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
8x8
8x8 Cloud Services Partner Program
ADTRAN, Inc.
Aryaka Networks
Emergence: Aryaka Alliance Program
AT&T
Avaya
Bandwidth
Belden
Broadview Networks
Broadvox
Cablevision
Optimum Business Partner Program
CenturyLink
Charter Business
Charter Business Partner Program
Ciena Corporation
Cisco Systems
Cloud and Managed Services Program (CMSP)
ClearOne
ClearOne IT Channel Partner Program
Cloudnexion
Comcast Business
Comcast Business Solutions Provider Program
Cox Communications
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)
Gigamon, Inc.
Gigamon Channel Partner Program
Global Data Systems, Inc.
Intelisys
Level 3 Communications
MCPc, Inc.
MegaPath
Microsoft
Mitel
Mitel Authorized Partner Service Program
NCP Engineering
NCP Channel Alliance Partner Program
NetEnrich, Inc.
NETGEAR
Network Critical
PGI
RingCentral
Rogers
Rogers Partner Program for Value Added Resellers
SANGFOR Technologies (U.S.)
SAP Americas
Shoretel
ShoreTel's Authorized Partner Program
Siemens
Silver Peak
SimpleSignal, Inc.
Sonic.net
Sprint
Star2Star Communications
Talari Networks, Inc.
Telarus, Inc
Time Warner Cable Business Class
T-Mobile
T-Mobile Authorized Retailer Program
Tone Software Corporation
ReliaTel Solution Partner Program
Truphone
Truphone Referral Partner Program
Verizon
Windstream Communications
Wolfe
Wolfe Strategic and Technology Partnership Program
WTG
XO Communications