News Briefs

Broad Sky Networks, a satellite broadband reseller, has become one of the first enterprise-class resellers for WildBlue, which offers high-speed Internet access via satellite. Broad Sky now offers its SkyLink service powered by WildBlue for less than $1,000 in equipment, and monthly prices starting at $69, allowing small businesses, distributed enterprises, and tele-workers to get broadband access anywhere in the United States. For now, Broad Sky only is offering SkyLink through master agents.

KeaneTel and the ASCII Group Inc. have signed an agreement to jointly promote VoIP, voice, data, Internet access, VPNs and other KeaneTel services, through the ASCII Group membership to the SMB marketplace across North America. The multiyear agreement offers ASCII members exclusive benefits in marketing the services for KeaneTel. KeaneTel also has negotiated offers from many carriers that will provide ASCII Groups customers special pricing, service and support levels unavailable from any other program.

Oh, My Aching Network!

To help solutions providers fix their customers aging networks, Cisco Systems Inc. in late fall 2005 launched Foundation Advantage for Channel Partners.

Ciscos Edison Peres

The program extends financial incentives for partners to migrate their installed bases of networking equipment to new Cisco solutions through April 25 and extends end user trade-in credits to non-Cisco products. The vendor also is introducing a free network profiling tool to assess all components in their customers network, and analyze and identify the location of outdated equipment.

The networking market is in a dramatic transition and there is a multibillion-dollar network infrastructure upgrade opportunity for Cisco channel partners, says Edison Peres, vice president of Core and Advanced Technologies, Worldwide Channels at Cisco Systems. Several factors are converging at once to create this market dynamic, from an aging Y2K installed base and the rapid pace of advanced networking technologies, to the increase in customer business application requirements.