CenturyLink is helping partners expand their business across the pond, and NetSuite is helping its partners do more.

Our September channel program recap features a rich array of vendors and distributors looking to the future. Intelisys announced a new track to help its partners pursue a next-generation technology, and F5 revamped its partner program in line with the company’s software push.

We also heard from Windstream about what it’s doing to gain momentum with partners during its bankruptcy. And Pax8 is pulling out all the stops as it builds a team that caters both to both agent and MSP partners.

Scroll through the 12 images below to see how the channel landscape is shifting.

Missed last month’s gallery? View the August edition here.

Windstream

Windstream gave partners a new incentive as part of its channel "reinvestment."

The company implemented a 5% additional residual incentive, according to Curt Allen, Windstream Enterprise’s president of strategic channels. That change, alongside strategic SD-WAN and UCaaS deals and wins, have "created meaningful increases in pipeline and sales."

Edward Gately caught up with Allen for an update on Windstream's channel program and the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

Read the Q&A.

CenturyLink

CenturyLink partners in North America can now more easily pursue business in other continents.

The carrier expanded its channel program to include new account teams and support in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). CenturyLink's vice president of indirect sales said a driver for the change was when two important channel partners began operating in the United Kingdom. He said CenturyLink's channel has become "a very mature business" that is ripe for expansion.

Edward Gately has the details.

Pax8

Pax8 is bulking up its market development team and seeking out partner feedback as it tackles "convergence."

The cloud distributor, which is looking to bridge the gap between the traditional agent and MSP channels, announced four new hires. The company also is engaging in councils with partners and suppliers.

The company earlier this year announced that Andrew Pryfogle was coming on board from Intelisys to lead the initative.

Read what Pryfogle told Channel Futures about convergence.

Intelisys

The master agent added a new certification to help partners tap into the increasingly juicy wireless/IoT opportunity.

The online certification track is part of the Intelisys Cloud Services University. Partners will learn about how they can position themselves within specific industries to make the most of the opportunity.

Broad Sky Networks and Viasat are among the track's sponsors.

Read more about the certification.

Nitel

A new Nitel program gives select partners free marketing support and resources.

Created with the goal of providing a “hands-off” marketing experience, the Partner Accelerator Program offers custom email campaigns, web copy and other resources. Nitel's vice president of marketing said partners typically dedicate resources and bodies to sales and operational efforts at the expense of "a comprehensive marketing effort."

Qualifying partners will work with a Nitel partner marketing manager.

Get details on the program.

Bigleaf

Bigleaf Networks is dedicating part of a $21 million funding round to growing its MSP channel.

The Oregon-based SD-WAN vendor will hire more MSP-fcused team managers and host MSP-focused events, according to CEO Joel Mulkey. Mulkey vendor will also invest in its agent channel, which currently generates approximately 80% of the company's revenue.

The $21 million came from a Series B funding round led by a group of investors.

Learn more about the funding round.

F5

F5 Networks unveiled is new F5 Unity program.

The program's architects said it will reward partners for trying out new business models and solution sets. Software and services are two directions that F5 is particularly interested in steering its partners, as the vendor continues to move toward multicloud services.

Read about why F5 changed its partner program.

NetSuite

Oracle-owned NetSuite is priming its partners to own a big share of the company's growth over the next few years.

A NetSuite executive speculated that the vendor's indirect business may grow faster than the direct side over the next three to five years. To that end, NetSuite is working to eliminate channel conflict and ensure that its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform is easily customizable.

"We’re trying to enable mini NetSuites among our channel and that’s a big part of what we are doing," another executive said.

Oracle acquired NetSuite for $9.3 billion in 2016.

Read Todd Weiss' article at Channel Futures.

K2

K2 Software launched Solution Showcase, which helps customers evaluate and deploy automation solutions.

Solution Showcase is part of K2's existing partner program. VARs, ISV and technology partners are among the partner types that will utilize the Solution Showcase to bring K2-powered software solutions to market.

K2 provides "low-code" application development.

Read about K2.

Remediant

The privileged access management (PAM) provider and its new global head of channels are creating the company's first partner program.

Bryan Copeland is leading the changes, which for now includes signing up partners and building a partner portal. VARs, distributors, MSSPs and system integrators will join the program.

Read more about Remediant.

DigitalOcean

The developer cloud is supporting MSPs, web development agencies and other partners with a new program.

400-plus partners are in the SMB-geared organization, which DigitalOcean piloted earlier this year. A DigitalOcean executive told us that the time had come for the company formalize a program to help its partners capitalize on cloud migration trends.

Learn more about the company and its program.

Axcient

The business availability and cloud migration solutions provider launched a lead generation program geared toward MSPs.

All Axcient partners can access the free lead-gen program, which attacks the MSP pain point of landing new customers. They access the program through the new Axcient marketing portal. 

Read Axcient's announcement.

Critical Start, the Texas-based company that built its own managed detection and response (MDR) platform, has shifted its go-to-market strategy to be completely focused on the channel.

Critical Start said it has been investing in its channel to expand nationally and capitalize on its accelerating MDR growth.

Dwayne Myers, Critical Start’s vice president of channels and alliances, tells us his company wanted to expand beyond its current primary markets, which are Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Critical Start’s Dwayne Myers

“Our MDR business grew 300% in 2018 so in order to take that to the next level we want to expand nationally,” he said. “We also wanted to align more closely with our technology partners in the MDR stack (Carbon Black, Palo Alto Networks, Cylance, Microsoft and so on) so that it is easier for partners to sell our MDR in conjunction with our technology partners.”

Critical Start has signed distribution agreements with Ingram Micro and Synnex, giving the MDR provider access to their nationwide networks of cybersecurity resellers. It also is in discussion with additional distributors and resellers to increase its presence in specific geographic regions as well as industry verticals, including state and local governments, manufacturing, and banking and finance, which are increasingly targeted by ransomware and other security threats.

Critical Start’s MDR deals now will go through the channel and its MDR sales representatives will work directly with reseller partners on opportunity-based deal registration. Critical Start’s enhanced channel program also will include market development funds and partner-specific training, as well as tools and technology for partner sales enablement.

The strategy shift will make it easier for partners because it is a very similar sales and go-to-market process with the companies in Critical Start’s MDR stack, Myers said.

“For example, a Palo Alto Networks partner selling XDR licensing can also sell our MDR licensing to a customer at the same time,” he said. “It will also help resellers to streamline when they are selling our tech stack partners and our MDR together. Customers will benefit by having fewer partners to work with when buying the solution, too.”

