Top 12 Stories in February: Intelisys, Windstream, Lumen
You'll find T-Mobile and Frontier here also. But what was No. 1?
Gartner named some of the top WAN companies in the channel. Lumen reported some big losses, but put a positive spin on the story. And you’re still interested in a pair of big names either out of, or almost out of, bankruptcy protection.
Those are just three of the stories in our top 12 countdown for February. As is our custom, you choose what appears here. The “vote” comes via online page views and popularity in our weekly newsletters. If you want a say, peruse the website a little more or sign up for our newsletter.
OK, so what else is here? I don’t want to give away too much, but I will tell you that an Intelisys partner achieved a huge milestone. Also, our top 12 stories include news about a new channel chief at a major carrier. OK, that’s all you’re getting out of me in this intro.
Which of those stories was No. 1? Or was it something else entirely? Click through our gallery below to find out. January’s top 12 stories are here, just in case you want to catch up.
Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.
#12 — Gartner WAN Edge Study
Gartner is well respected for its rankings. You love information about networks. It's a match made in heaven.That's why our article on Gartner's WAN Edge Infrastructure "Voice of the Customer" document was so popular in February. The report sourced more than 600 reviews and ratings from customers in 2020. Gartner named Aryaka, Fortinet, Huawei, Palo Alto Networks and Silver Peak (listed alphabetically) as its “Customers’ Choice” providers.
See who else made it in Gartner's rankings.
#11 — Windstream and Chapter 11
Windstream's bankruptcy is still on your mind, six months later. Or should we say, Windstream's exit from bankruptcy.Still trending is our story from September, when we told you the company erased two-thirds of its debt and got $2 billion in new capital at its emergence.
To coincide with exiting chapter 11, Windstream unveiled a new logo. You can see it here.
#10 — Lumen Loses Billions
You might think announcing a $2.3 billion loss during your earnings call would be a downer. But Lumen Technologies is looking at the bright side — revenue was down, but not as much as the prior year.“We continue to invest in the business with capital expenditures of $3.7 billion,” said Neel Dev, Lumen's CFO. “Over the course of 2020, we reduced net debt by approximately $1.6 billion and refinanced approximately $13 billion in long-term debt, further reducing interest expense, extending maturities and strengthening our balance sheet.”
This was the company's first earnings report since rebranding from CenturyLink.
Get the full story.
#9 — Intelisys Names First 'Palladium' Partner
Pop quiz: Where can you find palladium on the periodic table? For RDS Solutions, it doesn't really matter.That's because master agent Intelisys just handed a $1 million check to RDS, its top sales partner. The company earned palladium status — that's for reaching $5 million in monthly net customer billings. No other agent has reached the palladium tier.
Go here to learn more about this achievement.
#8 — AppSmart Funding Program
AppSmart has a new funding program that executives are calling "state of the art."AppSmart Invest delivers upfront capital and recurring payments to program members. The company will provide an upfront payment and a residual monthly payment tied to its book of business. It also will support the partners with its back office.
Find out if you're eligible.
#7 — Sangoma Buys Star2Star
It first hit our website on Jan. 29, but the momentum from this article carried over into February big time.Considered by many to be a surprise, Sangoma said it would buy Star2Star for $437 million. You could say the cloud and UC space in the channel just got even more competitive.
“[This] should help Sangoma reposition as a leading global cloud communications provider, alongside key competitors 8×8, RingCentral and Vonage," noted 451 Research's Raul Castanon.
#6 — Verizon Mourns Lori Bonenfant
The team at Verizon, as well as many in the channel who knew her, suffered a major loss.Lori Bonenfant, the carrier's director of channel marketing, died on Feb. 13. She lived in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. Bonenfant joined Verizon Business more than 20 years ago, working as a sales engineer, and then in marketing.
Learn more about the life of Lori Bonenfant and her work in the channel.
#5 — New T-Mobile Channel Chief
T-Mobile's Pat Watkins
Watkins looks to make big strides forward with T-Mobile's channel.
“It provides a huge amount of synergies that I get to take advantage of,” she told Channel Partners when asked about big change in commission structure at the magenta carrier. “What I’m really looking to do is to make this a more collaborative effort between the partner channel and our direct team.”
Learn more about Watkins and her plans. Our follow-up story with partner reaction also is getting traction.
#4 — Channel People on the Move
This edition of new hires and promotions in the channel featured Avaya, RingCentral, Vonage and more.
#3 — Channel Influencer Awards
Our fourth annual Channel Influencer Awards featured Forrester's Jay McBain as our Influencer of the Year.The digital issue also highlighted nine more top influencers in the channel and 25 organizations to watch. We even packed it with 10 technologies and five business trends to keep an eye on this year.
Want to find out who made our lists? There's only one way.
#2 — Channel Heavyweights Form Consulting Practice
Ken Bisnoff. Curt Allen. Cardi Prinzi. Those are just a few of the big channel names forming a new consulting practice, EagleTEQ Advisors.The new company will address the needs of technology solution providers and distributors. These channel titans also will work with the private equity/investor community.
Steve Braverman and Mike Cromwell are EagleTEQ’s other founders. All in all, the five bring more than 100 years’ combined experience to the company. Their backgrounds include ownership stakes, CEOs and channel chief roles at X4 Solutions, TPx, Windstream, Equinix, EarthLink and more.
#1 — Frontier Bankruptcy Exit Pending
Like the Energizer bunny, this one's going and going and going. Once again our No. 1 story for the month, you keep coming back to an article we published in October.Frontier Communications, which has a robust number of partners in our audience, filed for bankruptcy last April. We told you last fall how the company expected to emerge from chapter 11 in "early 2021." Well, time is ticking on "early" — it hasn't happened yet.
"Through this restructuring process, we are building a stronger financial foundation to provide a better experience for all our customers.” So said Mark Nielsen, Frontier’s executive vice president and chief legal officer, in October.
While we're yet to see if Nielsen is a fortune-teller, we do know for sure "early" is getting late.
