If you run a US managed service provider and some of your clients are Canadian, those clients want data residency in Canada, and you need a Canadian location to offer it. That was the message Nezar Freeny, Founder and CEO of Amanah Tech, brought to US MSPs at MSP Summit 2026 in Orlando. This guide sets out his reasoning and what it means for how you host Canadian client data.
- Most US MSPs already serve Canadian clients, and those clients want their data kept in Canada. A Canadian footprint lets you say yes.
- PIPEDA lets personal information leave Canada, but your client stays accountable for it, so expect residency and disclosure terms in your contracts. Québec requires a privacy impact assessment before data leaves the province.
- Hosting in Canada settles where the data sits. It does not change the CLOUD Act obligations your US company carries.
- Nezar’s case for a Canadian foot: control, egress costs, security, proximity, US-dollar buying power, and not keeping all of your data in one country.
What did Amanah tell US MSPs at MSP Summit 2026?
Amanah Tech told US managed service providers to stop keeping all of their clients’ data in one country. Doug Green, publisher of Technology Reseller News, interviewed Nezar Freeny on the show floor. The 9:23 interview went up on YouTube on September 28, 2026, and Telecom Reseller ran it as a podcast article on September 29.
Channel Partners bills MSP Summit as the main US event for managed service providers. The 2026 edition ran at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando from September 28 to 30, and the program’s themes included selling AI as a service, MSP consolidation and security. Nezar aimed his message at US MSPs and the question of where their Canadian clients’ data should live.
“Don’t keep all of your data in one location. Geopolitics, things change, politics change, the dynamics of businesses change as well.” – Nezar Freeny, Founder and CEO, Amanah Tech
Why do your Canadian clients want their data kept in Canada?
Your Canadian clients want their data in Canada so they know which country’s laws apply to it and who can reach it. Nezar’s starting point was the US MSP’s own client base: most US MSPs already have Canadian clients, and those clients are now asking for a Canadian option.
“Most American MSPs, they do have clientele in Canada. And due to the politics and to the recent geopolitics shifts and dynamics, most Canadian businesses they require or they desire that their data stays in Canada. Therefore it is very important for all MSPs outside of Canada servicing Canadian businesses to have a local presence in Canada.” – Nezar Freeny, Founder and CEO, Amanah Tech
Three concerns sit behind the request:
- The US CLOUD Act lets US authorities require a US-based provider to disclose data in its possession, custody or control, wherever the servers sit. Some Canadian clients will ask who controls their data as well as where it is.
- PIPEDA keeps your client, the organization that collected the personal information, responsible for it while you process it, inside Canada or outside it.
- On a shared public cloud, your clients rarely see which hardware holds their data or who can access it. As Nezar put it, “you don’t really know who is controlling what.”
Moving a client’s data to a Canadian data centre answers the residency question, and if your US company keeps control of that data, the CLOUD Act can still reach it through you. Our guide to data sovereignty in Canada explains the difference between where data sits and who controls it.
What do Canadian data residency requirements mean for a US MSP?
No single federal law requires most private-sector businesses to keep data in Canada. PIPEDA permits transfers to service providers abroad, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada expects the transferring organization to protect that information by contract and to tell people their data may be processed in another jurisdiction. As the US provider, you are the party those contracts bind.
Two situations call for a closer look:
- Québec’s private-sector privacy law (section 17) requires a privacy impact assessment before personal information is communicated outside Québec. A Québec client sending data to your US systems has to do that assessment first.
- If your Canadian clients include government bodies, health organizations or financial institutions, read their contracts and sector rules for residency terms that go further than PIPEDA.
Whatever the legal position, expect a Canadian client’s lawyer or procurement team to ask where the data is stored, and have a Canadian address ready when they do.
Why are your clients moving workloads off the public cloud?
In the interview, Nezar said businesses are moving some workloads off public cloud to get back control of their data and a bill they can predict. He gave four reasons.
- Control: “Once you put the data on the cloud, and regardless of which provider you are using, you don’t have that control over it anymore.” On your own hardware, in a data centre you choose, you decide who has access to the server and its drives.
- Cost: public cloud sold itself as on-demand capacity, and in Nezar’s words the cost “became very prohibitive, as well as the backup of that data. Whenever you need your data back from the cloud providers, they charge you a lot of money.”
- Security: Nezar’s concern is that on shared platforms, the client depends on the provider’s controls and access policies instead of its own.
- Proximity: businesses want “a good data center very close to their office. Proximity is very important as well.” For a Canadian client, that points to a data centre in Canada.
