is it becoming less lucrative/effective? If so, in what way will attackers change their modus operandi to compensate? Because they always do.”

You can read more about the DBIR in Edward Gately's report.

Comcast Business Eyes Strategic Tech Advisors with New Program

Comcast Business launched a new initiative that will provide a more boutique experience to its partners. The Executive Partner Program (a subset of the Solutions Advisors Program) focuses on technology advisors and starts with a group of 36 firms that want to partner strategically with Comcast Business to move into larger customers and sell a wider range of solutions in the company's portfolio.

"When I looked at our structure and how we were set up, it was really clear to me that we provided the same experience to every single partner. There was really no delineation for the partner that could play in the solution space and go up-market," Matthew Fassnacht, Comcast vice president of indirect channel, told Channel Futures. "In some cases a channel sales manager supported hundreds of partners, and really could not give that strategic partner the necessary level of touch and engagement that was necessary."

Get the full story in James Anderson's coverage.