Monday Morning Impact – February 2

Published On: February 1, 2026Categories: Buzz

Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Increased 9.3% in Q4 2025 and 9.1% for the Full Year

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 9.3% increase from the fourth quarter of 2024, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. For the full year, worldwide PC shipments totaled more than 270 million units, a 9.1% increase from 2024.

“The PC market maintained healthy growth in the fourth quarter of 2025, largely driven by robust consumer demand and business demand fueled by the Windows 11 upgrade cycle,” said Rishi Padhi, Research Principal at Gartner. “Demand softened by the end of the quarter as price pressure and promotions offset earlier price increases on high-end GPUs and AI PCs, resulting in stable or slightly lower average selling prices.”

There were no major changes in the top six vendor rankings worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the top three vendors – Lenovo, HP Inc. and Dell – increasing their market share year-over-year.

“Tariff volatility, anticipated memory price hikes in 2026, and rising costs associated with Windows 10 Extended Security Updates prompted businesses to prioritize replacing hardware,” said Padhi. “Another factor for growth in 2025 was vendors focused heavily on promoting AI PCs to capture replacement demand. However, most AI PC features, such as local inference, have yet to deliver significant productivity gains compared to cloud-based AI solutions. As a result, many organizations are upgrading primarily to future-proof their fleets, rather than to realize immediate business value from AI capabilities.”

Channel Impact^®
The data reflect solid opportunity for channel partners in this tried-but-true sector of the overall market.

Extreme Networks Moves to Simplify Partner Program

Extreme Networks has launched a new partner program designed to reduce confusion and delays that the company says is common in partner programs. “Extreme Partner First” is intended to simplify deal registration, deliver transparent pricing, offer comprehensive training and certifications, and leverage AI to improve time to revenue and profitability.

The program offers one global, SKU- and volume-based rebate model, as an attempt to enhance clarity. The company has also established a unified global framework for deal registration, enabling partners to more easily pursue and close international deals. Elements include new international partner identification tools and system-enforced protection, as well as a 48-hour target approval for Service Level Agreements.

Extreme’s Partner AI Sales Assistant promises to help partners more easily and rapidly find sales information, from product and solution insights to case studies and price sheets. Personalized dashboards, as well as training and certification, have also been updated with a focus on AI.

“As partners face accelerating technology shifts and rising customer expectations, partner programs must remove friction, not add to it,” said Joe Spencer, Senior Vice President of Global Channels and Strategic Initiatives at Extreme Networks. “With Extreme Partner First, we’re redefining the partner experience with a unified global deal model, radically simplified deal registration, and AI-powered automation across the lifecycle. Partners get clarity, speed, and protection—so they can operate more efficiently, invest with confidence, and deliver greater value to their customers while building long-term, profitable growth with Extreme.”

Channel Impact^®
Extreme Partner First is designed to strengthen partner engagement with a unified rebate structure, quicker deal approvals, clearer pricing and benefits, and AI tools.

11:11 Systems Completes Acquisition of Ntirety

11:11 Systems, a New Jersey-based managed infrastructure solutions provider, has announced the acquisition of Ntirety, a managed and professional IT services firm.

Recent changes made by Broadcom to the VMware Cloud Service Provider (“VCSP”) ecosystem has led former VCSPs to choose the best approach for them to assure their customers have ongoing access to VMware cloud infrastructure. Options include creating new partnerships, migrating or joining forces with VCSP.

“11:11 has been actively working with many former VCSPs to guarantee secure, compliant, high-performing cloud services and determine the best path forward for both their customers and their business,” said Brett Diamond, CEO of 11:11. “Ntirety has a strong global VMware business with incredible in-house expertise and amazing customers, and we are thrilled to welcome them to 11:11’s award-winning, resilient cloud platform.”

“Our strategy in optimizing the VCSP program is to focus our investments on a group of core partners with tremendous competencies like 11:11 Systems,” said Ricky Cooper, general manager of Global Cloud Service Providers and OEMs at Broadcom. “Their global footprint, VMware expertise, more than 6,000 customers and proven cloud, connectivity and security solutions position them to fully embrace our roadmap and innovation agenda and provide our joint customers with world-class service and support.”

“We chose 11:11 to take Ntirety’s business to the next level because of their deep experience in VMware-based environments, as well as their focus on security,” said Jim Parks, CEO of Ntirety.

Channel Impact^®
The acquisition marks the sixth purchase of an authorized VMware partner for 11:11 Systems, now one of the largest private VMware Cloud Service Provider partners.

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