Critical Start wants to make sure that customers on a national level are able to “operationalize their investments in these advanced endpoint protection and detection/response technologies,” Myers said.

Patrick Zanella, security practice lead with Integration Partners, a Critical Start partner, said the new all-channel strategy means Critical Start has made a commitment to the channel because it realizes the increased exposure the channel brings to more companies and a larger market.

“Our teams know that when they work with Critical Start folks in their area, they’re not competing for the same business, they’re partnering for the same business,” he said.

Critical Start’s MDR services support a wide range of enterprise security technology partners such as Palo Alto, Carbon Black, Cylance, Microsoft and Splunk.

Super Micro Computer, the global provider of server hardware, has revamped its partner program to better help partners with go-to-market strategies, sales enablement, marketing efforts and more.

The expanded program provides partners the necessary resources to deliver optimized solutions based on Super Micro’s portfolio of resource-saving servers and storage solutions, the company said. The partner network includes resellers, systems integrators (SIs) and technology integrators.

Super Micro’s Michael McNerney

Michael McNerney, Super Micro‘s vice president of marketing and network security, tells Channel Partners his company has built an active global partner community over the 26 years since its founding.

“Much of our annual revenues come from our partner and reseller channel,” he said. “The announcement highlights that we have increased support for our partners with online assets, co-branding materials, marketing assets; and reaffirms our industry reputation for early-access to systems and solutions.”

The program now includes: expanded online and in-person training hosted by Super Micro product managers and system engineers; increased testing and validation of the latest customer solutions using Super Micro products in onsite labs or through remote systems; and advanced access to first-to-market and to first-generation products.

“We provide Super Micro assets – logos, ads, images – for partners to leverage in their marketing campaigns,” McNerney said. “We also provide technology and product training materials to educate reseller teams and their customers. Super Micro has a flexible and open partner program. We focus our attention on common industry program challenges like pre- and post-sales activities, marketing programs, and driving mutual revenue. The new website and other programs were developed to accelerate the sales process and support our global customers.”

“Nextron is happy to be working with Super Micro as they launch their partner enabling program,” said Geir Elstad, Nextron AS‘s CEO. “The product videos will be useful in training our employees and keeping our knowledge up to date. We are also pleased that marketing assets such as product photos and Super Micro-branded material are readily available.”

Fusion Connect, which filed chapter 11 bankruptcy this summer, wants to continue doing business with all of its partners and has offered them new agreements.

The company plans to emerge from chapter 11 before the end of the year. Kevin Brand, most recently Fusion’s senior vice president of customer experience, has been named interim CEO, succeeding Matthew Rosen, who has resigned from the position.

Fusion filed chapter 11 after its acquisitions of MegaPath and Birch Communications’ cloud and business-services business failed to meet performance projections. Its lenders will own the business when it emerges from bankruptcy.

Michael Fair, Fusion’s senior vice president of channels and alliances, tells Channel Partners a top priority in developing the company’s plans for emerging from chapter 11 has been to conduct a comprehensive review of its channel program with a “clear focus on making it easier and more profitable to do business with us.”

Fusion Connect’s Michael Fair

“We’re excited to announce that we’re planning to launch our new program in early January following our expected emergence before the end of the year,” he said. “To prepare for that launch and initiate the first of many planned advances in our program, we’ve offered all of our partners the opportunity to enter into a single agreement that consolidates the various agreements many partners had in place following the integration of our three legacy companies — Fusion, Birch and MegaPath. We’re confident that this will make it far easier to work with us by standardizing terms, commissions and commitments for new sales, as well as to provide consistent support across all services and regions. The new agreements will help lead to even stronger, more enduring and successful relationships with our loyal partners.”

Master agent contracts will be slightly different to reflect their size and scope, Fair said.

Fusion Connect’s Kevin Brand

“We are consolidating the multiple contracts partners currently have, standardizing payment dates, and providing the opportunity for increased commissions that incent sales of our strategic products, including UCaaS, SD-WAN and security,” he said. “Other basic terms and conditions will not change. Additionally, we’re offering new agreements to a number of partners representing less than 5% of our commissionable revenue, who have been inactive with us or who have produced very little new business over a long period. We’re asking them to re-engage with us by selling a minimal amount of recurring new revenue. This will allow them to continue receiving commission payments and remain as direct partners in our new program. Those partners who fall in this category and are active with master agents will also be able to roll their bases to the master of their choice on a case-by-case basis.”

Fusion’s goal is to have all new amendments and agreements signed by the end of October, Fair said.

“We’re also are implementing very reasonable objectives for incremental sales and customer retention consistent with industry best practices for channel management,” he said.

Brand tells Channel Partners “all of us at Fusion are looking forward to 2020 to pursue our strategic vision to find even more ways to build and grow with our partners, who are so critical to our continued success.”

“The actions we’ve taken throughout this process will provide …

ZOOMTOPIA — Zoom Video Communications on Tuesday unveiled major expansions to its video-first unified communications (UC) platform, new integrations and partnerships, and three new partner support programs.

The announcements were made during this week’s Zoomtopia 2019, Zoom’s annual user conference. All capabilities will be available by the end of January 2020, with many available now.

Zoom’s UC platform provides video meetings, voice, webinars and chat across desktops, phones, mobile devices and conference room systems in a single client experience. Zoom is expanding the capabilities of this cloud video PBX platform with new and coming innovations.

Laura Padilla, Zoom‘s head of global business development and channel, tells Channel Partners the innovations “just make our story a lot stronger with partners from a sales perspective, further enhancing our competitive advantage when partners are positioning Zoom with customers.”

Zoom’s Laura Padilla

“You will see with Zoom Rooms specifically and our new hardware partnerships that our partners can now enhance their services offerings and their hardware offerings as well when they sell Zoom Rooms in conjunction with our new hardware partnerships,” she said. “That will allow further expansion in their revenue stream with those hardware partners as well as the services they’re able to deliver in conjunction with Zoom Rooms.”

GTT and Voxbone have joined the Zoom Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) program, which allows Zoom Phone customers to keep their current PSTN service provider. These partners provide new direct on-net brokered SIP peering for Zoom Phone customers.

In addition, Genesys, NICE inContact and Talkdesk have joined the Zoom Contact Center Partner Program. Native integrations allow on-net SIP trunk peering and provide call routing options to cloud contact center platforms. Five9 and Twilio are existing members of this program.

“There will be much more opportunities for partners to provide services around our phone offering as well,” Padilla said. “Because we’re further enhancing our platform and product story, we’re now adding partnerships as a result.”

