CCA: Doing Real Work In the Cloud

Written by Larry
March 12, 2012

The CCAs goal is to bring together leading cloud communications providers to create the first high-definition enterprise voice network in the cloud. The benefit: to bring all the benefits of the cloud model to business customers, including cost and flexibility efficiencies.

The Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA) plans to make an impact at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, March 26-29.

The CCA is sponsoring the pivotal Peer to Peer Networking Mixer on Wednesday, March 28, from 4-5:30 p.m. The Mixer is sold out. It is open only to partners, agents and IT VARs, not master agents. The idea is to create a protected environment” where partners can freely share their thoughts about the industrys present circumstances and future development.

The CCA also is sponsoring post-event digital activities of the peer community.

So what, exactly, is the CCA?

The CCAs goal is to bring together leading cloud communications providers to create the first high definition enterprise voice network in the cloud. The benefit: to bring all the benefits of the cloud model to business customers, including cost and flexibility efficiencies.

The Alliance members are: Alteva, Broadcore, Callis, Consolidated Technologies, IPFone, GLOBALINX, SimpleSignal , Stage 2 Networks, Telesphere and Telovations.

The CCA members share research, best practices, applications and experience. They focus on 10 specific areas: network peering, a shared application-development platform, driving mobile convergence, sharing remote field technicians, disaster recovery, joint product development, best practices, thought leadership, strategic OSS alignment and moving toward a common support infrastructure.

The cloud model is the hottest topic in the channel today. More than a mere subject of discussion, the cloud poses a significant set of challenges for the channel and represents a truly sweet opportunity for partners who can come to grips with the model in a timely manner.

Some partners continue to see the cloud as an abstraction, something that is happening but is not really tangible. Their response to the opportunity and the challenge has been to wait, watch and see.

The CCA, convinced that the benefits of the cloud model are clear, is taking concrete steps to bring the model to life in the marketplace. My personal take: For partners uncertain about where they stand in relation to the cloud, the time they can hesitate grows perilously short.

The CCA is one organization partners should check out. The cloud, as the CCAs work demonstrates, has moved well beyond the laboratory phase and into the marketplace.

Larry Lannon is group publisher of VIRGOs Communications Network, which includes Billing & OSS World, Channel Partners and V2M.