Unified Communications

Networking

Expanded Mitel, Martello partnership bears fruit with new platform support in latest Mitel MPA release

March 25, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Expanded Mitel, Martello partnership bears fruit with new platform support in latest Mitel MPA release
The extension of Martello’s relationship with Mitel around Mitel Performance Analytics to include assets acquired from ShoreTel both strengthens that partnership and positions Martello well for aggressive growth on other fronts.

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Cloud

Intermedia adds free Envision analytics for partners to Unite platform

March 4, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Intermedia adds free Envision analytics for partners to Unite platform
Envision provides a Partner Dashboard showing all customers, and a QoS Dashboard that drills down into a single customer, with more analytics dashboards on the roadmap.

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Unified Communications

VisibilityOne nears entry into videoconferencing monitoring market with public beta launch

February 11, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on VisibilityOne nears entry into videoconferencing monitoring market with public beta launch
VisibilityOne provides a cloud-based videoconferencing service, designed to support multi-vendor environments, and be very simple to install and use. It is slated for general release in early summer, and will be sold through UCC-focused partners.

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Unified Communications

Avaya’s CEO emphasizes company has fundamentally transformed around embracing change and customer centrality

January 21, 2019 Mark Cox Comments Off on Avaya’s CEO emphasizes company has fundamentally transformed around embracing change and customer centrality
Jim Chirico kicked off Avaya’s Engage event in Austin by updating the company’s progress, and stressing that the company has reoriented its approach to the market and their customers.

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Unified Communications

New Sennheiser sales and marketing VP promises big changes in early 2019 as Sennheiser headset business begins transition to a much larger holding company

December 14, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on New Sennheiser sales and marketing VP promises big changes in early 2019 as Sennheiser headset business begins transition to a much larger holding company
The ending of the joint venture between Sennheiser and William Demant, which will see the Sennheiser unified communications business transition to William Demant on January 1 2020, means a much more aggressive growth strategy, and new VP Jim Fairweather said that planning has already begun, which includes a more focused channel strategy.

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Unified Communications

Avaya adds Device-as-a-Service to subscription-based portfolio

December 14, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Avaya adds Device-as-a-Service to subscription-based portfolio
The new DaaS service differs from the leasing option in that Avaya retains control of the device, which some customers like because it reduces their risk. It also allows them to upgrade to a higher priced device with no penalty.

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Managed Services

Avaya sees its new Master Agent channel as the primary route to market for new Online Store

December 13, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Avaya sees its new Master Agent channel as the primary route to market for new Online Store
Avaya believes its solution provider channel will also have some interest in the store, which offers Avaya’s UC and CC as-a-service options. They also confirmed that this online store is not a direct play.

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Unified Communications

Jabra brings first wireless earbuds to commercial headset market with Evolve 65t

December 13, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Jabra brings first wireless earbuds to commercial headset market with Evolve 65t
Jabra resellers get access to a wireless earbud headset that has appeal to consumer product users, but at a much higher quality that is certified for Skype for Business, and which can spare them a long series of support issues compared to the kind of products in this form factor that have been available until now.

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Cloud

SherWeb relaunches their Office 365 offer, announces new UCaaS offering

November 12, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on SherWeb relaunches their Office 365 offer, announces new UCaaS offering
SherWeb’s first RMM integration, with ConnectWise, is scheduled to go live in Q1 of next year, a major step for the Cloud Services Provider, who previously had no direct integration with ConnectWise.

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Networking

Ottawa’s Martello Technologies adds new capabilities with acquisition of Savision

October 15, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Ottawa’s Martello Technologies adds new capabilities with acquisition of Savision
From a product perspective, Savision’s IT Operation solution that integrates and controls monitoring, cloud, and service management tools data in a single pane of glass will enable Martello’s UC/SD-WAN offering to have this same seamless capability. From a business point of view, it doubles Martello’s sales and marketing resources, strengthens their channel, and turns their European presence from minor into a real strength.

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Unified Communications

Vancouver UCC vendor CounterPath adds new Bria Teams collaboration service

September 25, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Vancouver UCC vendor CounterPath adds new Bria Teams collaboration service
CounterPath has added a VAR channel in the last couple years, although the new service will initially launch only through service provider and retail channels, in case any issues need to be worked out.

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Cloud

Tango Networks announces North American availability of Kinetic Cloud enterprise mobile UC management solution

September 18, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Tango Networks announces North American availability of Kinetic Cloud enterprise mobile UC management solution
Texas-based Tango Networks launched their cloud offering in Europe first, but now brings it to the North American market, and are expanding their channel of enterprise-focused partners to help sell it.

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Managed Services

Coaxing telecom resellers to move beyond hardware still mission – and challenge – for ADTRAN

August 22, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Coaxing telecom resellers to move beyond hardware still mission – and challenge – for ADTRAN
The nature of the MSP business means ADTRAN has had more success there with their ProCloud Subscription Services, and the company is aggressively recruiting there for new partners. ADTRAN is also about to introduce a new service, which they say even most MSPs are not yet selling.

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Cloud

Intermedia growing channel business with new UCaaS offering and stronger partner enablement

August 3, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Intermedia growing channel business with new UCaaS offering and stronger partner enablement
The Intermedia messaging to the channel at this year’s CompTIA ChannelCon event emphasized the UCaaS opportunity around their Unite offering which came out in February.

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Channel Programs

Plantronics re-invents partner program, expanding support beyond traditional hardware partners

May 1, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics re-invents partner program, expanding support beyond traditional hardware partners
Plantronics reworks its channel program to give greater emphasis to implementing their SaaS management solution, and to selling their hardware within broader solutions rather than simply as peripherals.

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Hardware

Plantronics looks to create one-stop shop across UCC with $2 billion Polycom acquisition

March 28, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Plantronics looks to create one-stop shop across UCC with $2 billion Polycom acquisition
Plantronics moves far beyond headsets by buying Polycom, which brings them into three additional businesses that are synergistic to their headset core.

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Small Business

Ooma CEO says Voxter acquisition moves them up from small business VoIP, creates new channel plays

March 8, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Ooma CEO says Voxter acquisition moves them up from small business VoIP, creates new channel plays
Ooma’s CEO Eric Stang discusses the implications of the deal with ChannelBuzz, including the likely impact on both the Ooma and Voxter solution provider channels.

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Channel Programs

ShoreTel influence strong in new Mitel channel program and shift to two-tier distribution

March 7, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on ShoreTel influence strong in new Mitel channel program and shift to two-tier distribution
Specific details on the new Mitel channel program elements, and the distributors involved, will not be announced until April, but the strategic outline of both elements of the go-to-market strategy was made clear.

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Virtualization

Expanded partnerships, vendor certification program key parts of IGEL 2018 roadmap

February 8, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Expanded partnerships, vendor certification program key parts of IGEL 2018 roadmap
Among the changes coming to IGEL’s own hardware and software roadmaps, one of their thin clients about to be refreshed will see a switch from an Intel to an AMD processor.

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Cloud

New Avaya cloud boss outlines strategy to make Avaya a cloud powerhouse

January 31, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on New Avaya cloud boss outlines strategy to make Avaya a cloud powerhouse
Mercer Rowe, newly recruited from IBM’s cloud business to put Avaya on a cutting-edge path in the cloud, laid out his plans at the Avaya ENGAGE event this week

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