Beyond the AI boom: what customers really need from IT infrastructure

Oct 14, 2026

By Sami Hussaini, Director, Product Management – Distributed IT

It’s nearly impossible to have a conversation about IT infrastructure today without talking about AI. The growth of AI is driving new requirements for power, density, cooling and data center infrastructure – for good reasons. There is tremendous opportunity ahead.

Watch CRN’s Sydney Neeley as she and Sami Hussain discuss opportunities in the channel now and in the future.

As important as AI is, most channel partners serve customers with infrastructure needs different from large-scale data center buildouts. Businesses still need to keep distributed IT environments running. They still have network closets, server rooms, edge locations and other critical applications that depend on reliable power.

Buying priorities are changing

Yet, a shift is taking place in how customers evaluate infrastructure investments.

Specifications and initial capital expense remain important considerations. But increasingly, customers recognize that the lowest upfront cost doesn't always deliver the lowest long-term cost. Customers are looking at the bigger picture. What is the total risk associated with an infrastructure decision? What will it cost to own and operate over its useful life? Can the supplier deliver when we need it? Will the solution keep up as business needs change? How will it help avoid costly downtime?

These questions move the discussion to a focus on business outcomes with total cost of ownership providing a broader perspective. For partners, this creates an opportunity to change the conversation from one centered around capex to what the solution helps the customer’s business achieve or avoid.

Don't overlook the infrastructure customers still depend on today

AI makes the headlines, but customers still have critical IT environments outside the data center. A strong single-phase portfolio remains important and relevant. Partners need to have two conversations at the same time.

One is about what's coming: AI, higher densities and changing infrastructure requirements.
The other is about what's already here: the critical systems customers rely on every day, and the power infrastructure needed to keep those systems available.

This changing buying environment also creates an opportunity to rethink how to communicate value. A product specification tells a customer what a solution does. It doesn't necessarily tell them what that capability means to their business.

Therefore, the conversation expands beyond specifications and acquisition price to overall value and long-term outcomes:

• Deployment speed
• Operational efficiency
• Supply assurance
• The supplier’s flexibility
• Total cost of ownership

These are the factors that address not only the cost of the purchase, but the potential cost of the problems they're trying to prevent. That takes the conversation to a more strategic level.

Supporting what’s next without losing sight of what matters now

It comes down to helping customers prepare for what's next, while continuing to solve the infrastructure challenges they have today. Demonstrate value not simply in terms of what a product costs or what appears on its spec sheet, but in terms of risk reduced, downtime avoided, efficiency gained, deployment accelerated and flexibility created over the life of the solution. That's a much bigger conversation than selling a product.

Want to learn more about how shifting priorities are reshaping infrastructure planning?

Catch the conversation I had with CRN’s Sydney Neeley about new opportunities for channel partners.

Watch now

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