tion process. Some companies want to consider hardware consolidation, which can reduce carbon footprint, combine arrays and simplify architectures. Some buyers are also considering AI-readiness and whether upgrades will support future AI workloads. Three-quarters of large companies have moved beyond limited adoption of AI use cases, and 37 percent say AI is critical to their business already, according to a recent state of data infrastructure report from Hitachi Vantara. Because these various decisions often require IT leaders, finance teams, sustainability officers, data or AI architects and security experts, the evaluation becomes a broader business strategy conversation. How Vendors Are Responding Vendors are addressing the concerns of buyers by offering more predictability and flexibility. Providing opex and as-a-service models answers customer concerns about large upfront costs, as well as unexpected overspending and sudden spikes in costs. In addition, providers are emphasizing SLAs, including response times, support windows and performance minimums, that address the buyers’ specific risk concerns, such as unplanned downtime, unpredictable maintenance expenses, performance degradation of aging systems and the operational impact of hardware failures. Vendors are discussing guarantees such as “five nines” — 99.999 percent uptime — to demonstrate the availability and stability advantages of modern systems. Vendors can also offer buyout options to purchase equipment later to give customers flexibility if long-term ownership becomes financially advantageous after an initial opex period. Buyers gravitate toward financial models that are simplest to understand. Upgrades Still Matter Despite the lengthening refresh cycles, upgrades still offer benefits that are not available through simple maintenance. For example, many companies are seeking to explore AI pilots if they aren’t already using AI production workloads. But AI workloads can be severely limited by older systems and by data that isn’t adequately managed by modern storage systems. Meanwhile, cybersecurity is an ongoing challenge for enterprises and continues to present new attack vectors. The number of data breach notices in the United States soared to 1.7 billion in 2024, a 312 percent increase from 2023, according to data from the Identity Theft Resource Center, and the average cost of a breach for U.S. firms is more than $10 million, said researchers at IBM. With the latest infrastructure, enterprises can ensure that they have protections that can prevent serious problems. In addition, with global data created and consumed expected to soar to 394 zettabytes in 2028 from 149 zettabytes in 2024, pressure is intensifying on aging storage systems. For growing enterprises, scalability is a major benefit of modern compute and storage, including block, file and object. Legacy systems can limit scalability at critical moments. The challenge with aging technology is that it may appear to be fine. But the longer systems run, the greater the hidden risk involved. Quietly aging infrastructure is at a greater risk of failing unexpectedly. Sales and Partner Implications Team members who are selling new infrastructure must understand the big picture. That means not just being able to explain the intricacies of the technology but also to tell the high-level business story to the C-suite. Partners and sales teams must be well-rounded. In addition, financial fluency is now mandatory, as opex requires a comfort with modeling costs over time. You’re not just selling a piece of hardware; you’re selling a service and financial outcome over time. AI literacy is clearly foundational today. Vendors and partners need a shared language for understanding the needs and capabilities of AI infrastructure and how it relates to the rest of the customer’s business. At the same time, providing responsive support is a key differentiator, especially when problems arise. Human, empathetic partnership is critical, because a cold automated or AI response during a crisis moment will overshadow any technological advantages a vendor may offer. Customers will refresh faster when they have trusted partners to guide the process. Hardware and infrastructure are giving enterprises more confidence by lasting longer. At the same time, this advancement brings additional risks when companies put off refreshing their hardware as it ages out. While budget pressures and other business considerations may delay these decisions, companies do need modern systems to handle AI workloads, cybersecurity threats and scaling data volumes. Vendors are responding by offering more predictability and flexibility for customers through opex and as-aservice models with SLAs, guarantees and minimum standards. For teams selling new infrastructure, they must understand the broader business implications of the technology and explain why they matter. Customers want to buy from vendors they trust who present the least risk. If vendors can provide strong support and trusted advice while minimizing risks and downtime throughout the infrastructure lifecycle, they’ll be in the best position to be longterm partners and provide the next generation of hardware. o Source: Uptime Institute How CISOs communicate security ROI across the business Source: Splunk CISO survey, 2026 How has your contact center operations head count changed over the past 12 months? Source: Execs in the Know Which risks related to AI are most pressing for your organization? Incident reduction Improved MTTD Improved MTTR Server refresh cycles are slowing down By 2022 lifecycles of five years or more had become the norm 2015 (n=220) 2020 (n=418) 2022 (n=639) 1-2 years Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 3 years 4 years 5 years >5 years 4% 13% 14% 80% 5% 74% 82% 6% 9% 33% 38% 29% 2023 2024 2025 29% IN-HOUSE AND OUTSOURCED COMBINED 46% 25% 19% 42% 39% 43% 41% 39% Increased Kept same Decreased 9% 9% 7% 25% 15% 33% 19% 26% 15% 31% 19% 37% 20% 20% 14% 37 SPRING 2026 | CHANNELVISION
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