Leave the workloads that suit public cloud where they are, and move the ones your clients need to control onto hardware in a location you choose. Our comparison of cloud repatriation and dedicated servers walks through that decision.
Why should a US MSP put a foot in Canada?
A Canadian location lets a US MSP keep its Canadian clients, spread its risk across two countries and, in Nezar’s view, get more from every US dollar. Doug Green asked Nezar what a US MSP gains from having at least one foot in Canada, and his first answer was cost.
“So the buying power is very important for US vendors. And being able to convert from US dollars to Canadian dollars gives them a very strong buying power.” – Nezar Freeny, Founder and CEO, Amanah Tech
His second reason was the one he chose as his message to the summit: diversify. A US MSP that hosts every client in one country carries the risk that one government or one provider changes the terms, and Nezar’s answer was to add Canada alongside the US:
“US is a huge market and they can capitalize on that, but I will also encourage them to consider the Canadian market and try to tap into the Canadian market. It’s a very strong and emerging market.” – Nezar Freeny, Founder and CEO, Amanah Tech
Colocation or dedicated servers: which fits a US MSP?
Colocation fits a US MSP that already owns its hardware. Dedicated servers fit a US MSP that wants Canadian capacity without buying or shipping equipment. Amanah Tech offers both from 151 Front Street West in Toronto, a building Telecom Reseller described as “one of Canada’s most important connectivity and data center locations.”
“We provide them with space, power and connectivity in a very secure location, which is 151.” – Nezar Freeny, Founder and CEO, Amanah Tech
A US MSP running Canadian infrastructure from the US needs good routes back to its own network and out to its clients. Amanah’s network runs across Cogent, Zayo, Beanfield and NetActuate, with BGP failover between them, and Amanah is a direct TORIX member, connected at 100G, with 230+ peers on the exchange. Cross-connects reach 400+ carriers, ISPs and enterprises in the building, and Amanah offers private connections to AWS, Azure and Google Cloud via Megaport.
| Colocation | Dedicated servers | |
| Who owns the hardware | You, the MSP | Amanah, leased to you |
| What Amanah provides | Space, power and connectivity | The equipment, plus space, power and connectivity |
| Up-front hardware spend | Your own servers and network gear, shipped to Toronto | None |
| Best for | US MSPs replicating a standard hardware stack in Canada | US MSPs testing Canadian demand or avoiding capital spend |
| Control | Full control of hardware and configuration | Control of the server; Amanah owns the asset |
For a longer side-by-side, read colocation vs dedicated servers, or see the options for Toronto colocation.
How should a US MSP set up a Canadian presence?
Start with the Canadian clients already asking about data residency, and size your Toronto data centre footprint to their workloads before you grow it.
- List your Canadian clients and the data you hold for them. Flag clients in Québec, the public sector, health or finance, where residency questions come up first.
- Decide which workloads must stay in Canada. Backups, file servers and client databases are common candidates.
- Choose colocation or dedicated servers based on whether you want to own and ship hardware.
- Pick a carrier-dense building. Your Canadian site needs good connectivity back to your US operations and out to your clients, so ask which upstream carriers and exchanges the provider uses and whether it offers private cloud on-ramps.
- Update your client contracts and privacy disclosures so they state where data is stored, who processes it and which company controls it.
You can watch Nezar’s full interview on Technology Reseller News.
Serving Canadian clients from the US?
Talk to Amanah about colocation or dedicated servers at 151 Front Street West in Toronto.
Questions about this topic
Most private-sector businesses in Canada are not required by federal law to keep data in the country. PIPEDA allows processing abroad, but your client stays accountable for the information and should tell people it may be processed in another jurisdiction. Québec requires a privacy impact assessment before personal information leaves the province, and public-sector, health and financial clients often have stricter contract terms.
No. The CLOUD Act lets US authorities require US-based providers to disclose data in their possession, custody or control, regardless of where it is stored. A Canadian data centre gives your client Canadian data residency, but if your US company controls the data, the CLOUD Act can still reach it through you. Explain that distinction to clients who ask.
Choose colocation if you already own your hardware and want to run the same stack in Canada; you ship your servers and the data centre provides space, power and connectivity. Choose dedicated servers if you want Canadian capacity without buying or shipping equipment; the provider supplies the hardware and leases it to you.
Yes. With dedicated servers there is no hardware for your team to ship, so you manage the servers remotely. With colocation you supply the equipment, so ask the provider what on-site support it offers, such as remote hands, before you commit.
Amanah Tech provides colocation and dedicated servers from 151 Front Street West in downtown Toronto. A US MSP can place its own hardware there under colocation or lease Amanah servers, and can book a tour of the facility before signing anything.