Golden era for India’s VARs as investments shift from infrastructure to intelligence

DR. DEEPAK KUMAR SAHU
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, VARINDIA

“It was a privilege to address an ecosystem of OEMs, VARs and channel professionals at a moment of transformation, where generative AI, services and platforms are reshaping our digital future and predictable, hardware-led growth is giving way to intelligence-driven innovation. We stand at a pivotal juncture defined by AI, cloud, automation, cybersecurity and deepfake detection—making this a golden era for India’s VAR community as strategic spending shifts from infrastructure to intelligence. With AI moving from pilot to production and powering security operations across 90% of Asia-Pacific organizations, enterprises are progressing from AI-based detection to predictive modelling, automated response and behavioural analytics.

The global data center boom, with AI-related spending projected to reach $3 trillion by 2029, highlights both extraordinary opportunity and the parallel rise in risks that demand sharper focus and readiness. Simultaneously, the rise of AI and GenAI has accelerated deepfake and synthetic fraud, making fake identities easier to create while driving soaring global demand for GPUs and TPUs.

As AI-driven attacks escalate, we are shifting from constant risk to platform-driven resilience against adaptive, deepfake-enabled threats that demand faster and smarter responses. Hypervisors are emerging as a major target, and with human error still responsible for 95% of breaches, insider risks and AI-driven threats will dominate cybersecurity priorities in 2025. With quantum computing advancing toward breaking RSA and ECC by 2030, organizations are fast-tracking post-quantum upgrades.

Technologies like Quantum Neuro Cryptography and QKD-based neural encryption will consume a growing share of IT security budgets. These shifts call for urgency, preparedness and a fundamental redesign of security architectures and collaboration frameworks across the ecosystem.

For the channel, this moment represents both opportunity and responsibility. Growth will increasingly come not from hardware but from cybersecurity, cloud, AI-powered services and intelligence-led outcomes. As enterprises now engage multiple partners for every major technology decision, ecosystem collaboration, recurring revenue models and long-term resilience are becoming essential. My message to the community is clear: embrace the transition to services and outcomes; invest in specialization and trusted partnerships; prioritize cybersecurity, AI, data-driven insights and sustainable monetisation models; and build ecosystems, not just channels. The decade ahead will reward those who adapt, lead and co-innovate—because the hardware age has passed, and the era of intelligent services has begun.”