What were solution providers talking about with CRN and ITBestOfBreed last week? Here are a handful of quotes we picked up that focused on such news stories as the announced acquisitions by Comm-Works and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, plus a reaction to Google's new "unified" channel strategy.

"The highest priority from our target market and perspective is to beef up our NOC capabilities and managed services offerings, and the only way we can do that is through the addition of talent, tools and customers."

~ Alan Lampe, CEO of global IT services provider Comm-Works, which announced that it acquired Network Access Products Inc., of Ramsey, Minn. The deal establishes Comm-Works – based in Minneapolis - as a player in the increasingly competitive managed services space.

"Constant vigilance needs to happen on all aspects of your mobile enterprise."

~ Paul Troisi, chief customer officer at Troy Mobility, a solution provider based in Peabody, Mass., on alleged attempts by the CIA to defeat smartphone security measures in order to obtain data from phones.

"It's a total land grab. Nimble partners with Cisco and a lot of other providers with ecosystem integrations. In the storage space, this is just as big as Aruba being acquired by HPE. All the OEMs that work with Nimble are taking four steps backward right now thinking what the hell just happened?"

~ Michael Knight, president and CTO of Encore Technology Group, a Greenville, S.C.-based solution provider, on Hewlett Packard Enterprise's intended $1.09 billion acquisition of Nimble Storage.

"I would love to go back in time and change all that, but unfortunately, we got thrown into a crisis that I wouldn't wish on anyone."

~ David DeCamillis, vice president of sales and marketing at Platte River Networks, a Denver-based solution provider that was pulled into the limelight last year after it became part of an FBI investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's email server, which the company had managed. DeCamillis addressed attendees at the XChange Solution Provider 2017 conference, hosted by ITBestOfBreed's parent, The Channel Company.

"When we heard [Google would] be deciding Premier tier on combined partner revenue on all products, our initial reaction was it's fantastic. For us, Google saying there's only one Premier tier, sell any of these products and meet the quota, means an easier path to achieve that status."

~ Rajesh Abhyankar, CEO of Princeton, N.J.-based Google Premier partner MediaAgility, on the vendor's new "unified" channel approach, which will encompass investments in product, sales and enablement programs and encourage a mindset geared to comprehensive solutions rather than individual products.