Channel Partner Program Roundup: Carousel, Masergy, Sungard

Happy Thursday everyone, and thanks for stopping by Channel Partner Program Roundup. We hope you all made it through “Snowmageddon” safe and sound, especially for all our friends on the East Coast. This week, we’ve got updates from Carousel Industries, Masergy Communications and Sungard Availability Services, so let's get started.

Carousel Industres: The unified communications and managed services provider announced the launch of Simplicity Video, the company’s new cloud-based videoconferencing solution for SMB and enterprise customers. The video solution is available exclusively through Carousel and comes in two flavors: Public Video Cloud and Managed Private Cloud.

"Simplicity Video takes multi-point videoconferencing to a new level, while making it exceptionally easy to use and consume for nearly any size organization," said Bill Thompson, vice president of Video Services at Carousel Industries, in a statement. "By using Simplicity Video, which can be hosted either by Carousel or on the customer premises, SMB and enterprises can now integrate videoconferencing into the core of their IT environment, enabling a richer communications experience and deeper brand engagement for employees, customers and partners."

In other Carousel news, company Vice President of Carrier Services Tim Kennedy has been appointed to the CompTIA Telecom Advisory Council. Kennedy will leverage his experience in the IT channel and telecom industry to research industry-wide trends and develop initiatives for IT and telecom convergence at CompTIA, according to the announcement.

"I am pleased to play a role in such a diverse, purpose-driven advisory council," said Kennedy. "This will not only be a fantastic opportunity for me to acquire knowledge while among many of our industry recognized leaders, but also impart my own experience—including Carousel's deep managed services knowledge—to a very important market constituency."

Masergy Communications: The managed networking and cloud service provider has received Microsoft Lync 2013 compatibility certification for its UCaaS Intelligent SIP Trunking services. The UCaaS service allows enterprises to connect their Lync deployment to the public switched telephone network, according to the company.

“Companies who deploy Microsoft Lync make a significant investment and should not settle for anything less than a first rate certified SIP trunking service provider,” said Dean Manzoori, vice president of Product Management, UCaaS at Masergy. “We’re proud that our SIP services have been independently certified to ensure a superior customer service experience, interoperability, and support for Lync deployments."

Sungard AS: The managed IT, cloud and recovery services provider announced the winners of its Partner Performance Awards, which recognize the company’s key channel partners in North America. 

Six companies received awards for their success and growth with Sungard, including:

• Canadian Partner of the Year: Allstream
• U.S. Service Provider of the Year: AT&T
• U.S. Breakout Application Integrator of the Year: DAZ Systems
• Canadian Breakout Partner of the Year: Illumiti
• U.S. Solution Provider of the Year: Presidio
• U.S. Breakout Partner of the Year: Sigma Technology Solutions

Sungard’s channel program grew 30 percent in overall revenue since 2013 due to the success of its partners, according to the announcement.  The company also experienced significant growth in 2014 in terms of lead registration and improved partner satisfaction and engagement. Sungard plans to continue building out its channel program by adding channel-focused solutions engineers, new tools to help generate price quotes and more.

That’s all for now, but we hope to see you back here next week. Until then, stay safe.