Channel Partners’ Top 10 Stories in January

As you were bundling up during the coldest month of the year, Channel Partners was heating up.

Our top 10 stories from January are determined by a combination of online page views and interest from our weekly newsletter audience.

Last month, talk of Verizon selling its data centers caught fire. So did the prospects of a Charter-Time Warner Cable merger getting the green light, not to mention a series of Q&As we did with some big-name channel chiefs.

Click through or download our slide show to see which story was No. 1.

Missed December’s top 10 stories? Click here to see our most-read posts in December.

Follow senior online managing editor Craig Galbraith on Twitter.

New York regulators approved Charter’s merger with Time Warner Cable. As part of the approval process with the New York Public Service Commission, Charter committed to provide a minimum broadband speed of 60 Mbps, offer 300 Mbps throughout the state, build out its networks to unserved residential and commercial areas in its footprint, and improve its customer service. State regulators found the merger, subject to enforceable conditions, was in the public interest. TWC is valued at $78.7 billion.

Read more about this step in the merger approval process here.

Network security firm ForeScout Technologies appointed Tom Evans as its new vice president of channels for the Americas. In his new position, Evans is responsible for all aspects of channel sales and distribution with a focus on growing demand for the company’s products. He previously was F5’s senior director of channel sales and distribution for the Americas.

Evans told us more about his plans for ForeScout’s channel in this Q&A with Channel partners.

Channel Partners Editor-in-Chief Lorna Garey covered a wide range of topics in an interview with Murali Sitaram, Google’s director of global partner strategy and alliances, including his channel plans; the outlook for Android and ChromeOS; and his advice to solution providers looking to go global.

Verizon reportedly started a process to sell its data-center assets as it focuses on its core business. The telco hopes to sell the assets for more than $2.5 billion, Reuters said, citing anonymous sources. The move would mark a reversal of Verizon’s strategy to expand in hosting and colocation services after it purchased data-center operator Terremark for $1.4 billion in 2011. A Verizon spokesperson wouldn’t comment to Channel Partners about the report.

Here is where to read more about the data-center sale speculation.

Carbonite‘s new senior vice president of global sales says he’s ready to make the company the “go-to vendor” for partners in data protection and disaster recovery. Chris Doggett previously was Kaspersky Lab’s managing director of North America, where he led all aspects of the business unit and managed more than 300 employees. With Doggett on staff, Carbonite plans to increase its sales and emphasis around its small business markets, and expand its portfolio into the midsize business market.

Click here to read what Doggett considers to be his biggest challenge in his new job.

CS&L, the real estate investment trust (REIT) and Windstream spinoff, is buying competitive fiber provider PEG Bandwidth. PEG’s fiber network spans more than 300,000 strand miles in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, Illinois and South Central regions of the United States. CS&L currently owns 3.5 million fiber strand miles, 235,000 route miles of copper and other property across 29 states. It’s the first acquisition for the spinoff.

Read more about the acquisition here.

This Channel Partners Q&A featured Jim Hilbert, Aryaka’s senior vice president of global sales. Hilbert noted that the SDN technology provider is in extreme growth mode. Its current customer roster includes Microsoft Azure, AWS and Intelisys, and the company has an enviable client retention rate in the high nineties. On the channel front, Hilbert says Aryaka’s aim is collaboration.

Our monthly gallery of people on the move showed no signs of slowing down. The edition published on Jan. 4 featured people from Intelisys, Brocade and MegaPath.

Speaking of people on the move, master agent Intelisys didn’t look far for its new senior vice president, East Region. Rick Ribas, who got “senior” added to his previous title, will oversee a fast-growing territory for the master agent and tech distributor. his new role, Ribas will oversee sales in the eastern region of the United States, and is responsible for the experience and satisfaction of all sales partners in that region.

Read what Intelisys President Jay Bradley had to say about Ribas here.

Steve Biondi, vice president of Avaya’s Global Partner Organization, had you leaning in to see how partners can earn a lot of moolah. In this Q&A with Channel Partners, Biondi talks Avaya’s as-a-service and midmarket push, the end of PBXes and desk phones, channel changes on the horizon and more.