Since it launched at Zoomtopia 2018, developers have published more than 160 apps to the Zoom App Marketplace. New and coming to Zoom’s portfolio of enterprise integrations and apps are: Zoom for Microsoft —integrations into security-related services such as NICE; and a ServiceNow integration with automatic ticketing and Zoom Chat notification to quickly resolve any issues in Zoom Rooms.

Also at Zoomtopia, Zoom launched three new programs for partners: a reseller partners marketing development funds (MDF) program; an updated certified integrator program; and an updated certified hardware program.

“The MDF program will allow partners to be able to do more marketing and demand-generation programs around Zoom,” Padilla said. “We’re going to further enhance our partner portal with more training and capabilities to our partners for enablement for themselves. We are still in recruitment mode for partners, especially internationally, and so you’ll be hearing a lot more around that as well. And then it’s just an evolution of our overall channel story and ecosystem. As our product is evolving, so will our partner needs and how we further enhance those partnerships and support them.”

Also at Zoomtopia, Poly announced …

BCN is rewarding partner effort and loyalty with a new program.

BCN’s Julian Jacquez

The BCN Partner Excellence Program will measure and recognize its partners based on six achievement tiers, assessing partners on a quarterly basis and reward them for reaching a particular tier.

Company executives say the new program is part of BCN’s customer experience initiative.

“Our team is committed to an excellent experience for all BCN sales partners. Those recognized within the BCN Partner Excellence Program have demonstrated a true commitment to the relationship and are especially deserving of the very best experience we can deliver,” said Julian Jacquez, BCN president and chief operating officer. “We would love nothing more than to have sales partners advance through all the tiers, and our team will continue to develop new and innovative ways to reward success within this program.”

BCN’s Richard Boudria Jr.

BCN chairman and CEO Richard Boudria Jr. said his company is formally recognizing its partners’ nationwide success.

“BCN was built by partners, for partners over the last 25 years. Our relationships recognized within this new program are at the heart of our business and we are extremely grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community,” Boudria said.

Source: LinkedIn

BCN builds solutions for customers with multiple locations and networks. The company in July signed a partnership with Telarus to take advantage’s of the master agent’s 4,000-plus subagent base. The company has bulked up its staff to better support its master agent relationships.

RingCentral has named ConvergeOne a platinum partner.

The UCaaS provider will offer exclusive training and support to the IT services provider, which will function as a “strategic” partner and sell RingCentral’s cloud communications, collaboration and contact center products.

John Lyons, ConvergeOne’s field organization president, said his company has attained a net promoter score (NPS) of 70. He said ConvergeOne’s cloud and managed services fit well with RingCentral’s UC and collaboration technologies.

“We are delighted to continue to build upon our strategic partnership with RingCentral by joining its Platinum Partner Program,” Lyons said.

Congratulations, @Converge_One on being accepted into the exclusive @RingCentral Partner Program! We couldn’t win in the #cloud without partners like you! https://t.co/FxI3mTctjm

— Lisa Del Real (@DelRealLisa) October 22, 2019

“ConvergeOne understands the changing market dynamics from the world of legacy on-premises systems to the new cloud solutions, and we’re thrilled they have selected RingCentral as their strategic unified communications as a service (UCaaS) solutions partner,” said Zane Long, RingCentral’s senior vice president of global channel sales at RingCentral. “Together with ConvergeOne, we look forward to helping the customers that are interested in transforming their companies and leveraging the cloud solutions for their business.”

Source: LinkedIn

ConvergeOne earlier this month announced a midmarket UCaaS initiative in partnership with Avaya, Cisco and RingCentral.

RingCentral last week announced a partnership with the distributor Synnex. We would remiss if we did not mention the company’s recent strategic agreement with Avaya. RingCentral is paying about $500 million to serve as Avaya’s exclusive UCaaS solution provider.

Check out what Amanda Jardine, RingCentral’s channel programs’ director, told us about the vendor’s channel expansion plans.

Ubiq Security has announced a new channel program and a new channel chief.

The vendor on Tuesday announced the Ubiq Security Partner Program, which serves solution providers, integrators, managed security service providers (MSSPs) and IoT security providers. Longtime cybersecurity sales leader Steve Pataky will lead the program as chief channel officer and head of Americas sales.

Ubiq Security’s Steve Pataky

Pataky said he looks forward to working with a “data-first” and “channel-first” company.

“Ubiq was built with partnering at the forefront. It’s clear how Ubiq’s 100% software platform is primed to help customers drive real business outcomes and in doing so, allows our partners to show their value add,” Pataky said. “This is a massive opportunity for partners to monetize their security practices incrementally, by truly securing the data, not just by adding another layer to the perimeter.”

Pataky said the program will remove administrative burdens for partners when onboarding new solutions. He told Channel Partners that partners can help customers by positioning the Ubiq platform as a tool to drive business outcomes and gain a competitive advantage.

“We know that CISOs and IT leaders are now being held accountable to enable the business and drive business results — not just provide infrastructure, connectivity or security. And we also know that data is at the heart of driving innovation and positive outcomes for all enterprises, regardless of industry or size,” he said. “With Ubiq’s unique data-first security platform, partners can give their customers the ability to free their data in a fully transparent and secure way, without any impact to performance.”

Thrilled to join Ubiq Security and the mission to enable our customers to secure any type of data, on any device, anywhere. Fast, transparent, without impacting performance. Check out how we can help you build a data-first security strategy.https://t.co/eXDX0LapVX

— Steve Pataky (@sppataky) October 22, 2019

Pataky most recently served as senior vice president and chief revenue officer at SonicWall.

Ubiq Security’s Wias Issa

He also worked as Dell Security’s vice president of worldwide security sales and led FireEye’s worldwide channels and alliances. Other past employers include Juniper Networks and Vertical Networks. Ubiq Security CEO Wias Issa, who joined the company last year, worked alongside Pataky at SonicWall and FireEye.

Issa said his company needs a “rich partner ecosystem” in order to quickly and transparently secure all data types on all device types.

“Partnering DNA runs deep at Ubiq. The team has decades of collective experience in building security channels, supporting partners, and working to drive mutually successful outcomes,” Issa said.

The San Diego-based company was founded in 2012.

Extreme Networks just enhanced one of its tools and announced a prestigious Broadcom partnership.

The vendor has rebranded the HiveManager cloud management application it got through the purchase of Aerohive Networks. HiveManager is now ExtremeCloud IQ and will support Extreme’s wired edge switching solutions.

