Channel Madness Quarterfinal Results: Cisco’s Tuszik, HP’s Lannum Advance

Round 3 of the CRN Channel Madness Tournament saw Cisco’s Oliver Tuszik orchestrate a huge comeback in the Infrastructure region while HP’s Lannum claimed the Hardware crown.

The polls for the quarterfinal round of the 2020 CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs are closed, the tallies are final and the Enterprise Eight are about to learn their fate.

With titles up for grabs in the Infrastructure, Hardware, Cloud and Security regions, let's look at who's advancing to the Field of Four.

When we last checked in on the Infrastructure region matchup between Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Paul Hunter and Cisco Systems’ Oliver Tuszik, Hunter was well in the lead. But for the second time in the tournament, Tuszik was able to mount a late comeback, pulling out the victory with 56 percent of the vote to Hunter’s 44 percent.

Another close matchup materialized in the Hardware region, where HP Inc.’s Scott Lannum was able to fend off a second-half surge by Lenovo’s Rob Cato, blocking Cato’s bid for back-to-back appearances in the semifinals. Lannum hung on to with 57 percent of the vote to Cato’s 44 percent.

In the Security region, Check Point Software Technologies’ Frank Rauch was able to defend his lead against McAfee’s Ken McCray. Rauch won this one with 63 percent of the vote to McCray’s 37 percent.

And in the Cloud region, Veeam’s Kevin Rooney found a successful game plan against Microsoft’s Gavriella Schuster, winning with 76 percent of the vote to Schuster’s 24 percent.

So in the Field of Four, Cisco’s Oliver Tuszik will meet HP’s Scott Lannum, while Veeam’s Kevin Rooney will take on Check Point’s Frank Rauch.

Voting in the semifinal round opens today, Thursday, March 26 at 4:00 PM ET and will remain open until Monday, March 30 at noon ET. Then get ready for the final round, which kicks off later Monday.

Visit CRN.com/madness to cast your votes and choose your chief!