Pax8 is stepping up its game in the cybersecurity market with the launch of its Security Program. The cloud-commerce marketplace provider is partnering with security powerhouses such as Microsoft, SentinelOne and CrowdStrike to help managed service providers (MSPs) elevate their manage security services provider (MSSP) to small-midsized businesses (SMBs).

“On one hand, you have AI [artificial intelligence]; on the other hand, you have security, and both couldn't be more important,” Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin told SDxCentral at the Pax8 Beyond 2024 event. “The same AI capabilities that will drive automation and productivity for the MSPs and the SMBs are also going to empower the adversaries. They're also going to open up opportunities that create new threats, new automation of how those threats are deployed.”

A recent report from Pax8 showed 88% of SMBs have successfully implemented at least one AI system but concerns over data privacy and security are one of the leading roadblocks.

Pax8 is tackling this by helping MSPs ensure their SMB clients' readiness for AI. “Because AI is driven from data, and so you want to ensure that there is a level of readiness, and that's where the MSPs come in,” Chasin said. “It's data permissions, largely data governance, all the privacy that goes with that, being able to set the table, if you will, so the AI feast can be served.”

MSPs are the ones to ensure the right solutions and level of education for their SMB clients, Chasin argues.

“I believe that managed service providers are the first and sole line of defense for the SMBs, and they will continue to be for years to come,” he said. “They are responsible for the security of those businesses.”

“Our role as the marketplace is to vet those vendors, to be able to distill the noise and the unknowns for our MSPs and our SMBs,” he added.

Pax8 has more than 100 vendors including about 13 security vendors in its marketplace with an ecosystem of more than 35,000 partners in 35 countries serving 550,000 end customers.

The company’s focus on cybersecurity led to the inclusion of CrowdStrike last year. Other security vendors in Pax8’s marketplace include Bitdefender, DNSFilter, Microsoft, Proofpoint, SentinelOne and Trend Micro.

Chasin noted Pax8 plans to add more large security vendors to the marketplace. “You've got Coke and you have Pepsi, we believe in marketplace neutrality. May the best product win,” he said. “People have the opportunity to choose what they want. That is the role of the marketplace, is to bring the best capable solutions into the ecosystem and let the partners decide, let the partners deliver the value to their customers.”

Pax8 collaborates with Microsoft, SentinelOne, CrowdStrike, Blackpoint Cyber, Avanan, Proofpoint, uSecure and Acronis to develop and launch its Security Program.

The program is designed to help MSPs strengthen their business augment and offer vendor-specific education and enablement through virtual instructor-led training sessions.

It also includes “custom-built, attractively priced product offerings” from some of the security vendors, according to Pax8.

Pax8 aims to be the marketplace of the future by cutting through the noise and providing clear insights on upcoming trends for MSPs, Chasin said, adding the company’s vision is to help all stakeholders — SMBs, MSPs and the vendors, orchestrate value and navigate the significant changes.

“I think Pax8 has an incredible opportunity in front of us, largely driven by the fact that you've got a multitrillion-dollar industry of small to medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of the world economy that need technology to unlock their dreams. You have a growing ecosystem of managed service providers that are in a battle themselves every day with scarcity in managing their clients, they absolutely need a marketplace that can deliver the what's next,” he said.

“There's been a long period now in what some would call the channel where there hasn't been a lot of innovation, and I think that that's just wrong, and we're here to disrupt that, and that's what we've been doing since Pax8's inception,” Chasin added.

Image: Pax8 CEO Scott Chasin. Image credit: Pax8.