Extreme also is giving ExtremeCloud IQ an automation capability called Co-Pilot. The new feature will be available later this year and for no charge until April.

Extreme Networks’ Abby Strong

“It’s akin to having an extra team member that works around the clock and helps execute the most-time intensive tasks,” said Abby Strong, Extreme Networks’ vice president of product marketing.

The vendor is launching a partner specialization for ExtremeCloud IQ, according to Gordon Mackintosh, vice president of worldwide channels. Mackintosh said approximately partners have participated in trainings to earn the specialization.

Extreme Networks’ Gordon Mackintosh

“We believe that we can enable partners really quickly and get them going quickly,” Mackintosh said.

The fastest path to the autonomous enterprise is here. ExtremeCloud IQ automates end-to-end network operations, unlocks new analytics, scales faster, and secures the network while optimizing the end-user and application experience. https://t.co/yzGv59cnvd #Cloud pic.twitter.com/TJ9r953Ff5

— Extreme Networks (@ExtremeNetworks) October 23, 2019

The company also announced it’s now a Broadcom preferred enterprise campus networking provider. Extreme will build new hardware with Broadcom chips inside and has special access to certain Broadcom resources. The companies will unveil a validated campus networking design later this year. Read their full agreement.

Broadcom has been working with Extreme for more than 20 years, according to Broadcom senior vice president and chief sales officer Charlie Kawwas.

“Extreme has an extensive lineup of leading campus networking solutions, verified leadership in the enterprise wired and wireless LAN market for innovations in fabric networking, Wi-Fi access solutions, and IoT security,” Kawwas said. “Coupled with our best-in-class networking products, Extreme customers will have access to some of the most innovative solutions in the marketplace.”

Strong said Extreme’s flexibility is one of the reasons Broadcom selected it. The company prides itself on being able to provide the most customized solutions, she said.

“One size does not fit all. And that’s one of the things that I’ve really loved since coming here: this ability to mix and match the services that we offer — the hardware platform integrated with best-of-breed software application with a focus on being open and flexible,” she said.

Strong said the revamped ExtremeCloud IQ application and the Broadcom partnership news validate where Extreme is going in the market.

“Not only are we really embracing our cloud-driven strategy to be the industry’s first and best cloud-driven, end-to-end networking vendor, but it allows us to create that differentiation and extend it to our partner base so that they can use that to provide additional value to their customers,” she said.

Extreme launched an MSP specialization earlier this year along with multiple new rebates.

PRESS RELEASE — ORLANDO, Fla. and TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 28, 2019 — SkySwitch, the leading channel-only white label Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) platform provider, has introduced new features to its reseller focused, white-label Advanced SIP Trunking program. The updated service provides resellers with all the tools needed to begin selling SIP trunks quickly, creating another source of recurring revenue for their business.

SkySwitch Resellers can sell SkySwitch’s Advanced SIP trunks to end-users through an online storefront, that can be customized and branded, through the main SkySwitch Reseller dashboard. Resellers now can customize everything from pricing and verbiage to branding and website design.

This new version of the storefront also makes it easier for resellers to sell SIP Trunks because it is configured not only for end-users to purchase them, but also to support the SIP trunks they sell. By allowing end-users to manage phone numbers and call-forwarding, they have great control and flexibility. The online storefront is also automatically configured for secure and efficient billing, including integration with Rev.io, a top innovator in usage-rating and billing. Integration with Rev.io takes the hassle out of complicated telecom taxes.

“User experience and user adoption are pivotal to the success of implementing and selling new technologies, which is why we’re excited to announce SkySwitch’s new advanced SIP Trunking program,” said Eric Hernaez, Founder and President of SkySwitch. “Being able to completely customize a consumer-facing online storefront from within the Reseller dashboard, which resellers utilize on a daily basis, makes it easy to go to market quickly. And, the simplicity for our resellers’ customers and prospective customers to purchase and manage SIP trunks entirely on their own results in an enhanced user experience.”

About SkySwitch
SkySwitch is the US-based, next-generation communications platform provider offering white-labeled Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) solutions to telecommunication and business technology resellers across North America. Customers include MSPs, agents, interconnects, ISPs, WISPs and VARs. SkySwitch provides resellers with the competitive advantages required to succeed in today’s overcrowded marketplace by combining best-in-class customer support, with an advanced cloud-based UCaaS platform, delivering feature-rich voice, video, text and fax communications. 

About Vectors 2019

Vectors 2019 is SkySwitch’s annual user group conference developed to provide SkySwitch’s customers with valuable training and content. Attendees can take advantage of networking opportunities with SkySwitch partners, resellers and industry experts while sharpening their skills and learning about the latest tech advancements in the UCaaS industry.

GTT Communications is hiring new channel managers as it pushes for organic growth.

Ernie Ortega, GTT’s division president of the Americas, said the company’s commitment to organic growth is why it’s hiring more than 100 new sales people and more than a dozen new channel managers. The ISP has made approximately 30 acquisitions over the last 10-12 years, including Interoute and Hibernia Networks, and is slowing down on the M&A front.

GTT is earning about 30% of business in the Americas through indirect distribution, according to Ortega, and he said he would like to see that number reach 40% or higher.

GTT’s Ernie Ortega

“Our channel is well positioned to do that. And we have a product that resonates. The value proposition resonates well. And now that we’re hiring more channel managers, I see no reason why we couldn’t achieve that,” Ortega said.

Ortega joined GTT this summer after leaving Towerstream, where he was the chief executive officer. He has also worked for Colt, Cogent and XO. He told Channel Partners that he found GTT’s value proposition of serving global enterprises attractive and is committed to winning new opportunities in the enterprise.

Ortega said the combination of a Tier 1 IP backbone coupled with 3,500-plus regional access suppliers gives an attractive value proposition to enterprises with locations in different countries.

“Essentially what we have to offer with the enterprise space is our ability to connect all of your locations through the aggregation of our relationships,” he said.

He pointed to SD-WAN as a key opportunity and one of the biggest technology refreshes since the MPLS about 10 years ago.

“Now those MPLS networks are moving toward an SD-WAN,” Ortega said. “All of your enterprises are really starting to make those decisions, and that’s where we’re starting to focus a lot of our efforts.”

Ortega said an SD-WAN deal illustrates how a GTT channel relationship works. The SD-WAN’s complexity and lack of standards means that partners work hand in hand with GTT and the GTT channel manager to deliver a solution.

“That creates an even deeper partnership and relationship, because you’re really counting on the expertise that GTT brings, as well as the relationships that the agents have with all of the enterprises under their purview,” he said.

