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| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

March 2016

You are browsing the archive for March 2016.

Telecom Tidbits (Part 2431)

March 29, 2016

On Friday (April 1), Frontier takes over Verizon's territory in Florida, Cali and Texas. "The $10.5 billion acquisition is a big move for Frontier.... The company's current workforce of 19,200 will increase to about 29,200 and its customer base will jump from 3.4 million people to 7.1 million. The move will also boost Frontier's annual revenue from $5.6 billion to $11.4 billion." [source]

Culture and Innovation

March 28, 2016

Samsung execs want to change the culture of its 300,000 employee company. Samsung wants to be more entrepreneurial. They want that start-up feel - the flexibility, the innovation, the ability to react quickly to customer needs.

It is a challenge to change the culture of any business, let alone a global company with 300K employees.

A Word About Your Elevator Pitch

March 22, 2016

If I have to ask: Is it like this? You: No.

Is it like that? You: No.

Then you need to work on YOUR pitch some more.

Game Over: Comcast and Amazon!

March 21, 2016

The game is over and cable wins.

Comcast may fear competition and bill people for services that they did not receive, but they do have a $6B CLEC business. Most carriers can't say that.

Now the broadband game is changing.

Channel Strategy: A Quick Look

March 21, 2016

Often I hear from channel execs that Agents aren't the future because they aren't moving to selling cloud and managed services fast enough. It is always the MSPs and VARs that will be the partners of the future.

Funny how different vendors are trying different things. Fonality is placing bets on both sides as they announced both a distribution deal with Ingram Micro and an exclusive deal with The (Agent) Alliance.

Change or Die

March 18, 2016

Verizon's VP Janet Schijns gave a presentation about Millennials and the Channel. A majority of the polled Millennials did not know what a Channel Partner was. Change or Die. (I thought when Tiffani Bova left Gartner, we would have heard the last of that message, but alas it is still the drum beating.)

It isn't that most partners do NOT want to change.

What Happens in Vegas

March 17, 2016

At the Channel Partners Expo in Vegas, rumors are running wild. Metaswitch-Genband being settled in patent court. Polycom-Mitel cuz money.

Another Broadsoft client gets bought. MagicJack (yes, magicjack) decides to over-bid in order to not be the bridesmaid again.

2 Reasons It is Hard to Sell UC

March 14, 2016

Despite the numerous UC providers crowding the marketplace, the actual sales of UC seats is not skyrocketing. Companies with 25% growth like 8x8, number in the dozens, not in the hundreds.

For some, it is a focus-message mess. They want to appeal to everyone - and that market is already taken.

The Work-Life Balance

March 10, 2016

It is said that if you love what you do, that is the perfect work-life balance. Unfortunately, not many people love what they do. In fact, very few do.

Buddy: "Robert Scoble leaving Rackspace for UploadVR to explore augmented and virtual reality (story here)."

What Are They Feeding Enterprise?

March 9, 2016

After a 27 hour trip to Enterprise Connect, I can safely say that we have an unqualified me-too business. Video conferencing and collaboration - now called meetings and workflow - were printed on every booth. Here is what I saw.

Cisco demonstrated Spark, which I thought was for SMB, but is being pitched to Enterprise especially with its big hook into Salesforce.

On the DSCI Buy with TelePacific's David Zahn

March 7, 2016

Full Circle: Switch.co Re-Names as Dialpad

March 7, 2016

In 2001, Craig Walker was President of Dialpad. In 2005, Dialpad was acquired by Yahoo, where it went to die. Craig later founded Grand Central and sold that to Google for Google Voice. Then Craig started UberConference, Waitlist.me and Switch.co.

The Channel Has Changed, Have You?

March 4, 2016

In 1999, the telecom channel was mainly agents and inter-connects, primarily selling voice. When I went to Orlando for BellSouth product training on Orange Avenue, most agets weren't interested in Frame Relay or ATM or DIA.

Today, it is a hot mix of partners selling a broad spectrum of products. There are still grey haired T1 slingers at the shows, but there are new partners in the mix (which have been labeled "Born in the Cloud").

TelePacific Goes National

March 2, 2016

TelePacific announced the acquisition of DSCI yesterday. This move provides many benefits to the service provider.

For one, it gives TPAC a national presence. TPAC's business (and network) is in Cali, Nevada and Texas.

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