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New Services Roundup: TPx, Avaya, CenturyLink, Verizon
Technology companies hit the ground running with new products and services in 2018.
Channel partners have no shortage of new offers for their customers. We saw a wide range of different technologies represented in January. They cover mobility, networking and security, just to name a few. And many of those technologies converged as IT and telecommunications become more and more intertwined. Digital services are here!
Two companies (Cradlepoint and Talari) launched wireless branch offerings to enhance their software-defined networking strategies, two massive telcos (CenturyLink and Verizon) introduced security related products, and a distributor (Tech Data) debuted a new life-cycle management service.
Scroll through these 12 slides to see the new products and services that became available to solution providers last month.
Miss last month’s roundup? Catch up on the gallery featuring new services from December.
CenturyLink
CenturyLink rolled out its new Adaptive Network Security Mobility, a network service that allows remote users to securely connect to the internet and private network resources without introducing cyber risks associated with using personal devices and unsecured Wi-Fi.
CenturyLink’s vice president of global security services told Channel Partners that this is a new feature of his company’s Adaptive Network Security platform that’s already available for CenturyLink partners to sell to their customers.
Read about CenturyLink's new offering.
Verizon Communications added a new Session Border Controller Software edition (SBC SWe) to its Virtual Network Services (VNS). Verizon selected Ribbon Communications' offering, citing its ability to help the carrier's customer cost-effectively protect their networks. The offering is said to help businesses scale and deploy SBCs more quickly and maintain the quality of unified communications.
Read Ribbon's announcement.
Comcast Business said it launched the first automatic 4G wireless backup internet connection offered by a broadband provider. Connection Pro will automatically connect the business to the strongest available wireless network in the event of an internet disruption.
Comcast Business’ vice president of indirect channels told Channel Partners that Connection Pro gives the company’s agents and partners “another tool in their tool bag to solve customer problems and to generate new ‘commissionable’ revenue.”
Read more from Comcast's channel chief.
Avaya enhanced its Equinox unified communications applications and introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) service.
Avaya Ava is a new AI architecture that includes natural language processing, machine learning and analytics that allow customer engagement through social media and messaging platforms. Avaya Equinox now delivers a fully integrated user experience that is connected across the Avaya portfolio and all deployment models, including on-premises, hybrid and cloud.
Avaya made the announcements at its Engage conference in New Orleans.
Read Edward Gately's write-up from the conference.
PGi rolled out version 5.0 of GlobalMeet, its flagship UC&C product. The company says this version dramatically improves the user experience by making it easier for participants to join, share and interact in online meetings. It also provides more effective team engagement and collaboration, while also meeting the needs of global IT teams.
Get the full scoop here.
Cisco updated its HyperFlex hyperconverged infrastructure portfolio.
The changes to HyperFlex 3.0 and multicloud services up the ante for the vendor’s data-center partners authorized to sell Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). The new software enhancements include support for Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor, increased cluster scale with automated resiliency, and new multicloud services, allowing any application tiers to be deployed, monitored and managed in any cloud, Cisco said.
Lynn Haber has the details on Cisco's updates.
Talari Networks unveiled a new appliance to scale its software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) offering. The vendor introduced the E50, which helps customers in small branch locations and retail sites deploy SD-WANs. Talari says the new product follows the trend of companies using “zero-touch provisioning” to connect WANs to cloud, SaaS environments or data centers.
Learn more about the E50 appliance.
Tech Data unveiled its Global Lifecycle Management Services portfolio, designed to help manage the entire technology product and customer life cycle, from design, integration and installation, to service, support and IT asset disposition (ITAD). Available globally and designed for both OEMs and solution providers, the portfolio also features complete customer management services, including customer acquisition, enablement and revenue-growth services, such as contract renewals and software-license compliance.
Get details about the new Tech Data services.
The 4G LTE network solutions provider launched a new wireless branch offering. The NetCloud Solution Package features a new “edge” router, access point and console for branch management. Cradlepoint says the AP22 access points and AER2200 router give smaller organizations flexibility and reliability.
Read about Cradlepoint's new branch offering.
TPx Communications announced a new managed high-speed internet access service. TPx calls it a "turnkey managed internet solution" that gives customers connectivity that is flexible, affordable and reliable. It address the problem of location determining businesses' available bandwidth due to the presence of a single provider in the area.
Get details from the company's announcement.
Nexthink, the experience management software provider, rolled out Nexthink Incident Management Connector.
The new product connects to Nexthink's Now Platform, which quickly remediates endpoint incidences and improves endpoint visibility and IT governance. Nexthink is a ServiceNow partner and says its new integration will help IT teams improve their business customers' productivity.
Nexthink's press release is on our website.
Reinvent Telecom added short message service (SMS) for business to its UCaaS offering. The addition makes it easier for users to exchange text messages between their business phone numbers and personal mobile devices. The company says the new service lets a direct inward dialing (DID) number send a text to a mobile device that has SMS enabled — with the number and the device using the Accession Communicator Desktop/Mobile UC client. Reinvent provides private-label, cloud-based services for unified communications collaboration and call centers.
Read Reinvent's announcement.