Ortega praised the work of Rob Westervelt, whom GTT promoted in January to lead channel sales in the Americas.

“When you boil it down, the channel candidly is starting to flourish within our company. And right now, I couldn’t be happier about it,” Ortega said.

8×8, Poly and ScanSource are teaming up to provide VARs with an easier way to migrate their customers from legacy on-premises business communication systems to cloud-based communication solutions.

The new joint, global CloudFuel program will be offered through the ScanSource network of more than 35,000 resellers and will provide access through their direct relationships to hundreds of thousands of customers globally. It combines UCaaS and CCaaS solutions on 8×8’s technology platform, equipment from Poly and financial incentives for ScanSource resellers.

The program will be available starting in December.

John DeLozier, 8×8’s senior vice president and global channel chief, tells Channel Partners that CloudFuel provides 8×8, Poly and ScanSource with an incremental route to market that supports an “important and distinct path to the legacy installed base.”

This is the first time 8×8 has created such an agreement and it is all fueled by the shift occurring globally throughout the communications industry, DeLozier said.

8×8’s John DeLozier

“Premises solutions are aged and decision makers are looking for new strategies to better support their organizational communication and collaboration needs,” he said. “With this partnership, all three companies can leverage what they do best while serving a partner community and customer base that is embracing cloud adoption. CloudFuel is a comprehensive, frictionless hardware replacement/cloud migration program that holistically addresses customer needs while empowering their trusted advisers.”

The move from on-premises systems to cloud-based communications is accelerating regardless of organizational size, DeLozier said.

“In fact, 82% of businesses surveyed recently by Frost and Sullivan report they have moved or plan to move part or all of their enterprise telephony solutions to the cloud,” he said. “However, there are still more than an estimated 350 million on-premises seats globally, with less than 10% migrated, providing a huge opportunity to move businesses to the cloud as part of an overall digital transformation. Because CloudFuel leverages proven unified communications, contact center and equipment technology from industry leaders available today, VARs can seize this enormous opportunity by moving their customer base to the cloud quickly without the need to wait for new product offerings to be developed, tested and mature.”

As part of the full-service program, customers will receive incentives on Poly equipment including favorable leasing terms, pricing and a buyback program for current on-premises equipment. The companies will invest in joint marketing development, equipment buyback programs, special incentives and migration tools to accelerate the transition to cloud.

ScanSource’s Mike Baur

“This strategic partnership between ScanSource, 8×8, and Poly enables our VARs to resell 8×8 cloud communication services aligned with their existing, preferred business model that allows them to own the customer relationship,” said Mike Baur, ScanSource’s chairman and CEO. “This program will allow our VARs to manage the customer billings for the 8×8 and Poly solution, while also giving VARs the ability to add additional services that they provide.”

“For years, Poly has been leading the charge helping our customers move from on-premises telephony to cloud-based communications,” said Joe Burton, Poly‘s president and CEO. “With stellar partners like 8×8 and ScanSource, along with these new incentive programs, we will make the migration process to UCaaS as seamless as possible for our collective customers.”

AT&T Partner Solutions just made a 5G smartphone available for partners to sell and is realigning its sales teams to support diverse partner types.

AT&T Partner Exchange and AT&T Alliance Channel members can sell the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone on the AT&T mmWave network, which is available in 21 cities and expected to expand to 30 in early 2020.

AT&T’s Stacey Marx

The organization also announced two specific changes it will make to the Alliance Channel and ACC Business programs. The sales and support teams from ACC Business will re-align with the Alliance Channel in order to reduce complexity. Stacey Marx, AT&T Partner Solutions’ senior vice president and channel chief, said many partners had been fielding calls from both ACC and Alliance channel managers. The process could become confusing, she said. Partners can still access both the ACC Business and Alliance Channel portfolios, but they will work with one AT&T channel manager instead of two.

“[Now] every partner has one person calling on them, which is great,” Marx told Channel Partners.

The Alliance Channel also placed traditional agents from master agents in separate groups so that the teams supporting them can better embrace their unique business models.

“We had in one channel manager’s module legacy partners/agents as well as masters who have subagents,” Marx said. “And fundamentally they just operate differently.”

AT&T Partner Solutions (APS) made the realignment after Marx concluded a multiple-month listening tour. She said partners are giving positive feedback for the changes.

“So far it’s going great, and the partners seem to really appreciate it,” she said.

AT&T will be talking about the program changes at its Fusion partner event this week, in addition to discussing its 5G pillars. The Samsung smartphone availability is part of an APS initiative to build on its three strategic 5G go-to-market pillars: mobile, fixed wireless and edge.

The organizations is now in talks to run multi-access edge compute (MEC) deployment pilots with select solution providers. AT&T had already been running MEC deployment pilots with businesses, but partners are about to get in on the action. MEC lets customers designate specific cellular data on the AT&T software-defined network for on-premise edge processing.

Marx said the solution will help partners support customers in an increasingly multicloud world where data is increasingly decentralized.

“Edge compute is all about bringing the data safely and with a lot of speed to fuel things that, frankly, we don’t even know about yet,” Marx said.

Partners can also utilize the AT&T Wireless Broadband solution, which is now equipped with AT&T Business Fast Track to allow customers to …

(Pictured above: Nextiva CEO Tomas Gorny at NextCon 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nov. 4.

NEXTIVA NEXTCON — Nextiva on Monday unveiled the latest innovations to NextOS, its customer experience management platform, and will roll out an all-new partner program in January.

The announcements were made at this week’s Nextiva NextCon 2019, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The partner conference has drawn more than 1,000 attendees. —

Tomas Gorny, Nextiva’s co-founder and CEO, told attendees that businesses that don’t know, understand and remember their customers won’t be around much longer. He said his company has invested more financial resources than the profits of all of its competitors combined to help businesses struggling to get a complete picture of all of their customers.

“What we need is an all-in-one solution,” he said. “All of our communication and customer management needs to be connected, and in one platform and one place. We created one place in business where all of our communication – voice, email, chat, [text] – live together with customer management tools such as customer relationship management (CRM). The ‘InBox’ is designed for productivity and communication to operate in perfect balance.”

With InBox, which is being added to NextOS, the “complete picture” of the customer is brought into focus and can be immediately updated as more communication data is gathered, Gorny said.

NextOS also includes latest automation and analytics capabilities, he said. With NextOS, Nextiva‘s purpose is to “democratize innovation so every business has a chance to win,” he said.

