Comcast’s Craig Schlagbaum

Of course, the traditional agent channel hasn’t been void of consolidation and private equity either.

Craig Schlagbaum, SVP and channel chief at Comcast Business, said the business model going forward will foster more growth for vendors.

“I am obviously thinking of it more from the agent side of the business, but this is the highest level of M&A activity I have ever seen. There was a great deal of pent-up demand for those willing to sell, and my guess is there are many we don’t know about that haven’t announced.”

Regarding private equity, he added: “More share goes through the channel and more value comes into play. Our [channel] sales have hit an all-time high and we are seeing some of the biggest deals we have ever done.”

For Comcast, that means getting more partners interested in the company.

“We are getting more inquiries than in the past because what starts with a communications sale then moves to solutions to secure it, to software-defined solutions to the cloud, and then you need a network provider that is world-class. Partners moved from a world of strict commodities to selling solutions. Now they are selling the whole ensemble,” Schlagbaum said.