WatchGuard’s new CEO, Joe Smolarski, detailed why 2026 marks a pivotal turning point for the MSP landscape. WatchGuard is entering its 30th year with a fresh perspective under his leadership. He positioned the company’s unified security platform as a critical tool for SMB protection, integrating firewall, endpoint, and SOC capabilities to drastically reduce alert fatigue. He talked about WatchGuard’s AI-first roadmap, which leverages AI-native acquisitions and an AI-enabled SOC to deliver a six-minute mean time to response. His core mission is to lower partner operating costs through automation, empowering MSPs to transition from commodity IT providers to disciplined, security-first leaders.

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