“The upcoming year will be very exciting,” Gorny said. “We’re reintroducing a new smarter and more powerful NextOS … and this is just the beginning. Today, with our partners and our customers … we are on the ground floor of a great opportunity.”

Carl Katz, Nextiva’s vice president of channel sales for North America, said the NextOS business communications suite in its entirety will be out before the end of the year and “it’s going to mean a lot of additional opportunity for partners.”

Nextiva’s Carl Katz

“Right now with the UCaaS market, price compression is continuing and pricing per seats is declining, and at the same time demand for solutions are increasing,” he said. “So the new product portfolio is going to take us from a $20 billion total adjustable market to over $100 billion total adjustable market, with … CRM, webchat and surveys in addition to the UCaaS. It’s all included to make the customers more sticky so they’re not going to want to go through CRM migrations, they’re not going to want to change their chat server, and it’s going to be on one pane of glass without integrations, which is critical. So it’s a tremendous opportunity for partners that are looking to create solutions and help customers increase their productivity, and gain a competitive advantage in their market.”

In UCaaS, everybody’s competing on price and land-grabbing the market, and Nextiva wants to “get out of the UCaaS race to zero and get more into platform selling,” Katz said.

“Communications platform as a service (CPaaS) is the newer technology allowing us to create solutions on one pane of glass without integrations, and keeping the customer stickier and solidifying the partner annuity for the long term,” he said. “It’s a critical time right now for our partners, our customers and suppliers to come out with this kind of solution in order to …

TBI launched an educational unit to keep partners abreast of new technologies.

The Chicago-based master agent on Tuesday unveiled Tech Guidance, a new website filled with case studies, white papers, eBooks and other informational resources. TBI is gearing the website toward technology purchasers, such as CIOs, IT departments and business owners.

Topics on the site include SD-WAN, security, contact center as a service, colocation, mobility and cloud.

TBI’s Corey Cohen

“With the pace of technical advance, 5G soon becoming a commercial reality, increased consumption of cloud, and a dispersed/remote workforce, there is an opportunity to cut through a lot of noise and present straightforward use cases of how customers deploy and architect solutions to grow their businesses,” said Corey Cohen, TBI’s vice president of marketing. “Our goal with Tech Guidance is to educate IT decision-makers, delivering information on emerging technology solutions from network design and architecture, mobility and IoT, voice/contact center/collaboration and security, that will aid in any organization’s cloud pursuit.”

TBI in its announcement said “tech consultants, solution engineers and subject matter experts” can receive complimentary access.

“Our team of consultants engage on a variety of projects at various levels, identifying inefficiencies or overspending, freeing up internal IT staff, designing and architecting solutions, sourcing and facilitating introductions to solution providers to drive business forward,” Cohen said. “We invite visitors to the site to provide feedback on what they’d like to see more of and engage our consultants with questions.”

The newest #IT resource for your customers – Tech Guidance. Help businesses make better IT decisions. Get blogs, industry insights & use cases to keep you & your customers informed. https://t.co/Y05wGLTrB5#TBIMarketing

— TBI (@TBImasteragent) November 5, 2019

TBI last month added the UCaaS provider Jive to its portfolio. Cohen spoke to us earlier this fall about how TBI is seeing revenue growth in next-gen technologies like contact center.

Nextiva partners learned about the company’s latest innovations to its NextOS customer experience management platform and were provided details regarding its upcoming new partner program at this week’s NextCon 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The third annual partner conference drew more than 1,000 attendees. The new partner program will be launched in January. Nextiva also is expanding its marketing program and increasing its UCaaS portfolio.

Tomas Gorny, Nextiva’s co-founder and CEO, told attendees his company’s goal within the next two years is one-click implementation across all of the NextOS platform for all experiences.

“We’re working really hard on that,” he said.

InBox, patented customer journey technology, is being added to NextOS, Gorny said. In addition, NextOS includes latest automation and analytics capabilities, he said.

With NextOS, Nextiva‘s purpose is to “democratize innovation so every business has a chance to win,” he said.

Carl Katz, Nextiva’s vice president of channel sales for North America, said he wanted partners to leave the conference excited to sell solutions, “but also I want them to think about platforms.”

“The largest companies in the world are platforms … platform companies have higher valuations than companies that are not platform companies, so the worth of those companies is more and the companies that sell the platform technology not only have stickier customers, but higher valuations as well,” he said. “So I want them to go home and say ‘I need to increase my brand, I need to make my customers more sticky, I need to increase the value of my business for a longer-term annuity and I need to sell platforms.'”

Scroll through our gallery for highlights from the conference.

Welcome Remarks

Marc Stoll, Nextiva's president and COO, told attendees that by the end of the conference they would be ready to take their business to the next level. According to Nextiva, previous NextCon attendees achieved seven times the revenue, 40% higher monthly recurring revenue and 55% more new accounts.

Latest Innovations

Gorny unveiled the latest innovations coming to Next0S. Nextiva has been "innovating like crazy this year and this year isn't even done," he said. With InBox, which is being added to NextOS, the “complete picture” of the customer is brought into focus and can be immediately updated as more communication data is gathered, he said.

Become a Sales Goliath

During a Partner Lunch and Learn, Michael Burt, CEO/co-founder of Michael Burt Enterprises, a Nextiva customer, outlined four steps to becoming a "sales Goliath," which include: focus on new money; close the business in your pipeline by using the million-dollar follow-up formula; spending time in connection and engagement; and "love on" and create triple value for your biggest advocates. He also touted "prey drive," the instinctive inclination to see something optically or in the mind and having the courage to take action on it and see it through to its logical conclusion.

Forget Digital Transformation

Janet Schijjns, long-time channel vet and CEO of JS Group, told attendees they need to stop talking to their clients about digital transformation because we've "shifted to a world where digital is the new normal."

"With this comes a whole new world of social engagement and way of looking at things," she said. "What matters is, as a result of a perfect storm in our world, a digital normal now exists. It started with innovation ... a sustained positive economy, and then boomers surprised us by embracing the new digital normal ... and millennials and Gen-Z said, 'We demand this.' If you’re still talking about transforming digitally, you’re behind."

Talking Innovation

Katz chats with attendees between sessions at NextCon.

"Partners are concerned about the race to zero and the consolidation not only from the UCaaS perspective, but internet, circuits, network and all the root technologies are decreasing in cost to the end user," he said. "So the innovation is not quite there because a lot of partners are not selling on that. So they like the refreshing technology and way Nextiva is going about doing their business, meaning that they're looking and saying, 'Hey, this is something different that I can offer my customers and change the conversation'. So the partners are excited about changing the conversation."

