Carl Katz

Carl Katz, senior vice president of worldwide partner sales for ThreatProtector Cybersecurity Advisors, offered some thoughts on how 9/11 impacted the path of technology.

“The 9/11 attack was an unprecedented tragic event that made every American realize that we are not immune to the potential of an attack emanating beyond our borders. The attack just happened to occur during an unprecedented technological evolution that would eventually bring the world together through stronger networks and newer technologies. At the time, products such as DSL, fiber optics, VoIP, MPLS and others were being made available to sell within the channel. That caused an acceleration in adoption and brought the world closer. Increasing sales and decreasing the sales cycle through a ‘trusted adviser’ alternate channel model provided technology companies the benefit of scale without the upfront costs of hiring direct sales reps. Although tragic, the 9/11 event helped the channel rise from the ‘dark side’ to a viable mainstream sales division within technology companies.”

“In the aftermath of 9/11 U.S. businesses realized that their networks weren’t as robust and redundant as previously thought. After the World Trade Center was hit, millions of customers’ internet and networks went down. This event was a contributing factor in accelerating the need for a more fully meshed network — the impetus for the rise of MPLS. In order to have an effective MPLS network, partners were tasked to sell complex solutions to create a unique topology limiting downtime. As opposed to a direct sales rep providing one offering, partners were trained on multiple solutions so that they alone could create a more holistic network topology. This proved to be valuable to prospective customers.”