Nov 18, 2025

Cloud marketplace Pax8 has rolled out separate initiatives that include the launch of Pax8 Labs and an expanded partnership with Microsoft to strengthen managed service providers' AI capabilities. Pax8 Labs was created to focus on new initiatives that drive toward leadership in AI automation and implementation, starting with infrastructure for AI agent deployment for small- to medium-sized business (SMB) partners. It will accelerate agent adoption across the Pax8 ecosystem, bringing enterprise-grade AI capabilities, such as the Microsoft Agent Framework, to channel partners, thereby driving intelligence into the SMB market. As Microsoft and others evolve their agent strategies, Labs will rapidly deliver what MSPs need to deploy them, from technical infrastructure to business model innovation. Pax8 has been working towards enabling MSPs to help SMBs who are looking for trusted advisors to provide guidance on the adoption of agentic AI to automate and improve tasks. These SMBs are looking to create operational efficiencies to respond to market pressures. The marketplace's chief product officer, Libby McIlhany , said Pax8 Labs is about building for the future. “We believe MSPs are the key to bringing AI to millions of SMBs, and we're investing and experimenting early to make that possible,” she said. During EDGE 2025, McIlhany nobody is better positioned to solve the problems of operationalising AI for SMBs than MSPs. McIlhany said in her presentation Capitalising on AI to Grow into the Era of Managed Intelligence that today's managed service providers are going to be providing the context for the AI that they're going to be delivering to SMBs. “You know your SMBs' businesses as well as they do,” she said. “You're going to be having those deeper conversations with them and you're going to be providing the data and the information that AI agents need to be trained on.” McIlhany put to the MSPs that they were going to turn those abstract models into actionable business online systems. “You're already going to lean into the two languages that you speak today — … the language of business and the language of technology,” she said. For those MSPs who want to deliver AI-powered services, Pax8 Labs tackles technical challenges through research and development (R&D) that enables partners to profitably deploy AI agents across multiple clients. This includes multi-tenant orchestration, automatic cost attribution, agent coordination, dynamic integration learning and predictive budgeting. Pax8 Labs senior vice president Josh Dulberger reiterated the cloud marketplace provider's messaging around the need for MSPs to transform into managed intelligence providers. “Our team is building the infrastructure that makes this evolution possible—enabling MSPs to deploy AI agents across hundreds of clients with predictable economics and measurable outcomes,” he said. Expanding reach with Microsoft To expand MSP reach and revenue, Pax8 has created two key Microsoft initiatives that continue the ongoing collaboration and investment between the two companies. Pax8 is now integrating Microsoft's unified Marketplace, which combines AppSource and Azure Marketplace, into its own marketplace. This integration allows Pax8 partners to access, resell and deliver AI applications and agents on the Microsoft Marketplace, empowering partners to bundle third-party marketplace apps with their own services, software and hardware, as well as offer solutions that are pre-vetted for Microsoft compatibility, streamlining implementation and reducing deployment friction. To help partners understand what they are doing in the marketplace, Pax8 created OneCloud Guided Growth curriculum. The insights and resources will help partners to better sell and manage the entire Microsoft Cloud stack, including 110 courses and more than 20 learning paths aligned to partner maturity and growth goals. Unveiled at Pax8's Beyond EMEA 2025 conference in Amsterdam, OneCloud Guided Growth is a phased enablement journey that helps MSPs confidently transact across the full Microsoft Cloud stack, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Azure, Security, and Copilot. The five-phase curriculum includes Understand Best Practice, Build It Your Way, Get Buy-In, Implementation, and Inspect What You Expect, as well as tailored assessments across strategy, operations, technical readiness, sales, and go-to-market. Pax8 chief experience officer Craig Donovan said partners are looking for more than just tools; they want a roadmap to growth. “We are always looking for ways to enhance our partnership with Microsoft to benefit our collective partner ecosystem,” he said. “OneCloud Guided Growth equips MSPs with the strategy, support, and confidence to expand their Microsoft offerings and deliver transformative value to their customers.”