EarthLink is just one company that hopes the Channel will embrace VDI, virtual desktop infrastructure. "IndependenceITâ„¢ (iIT), provider of the Freedom desktop workspace, today announced at XChange Solution Provider 2012 that it has signed an agreement with EarthLink. Under the...
Miller Heiman, a sales training company (with a proprietary sales technique and process), acquired Channel Enablers in Australia last September. "Indirect channels now account for the majority of revenue in many industries and is the fastest growing sales route," says...
TDM is running out of runway. Agents have already switched to selling Ethernet, MPLS and SIP Trunking. What else can they be selling? Back-up, like Conferencing, is a cash cow that Agents just don't sell. From archiving email per federal...
Cbeyond laid off 200 employees last week. "The company said it is reducing its traditional entry level direct sales force by about half while building a new direct sales group dedicated to managing existing and new technology dependent customers."In...
At The CPZ, the rest of the panel were cloud guys (VAR's and Hosted UC). This is a snippet of the conversation where the panel is talking about how transactional telecom sales are dead, long live the Cloud! People deemed...
One of the panels last week at ITEXPO was titled Educating the Channel with Certifications. When you consider that as a founding board member and current VP of the Technology Channel Association, education is a primary objective, this topic was...
I blogged about Savvis/Qwest halting MMR commission to the Channel. However, Dale Tucker of the CenturyLink Channel program was at CVX before my panel telling me his people had read the blog post and that I was wrong. CenturyLink/Savvis/Qwest are...
It started out coincidentally as VAR Dynamics CEO, Tony Francisco, was on my plane this morning. And he just recently moved from Silicon Valley to Tampa Bay, where I live. He is working with Gazelle Labs and spoke at BarCamp...
Next week is ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami Beach at the convention center. I arrive around 11 AM on Tuesday for Editor's Day. There are a number of all-day events going on Tuesday like InsightPRM's Sales Management training and...
In what other business industry would make it so flaming difficult to give revenue to?CenturyLink just issued Channel Rules of Engagement (part II): “CenturyLink Channel Alliance, in conjunction with the Savvis Alliances partner program, has developed Phase II of the...
I just received confirmation that channel compensation for hosting under CenturyLink will no longer be residual. Savvis, which is owned by CenturyLink, took over management of the Qwest Cyber Centers.At a time when cloud providers want agents selling, data center...
So here is the new strategy for the Channel for Level3.“Late 2011 was a busy time for the Level 3 Indirect Channel. Our first priority after the acquisition closed was to determine a partner program structure that best supports...
Yesterday I mentioned that Gladstone is the new landlord for one of Expedient’s data centers. Today, zColo (of the Zayo Group) “acquired MarquisNet’s data-center business in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 28,000 square foot data center, located at 7185 Pollock Drive,...
It seems that the channel execs - including master agents - are betting on VAR's to be the salvation for sales in the future. I can see a piece of that perspective. The tradition agent is transactional and slow to...
Here’s my take on the Top 11 stories in telecom of 2011.1. Shane McNamara being named VP of the Indirect Channel at XO. It was a shock pick for many in the industry.2. TNCI Bankruptcy! I understand that the reseller...
I don’t mean the AT&T-T-Mobile merger, although that is just one battle in the war for cellular supremacy. (Other battles are Sprint with Clearwire, Sprint with the cablecos and the MVNO model.)“Former T-Mobile CMO Denny Post says carriers should focus...
Not many people knew that Level3 owned a coal mining operation. It was sold off last week. I do not know if L3 still owns the software integration business. (I can't find any indications in the earnings reports.)According to the...
2011 has yielded some surprising momentum for the Channel. With the cable industry, cloud providers and so many other companies making more commitments to the Channel. I think that there are 3 things we need to watch for in The...
EarthLink is buying two divisions from Synergy Global Solutions: its IT Solution Center, a 24-7 help desk and network operations center, and its cloud-hosted application business, according to Buffalo News.EarthLink gets relationships with about 120 VAR’s that laready sell the...
Recently, I learned that a Channel Manager is also an Agent. I asked him about it and his reply: Who better to manage agents than an agent. It makes sense on the surface (like partison). And it is not uncommon....
There has been some buzz on twitter about the telcos working on bettering the customer experience. Despite JD Powers awards, the average customer is not happy.Those that are still on Telco 1.0 with POTS and DSL do not have a special relationship. And...
How does an agent distinguish between five CLEC's if the channel heads of those five companies spend much of an hour saying, "I agree" and "What she said". That's what happened at the carrier executive panel at the Microcorp One-on-One...
One of the great lessons in the Cloud is how do you sell it?It all comes down to the messaging (marketing or story you are telling) and the sales approach (or technique). Sitting with Jeff Uphues of Cbeyond Cloud today...
This was a topic in Chicago last week: Is the Transactional Agent Model dying? It isn’t dying because the telecom business is such a commodity. Dumb pipes will always be a commodity. That’s why managed servcies was invented. (Unfortunately, that...
Taking a cue from Jon Arnold, here’s what I have going on at ITEXPO West 2011 in Austin (a move from Los Angeles in previous years):While I will miss the chance to hit Manhattan Beach for some beach volleyball, this...