Poly

Poly shows off its latest VoIP phones, headsets and other equipment in the XBert Expo. This summer Nextiva introduced the Poly UC Software 5.3 release which is now available for all Poly VVX series phones.

Nextiva VoIP Phones

Attendees chat in front of Nextiva's VoIP phone display in the XBert Expo. Nextiva recently announced that it has been selected as the official communications provider for the Buffalo Bills. Nextiva was recommended to the Bills by PremCom, a Nextiva channel partner that has outfitted the team with its business communications solutions since 2014.

Cisco

Cisco displays its latest VoIP equipment in the XBert Expo.

"Partners have asked for assistance in sales," Katz said. "Partners are not subject matter experts because they know a lot about a lot ... so it's our job to be the master of our portfolio and our platform product. And we are going to assist our partners in creating those solutions, and locking up and cementing those long-term relationships so they can build a solid annuity long term."

Inference

Inference's interactive voice response (IVR) solution is resold by Nextiva. Inference’s AI-powered intelligent virtual agents automate the routine and repetitive conversations handled by live agents over voice, chat and text.

Cube

Cube's cloud-based solution is focused on providing a good experience while customers are on hold on in queue to be connected to a business. The company spoke to partners about its solution in the XBert Expo.

Not all master agent-supplier agreements are created equal, according to PlanetOne Communications founder and CEO Ted Schuman.

Schuman, speaking on the last stop of the 2019 PlanetOne Communications Tech Tour in Scottsdale, Arizona, urged partners to review vendor contracts to see how PlanetOne’s deals differ from other masters.

PlanetOne’s Ted Schuman

“We generally do sign similar agreements, but guys — the devil’s in the details, and not paying attention to the little tiny details can really be catastrophic to your check,” Schuman said.

A poll conducted at the conference showed that 75% of partners have never reviewed their master agent’s provider contract. Schuman called contract negotiation one of PlanetOne’s biggest differentiators. The process lasts an average of six months, he said.

“Nine out of 10 times the very first comment out of a provider’s mouth – after exhausting negotiations or we’ve reached two or three business impasses and all are non-starters – they all go, ‘Well, Ted, everybody else has signed it.’ OK, so they jumped off the cliff. Their subagents and partners have no clue what problems await them should Armageddon strike or there’s a problem with that provider,” he said.

Another partner survey found that 90% see accurate and on-time payment as the most important factor for giving PlanetOne new business.

Schuman shares partner survey results: 90% of partners cite accurate and on-time payments as the most important criteria for working with PlanetOne. #POtechtour pic.twitter.com/9WbBUks15O

— James Anderson (@JamesAndersonCP) November 6, 2019

Schuman reported that his Arizona-based master agent is in its 28th year of double-digit year-over-year net growth and is nearing 50,000 commercial accounts. PlanetOne moved into another office earlier this year and will continue to hire employees.

Schuman said the master agent has onboarded more partners in the last year than it did in the previous three to four years combined. MSPs are also coming to the fore.

“So the whole well-kept secret about our back office, partner experience, customer experience and everything we’re doing — is clearly not a well-kept secret anymore, because the partners are coming to us in droves,” he said.

Schuman pointed out a trend that the greater agent community has been enjoying: massive UCaaS growth. TBI told us year-over-year UCaaS growth is in the 100s; Intelisys shared news of a gargantuan agent-led deal.

RingCentral’s Zane Long

“I don’t know how you get hotter. If there’s a hotter, vertical or product set in the industry right now, I’m not sure what it is,” Schuman said. “It is really taking most of the energy out of the room on some other products that used to be core services for master agents.”

Zane Long, RingCentral‘s senior vice president of global channel sales, added that we are nowhere close to the ceiling.

“UCaaS is a $75 billion global market. It’s about 9% penetrated. There’s really no …

GTT Communications is hiring channel managers, and Fusion Connect is preparing to kickstart its partner program again.

Our latest channel program update features multiple expansion stories. Tech Data, for example, is pouring big money into capturing the SMB/midmarket segment, and Critical Start is harnessing the channel to break into the national market. Technology companies are viewing the indirect sales channel as a key strategy to bring in new customers.

The updates vary. A security company introduced a new program and a new channel chief; a household mobility name is going after IoT security; and RingCentral has a new platinum partner.

We assemble a list of new, revamped or otherwise updated partner programs each month. Scroll through the 12 images below to stay up to date on the latest happenings in the IT/telecom channel.

Missed last month’s gallery? Find the September recap.

Fusion

Fusion Connect is offering its partners a new agreement.

The company, which is still working through chapter 11 bankruptcy, hopes to relaunch its channel program in early January. It has offered partners the opportunity to sign an agreement that contains elements of Fusion, Birch and MegaPath — the three large legacy companies that comprise Fusion Connect. Matthew Rosen, Fusion’s senior vice president of channels and alliances, told us partners may stand to earn increased commissions.

Edward Gately caught up with Rosen.

RingCentral

The UCaaS vendor tapped ConvergeOne as a platinum partner.

The IT services provider will benefit from exclusive RingCentral training and support, and will carry the role of a "strategic" partner. ConvergeOne has chosen RingCentral as its strategic (UCaaS) partner as well.

Get details on the partnership.

GTT

The Tier 1 internet service provider is recruiting partner managers as its scales its North American channel.

Ernie Ortega, who recently took over as GTT’s division president of the Americas, said he hopes to push the channel's share of Americas revenue from 30% to upwards of 40%. To that end, the company is hiring more than a dozen channel managers as it also hires salespeople.

Learn more about Ortega's plans for the channel.

Extreme

Extreme Networks is offering its partners a cloud management partner specialization.

The vendor launched trainings for ExtremeCloud IQ, which is the rebranded and enhanced version of Aerohive Networks' HiveManager application. Extreme bought Aerohive earlier this year.

See the announcements Extreme made at a recent partner conference.

Zoom

Zoom Video Communications launched three partner support programs.

One of those is to help resellers with marketing development funds (MDF). Zoom also updated its certified integrator program and certified hardware programs. Furthermore, the vendor added two members to its Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) program and another two to its contact center program.

Learn more about "Zoomtopia."

Rackspace

Rackspace is streamlining and gamifying its sales and marketing resources for partners.

Rackspace partnered with a sales and marketing enablement firm called Seismic to provide the changes. Seismic will be the "one simple source of truth" for direct and indirect sellers to locate their resources.

Lynn Haber wrote about Rackspace for Channel Futures.

BCN

The New Jersey-based company is recognizing partner loyalty with a new program. 

