CRN Channel Madness Quarterfinals: Can VMware's Rauch, Microsoft's Flinders Rally?

The quarterfinals of the CRN Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs are underway and some of these Enterprise Eight match-ups are already lopsided.

In the Software region, where IBM's Marc Dupaquier continues to drum up support on Twitter for his face-off against Microsoft's Jenni Flinders, Dupaquier has come out strong and leads 74 percent to 26 percent.

Is a blowout brewing in the Cloud region? Verizon's Adam Famularo has jumped out to an early lead against VMware's Frank Rauch, where Famularo has playing all-out since tip-off and leads 74 percent to 26 percent. Rauch has been one of the fiercest competitors in this tournament, so don't expect him to go quietly.

Things are a lot tighter in the Infrastructure region, where Shannon Sbar of APC by Schneider Electric is ahead of F5's Jim Ritchings 53 percent to 47 percent. Both of these executives have orchestrated major upsets in earlier rounds, so we'll see which one can make it to the semifinals.

Will the Hardware crown go to Sophos's Mike Valentine or Ruckus's Ron Gill? As it sits, Valentine has the advantage in this one, leading 58 percent to 42 percent.

Voting in Round 3 remains open until noon ET on Thursday, April 2, so you have less than 24 hours to visit CRN.com/madness, where you can cast your votes and choose your chiefs.

PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2015