Look Who's Talking: 2013 Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide

As the IT and telecom channels converge, solution providers and telecom agents hook up to offer the kind of business connectivity customers demand. Welcome to CRN's 2013 Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide, where you can find the partners who are ready, willing and able to 'connect' you.

The IT VAR and telecom agent channels have been on a collision course for years. And thanks to the booming adoption of cloud- and services-based IT, those two channels, once firmly planted on their own sides of the fence, are converging—and converging fast.

The adoption of cloud services, a market Gartner expects to grow 18.5 percent this year to $131 billion, is, of course, a key driver of this mega channel merger. As more and more customers demand that their IT needs be met via the cloud- or services-based models, solution providers are feeling more pressure than ever to transition their businesses to recurring revenue models—models the telecom agents have been used to for years. Meanwhile, some solution providers are simply seeking out business connectivity sales to complement their traditional hardware or software businesses.

Just ask a master agent. As distributors of carrier and network services, they have one of the best seats in the house for tracking IT-telecom convergence. Petaluma, Calif.-based Master Agent Intelisys, for its part, has on-boarded 200 new solution providers into its partner program over the last 18 months. "It's really starting to accelerate. We are growing by 25 percent a year, and it used to be that 99 percent of that revenue was from the telecom agent community," said Andrew Pryfogle, senior vice president and general manager, Cloud Services and Complex Bids at Intelisys, in a recent interview with CRN. "Our growth, now easily 10 to 15 percent, is coming from the VAR community, and we expect that to accelerate at a much, much faster pace."

While solution providers take the leap to selling cloud and connectivity services, telecom agents are eyeing the IT channel as a means to make inroads into new customer accounts, and to bulk up their own services portfolios with hardware and software sales. At the end of the day, what's really driving the IT-telecom convergence is the customer. Quickly fading are the days of a CIO being satisfied with buying hardware from one partner and connectivity from another. In order to be a true trusted adviser, partners need to be offering both.

To that end, CRN's 2013 Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide is meant to highlight some of the industry's leading portfolios of telecom, cloud and connectivity offerings. It also recognizes those industry players who seem ready, willing and able to help partners wrap their arms around all this convergence, and the many moving parts it entails.

Click any program name for full program details

3CX

3CX Partner Program

8x8

8x8 Cloud Services Partner Program

ADTRAN, Inc.

ADvantage Partner Program

Aryaka Networks

Emergence: Aryaka Alliance Program

AT&T

AT&T Partner Exchange

Avaya

Avaya Connect

Bandwidth

Bandwidth Partner Program

Belden

PartnerAlliance

Broadview Networks

Agent Partner Program

Broadvox

Broadvox Partner Program

Cablevision

Optimum Business Partner Program

CenturyLink

CenturyLink Channel Alliance

Charter Business

Charter Business Partner Program

Ciena Corporation

BizConnect

Cisco Systems

Cloud and Managed Services Program (CMSP)

ClearOne

ClearOne IT Channel Partner Program

Cloudnexion

Cloudnexion Partner Program

Comcast Business

Comcast Business Solutions Provider Program

Cox Communications

Cox Partner Program

D-Link Systems

Value in Partnership+ Partner Program

Emulex

Emulex Connect Partner Program

EnGenius Technologies, Inc.

EnGenius EnPower Reseller Program

Enterasys Networks

Enterasys Advantage Partner Program

Extreme Partner Network (EPN)

Extreme Partner Network (EPN)

Gigamon, Inc.

Gigamon Channel Partner Program

Global Data Systems, Inc.

GDS Global Services Program

Intelisys

Intelisys VAR Partner Program

Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Partner Program

MCPc, Inc.

Aaron Marcovy

MegaPath

MegaPath Partner Program

Microsoft

Microsoft Partner Network

Mitel

Mitel Authorized Partner Service Program

NCP Engineering

NCP Channel Alliance Partner Program

NetEnrich, Inc.

NetEnrich Partner Program

NETGEAR

PowerSHIFT Partner Program

Network Critical

Premier Partners

PGI

Pgi Partners

RingCentral

RingCentral Partner Program

Rogers

Rogers Partner Program for Value Added Resellers

SANGFOR Technologies (U.S.)

SANGFOR Partner Program

SAP Americas

Run SAP Partner Program

Shoretel

ShoreTel's Authorized Partner Program

Siemens

Siemens Partner Program

Silver Peak

Silver Peak Champions

SimpleSignal, Inc.

Sherpa to the Cloud

Sonic.net

Sonic.net Agency Program

Sprint

Sprint Partner Program

Star2Star Communications

Les Freed

Talari Networks, Inc.

Talari Partner Program

Telarus, Inc

Patrick Oborn

Time Warner Cable Business Class

TWCBC Partner Program

T-Mobile

T-Mobile Authorized Retailer Program

Tone Software Corporation

ReliaTel Solution Partner Program

Truphone

Truphone Referral Partner Program

Verizon

Verizon Partner Program

Windstream Communications

Windstream Partner Program

Wolfe

Wolfe Strategic and Technology Partnership Program

WTG

VAR Connectivity Program

XO Communications

XO Partner Program