Partners will earn quarterly rewards based on six accomplishment tiers, thanks to the new BCN Partner Excellence Program. BCN launched the program as part of a customer experience initiative.

Learn more about the program.

Tech Data

Tech Data‘s president of the Americas said the distributor recently made the largest investment in its history.

Joe Quaglia said the EOS initiative is based on pillars: reducing complexity, next-gen technology, deepening its partner coverage model and an operating system. Quaglia spoke about the initiative at a TechSelect event. The TechSelect partner community targets SMBs and the midmarket, which have been crucial growth areas for Tech Data.

“The cornerstone of that growth starts and ends with TechSelect, and your growth and your support has been outstanding,” Quaglia said.

Read more of Quaglia's remarks.

Cloud Migration

8×8, Poly and ScanSource pooled their resources to create a cloud migration program. The CloudFuel program helps partners that want to move on-premises communication systems to the cloud. The program uses 8x8's platform, Poly's equipment and ScanSource's resellers. CloudFuel officially launches in December.

Read about the CloudFuel program.

Critical Start

The Texas-based managed detection and response (MDR) provider said it will expand its channel presence.

Critical Start had been focusing on Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, but it will use the channel to become better known nationally. The company's MDR business grew 300% last year, according to Dwayne Myers, Critical Start’s vice president of channels and alliances.

"In order to take that to the next level we want to expand nationally," Myers said.

Learn more about Critical Start.

Ubiq

Solution providers, integrators, MSSPs and IoT security providers get access to Ubiq Security's new channel program.

The data encryption platform provider said the Ubiq Security Partner Program will "remove administrative burdens" for partners and help them monetize Ubiq's platform. Recently hired Steve Pataky is leading it.

“This is a massive opportunity for partners to monetize their security practices incrementally, by truly securing the data, not just by adding another layer to the perimeter," Pataky said.

Get details on Ubiq.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry added a fourth tier to its Enterprise Partner Program (BEPP) to help its partners capture IoT security revenue.

BlackBerry announced a silver tier and has streamlined its accreditation process. Partners can earn the certification using a virtual lab. VARs, resellers and MSPs can use the program to build differentiated solutions for technologies like endpoint management, encryption and data privacy.

Read about how the program has changed.

Telarus is kick-starting business in the United Kingdom.

The Utah-based master agent announced that Greg McVey has started work as regional vice president of the U.K. He’ll recruit partners – dubbed “cloud brokers” by Telarus – and partner with U.K. suppliers that want to expand their footprint.

Telarus’ Greg McVey

It’s the company’s third international expansion in the last year. Telarus opened an office in Sydney, Australia last year in order to reach the Oceania market. The master agent set up shop in Toronto, Canada earlier this year.

“At the same time, we’ll be working closely with our many suppliers – some of them with assets currently deployed in Great Britain – gain their share of the market,” Scott Forbush, Telarus’ senior vice president of global sales. “Greg is going to be the best friend cloud brokers and cloud service providers could ever have.”

Forbush said there is high growth potential across the pond that will complement Telarus’ U.S. business, which has grown 40% in each of the last three years.

Telarus’ Scott Forbush

“We see the broker model [in the U.K.] in its infancy, waiting for a market leader to come in and take a leadership role. Our vision is to become just that: the leading cloud technology distributor in Europe,” he said. “In order to accomplish that, we’ll rely on Greg McVey to educate and recruit the first batch of true cloud brokers, help them develop go-to-market strategies that work, refine their marketing, and give them the blueprints to grow their staff.”

Source: LinkedIn

McVey has worked for OpenText, iLand Cloud and Meta Networks, where he collaborated with channel partners

“While that business model is what’s popular now, I believe, as Telarus does, that the broker model will win out in the coming years. The opportunity will be to help these early adopters jump out to what could be an insurmountable lead,” McVey said. “With Telarus’ help, we will create a British version of the company using their 18 years of best practice knowledge, proprietary technology, and understanding of the industry spread across 200 U.S.-based employees.”

RingCentral last week recognized Telarus as a platinum partner.

Cato Networks aims to improve onboarding, increase margin and expand partner revenue streams with its new channel program.

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company said it designed the new Cato Partner Program to help partners shorten their sales cycle. The company said the program doesn’t require partners to get vendor approval for every discount they offer, “enabling partners to progress deals independently.”

Cato Networks chief revenue officer Alon Alter said partners have been winning 80% of deals after completing a proof-of-concept.

Cato Networks’ Alon Alter

“We’ve analyzed what works with partner programs — and what doesn’t,” Alter said. “We believe in supporting our partners but at the same time giving them maximum independence.”

The program includes two tiers, and both offer free training and certification. Qualified partners can access free demo licenses, equipment and market development funds.

Members use Cato’s updated partner portal for onboarding, training, deal registration and pipeline management. Tim Sullivan, CEO of Cato partner Coevolve, said Cato has made the onboarding process a “rapid and natural fit.”

“The market for integrated network and security capabilities has evolved rapidly for multinational enterprise,” Sullivan said. “Being able to easily connect all of their locations and roaming users to applications bypassing Internet congestion is a real game changer.”

Cato is styling itself as a secure access service edge (SASE) platform provider. Gartner listed the company in its WAN edge infrastructure Magic Quadrant last year, but the research firm recently unveiled the new SASE term. Cato secure networking evangelist Dave Greenfield published a blog that laid out four key SASE attributes: identity-driven, cloud-native, supporting all edges, and globally distributive.

“Partnering with Cato opened new options for us to grow our business. It has allowed us to take a differentiated proposition to the channel. With digital transformation, the new security and networking needs are perfectly addressed by the SASE approach,” said Sean Remnant, chief security officer for value-added distributor Ignition Technology.

Cato’s Shlomo Kramer

Cato CEO and co-founder Shlomo Kramer said his company aims to simply the partnering process as it also aims to simplify networking.

“We enable partners to profit from digital transformation no matter the opportunity, whether it’s SD-WAN as an MPLS replacement, secure branch Internet access, optimized global connectivity, facilitating cloud adoption, or mobile access,” Kramer said.

Yoji Ota, manager at value-added distributor Macnica Networks Corp.,, said the partner has benefited from Cato’s focus on the cloud.

“Offering a subscription service has made forecasting much, much easier,” Ota said. “We’ve been able to accumulate reoccurring sales revenue that will lead to stable profits for years to come.”

Cato announced a $55 million funding round in January and promised to invest and expand in engineering, service infrastructure, sales and marketing. We interviewed Cato’s vice president of Americas sales during the summer.