Category Archives for "Managed Services News"

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — DE&I initiatives are more than a trend among such tech giants as Google and Facebook.

They are economic imperatives according to the panelists who spoke Monday at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo session, the Business Case on Diverse Talent.

There’s one statistic that stands out.

Business teams that are more diverse—whether that’s racially, socioeconomically or educationally— are 35% more profitable than organizations that are not, according to McKinsey & Company.

AppSmart’s Mayka Rosales-Peterson

Mayka Rosales-Peterson is senior program manager, managing partner program at App Smart.

“The people who are signing the contracts and who are now decision makers are women, Latinos or African American people, right? So, if your organization is not reflecting the communities that it wants to serve or communities that it wants to tap into, it’s a huge issue.”

A Demographic Shift

The demographic changes in the United States speak to Rosales-Peterson’s outlook, something the panelists discussed. By 2050, a majority of the U.S. population will be non-white, and that diversity will reflect itself in the workforce. Additionally, Deloitte says: “The labor force participation rate of women aged 25 to 54 is projected to rise between 2014 and 2024 (from 73.9% to 75.2%), while the rate for men in the cohort is expected to decline (88.2% to 87.3%).”

Beyond cultural and gender backgrounds, diversity is also about life experience, the panelists reiterated. This could mean hiring someone who didn’t go to college.

Five9’s Kelli McMillan

Kelli Ballou-McMillan is founder of Xposure and global partner director at Five9.

“Whether they finish college, whether they were entrepreneurs first and then decided to transition back into the workforce…these are diverse hires that a firm is then able to use to create additional relationships with customers.”

Few DE&I Programs

Despite the documented benefits of DE&I initiatives, less than 15% of corporations have a DE&I strategy, the panelists said. Part of this may stem from management not placing importance on DE&I initiatives. However, for other firms, it may be a question of not knowing how to start and pay for them.

MSP Growth Coalition Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez is chief encouragement officer at MSP Growth Coalition.

“As a business owner we often think, how am I going to be able to afford this. There’s a lot of different ways you can fund [DE&I initiatives] and employee retention credits is one of them.”

Fernandez said that by not taking the lead on DE&I programming, employers run the risk of establishing hostile work environments. And in the age of the great resignation, employers may find themselves in a situation of employee mass exodus.

“The great resignation was really one of those moments where people voted with their employment and they said, ‘I don’t see myself being successful here.’”

The business imperative for DE&I goes beyond increasing profits and avoiding a hostile workplace. Establishing and evolving these programs means staying competitive.

FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm’s TaChelle Lawson

TaChelle Lawson is founder and president of FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm.

“So, not only are we creating hostile work environments by not addressing this, but you’re also leaving the market wide open for competitors to walk in,” Lawson said. “Can you survive these major demographic shifts without adjusting and taking diversity seriously? The answer is no.”

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — AT&T Partner Solutions (a CP Expo Channel Champion sponsor) has made multi-gigabit fiber speeds available for all of its channel program members to sell.

Partners in AT&T’s Alliance Channel, Partner Exchange and ACC Business programs can sell the company’s 2 GB and 5GB speed tiers. Executives also said AT&T is expanding self-service tools to assist with operations.

AT&T announced 2 GB and 5 GB fiber internet plans back in January. The carrier last month said it would provide the speeds in seven new fiber metro areas by the end of the year.

Sarita Rao, president of AT&T’s integrated and partner solutions, said the channel stands to profit from fiber growth.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

“With the explosive growth of fiber, there is enormous opportunity for our indirect sales channels and multi-gig speeds unlock even more possibilities,” Rao said. “We are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of companies seeking a highly, reliable network that is designed to manage larger amounts of data.”

According to AT&T, the carrier has now made 2 GB and 5 GB speeds available for approximately 675,000 buildings containing more than 2.75 million business are lit with AT&T fiber.

Partner Perspectives

Ross Artale is president and chief operating officer Spectrotel. Spectrotel recently won a “Strategic Mover” award for the AT&T Partner Exchange reseller program.

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

“Connectivity is king. It is the catalyst to driving all the exciting over the top revenue,” Artale said. “AT&T’s multi-gig speeds will improve customer experiences, from getting to the cloud, improving video quality, processing critical business transactions, and just about any other use case you can think of. We are excited to bring these new speeds to market for our enterprise customers.”

Kyle Duncan serves as president of DYN Consulting.

“With the launch of multi-gig, our market opportunity has increased significantly. We are excited to have this expanded offer with AT&T that competitors cannot get close to,” Duncan said.

“We are the premier provider of choice for our solution providers’ connectivity needs and our growing fiber network lays the foundation for the future,” Rao said. “With companies using more data, more applications and services than ever before, highly available connectivity has never been more important.”

Rao talked about her goals for AT&T’s channel in a recent interview with Channel Futures.

AT&T operates in the channel through three main models. Reseller-focused Partner Exchange lets the solution provider own the entirety of the customer life cycle. ACC Business partners sell in a non-teamed fashion and earn residual commissions. Alliance Channel lets partners team or not team with direct sales while AT&T handles billing, contracting and support.

Rao, a multi-decade member of AT&T, moved into the AT&T Partner Solutions organization two years ago.

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — DE&I initiatives are more than a trend among such tech giants as Google and Facebook.

They are economic imperatives according to the panelists who spoke Monday at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo session, the Business Case on Diverse Talent.

There’s one statistic that stands out.

Business teams that are more diverse—whether that’s racially, socioeconomically or educationally— are 35% more profitable than organizations that are not, according to McKinsey & Company.

AppSmart’s Mayka Rosales-Peterson

Mayka Rosales-Peterson is senior program manager, managing partner program at App Smart.

“The people who are signing the contracts and who are now decision makers are women, Latinos or African American people, right? So, if your organization is not reflecting the communities that it wants to serve or communities that it wants to tap into, it’s a huge issue.”

A Demographic Shift

The demographic changes in the United States speak to Rosales-Peterson’s outlook, something the panelists discussed. By 2050, a majority of the U.S. population will be non-white, and that diversity will reflect itself in the workforce. Additionally, Deloitte says: “The labor force participation rate of women aged 25 to 54 is projected to rise between 2014 and 2024 (from 73.9% to 75.2%), while the rate for men in the cohort is expected to decline (88.2% to 87.3%).”

Beyond cultural and gender backgrounds, diversity is also about life experience, the panelists reiterated. This could mean hiring someone who didn’t go to college.

Five9’s Kelli McMillan

Kelli Ballou-McMillan is founder of Xposure and global partner director at Five9.

“Whether they finish college, whether they were entrepreneurs first and then decided to transition back into the workforce…these are diverse hires that a firm is then able to use to create additional relationships with customers.”

Few DE&I Programs

Despite the documented benefits of DE&I initiatives, less than 15% of corporations have a DE&I strategy, the panelists said. Part of this may stem from management not placing importance on DE&I initiatives. However, for other firms, it may be a question of not knowing how to start and pay for them.

MSP Growth Coalition Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez is chief encouragement officer at MSP Growth Coalition.

“As a business owner we often think, how am I going to be able to afford this. There’s a lot of different ways you can fund [DE&I initiatives] and employee retention credits is one of them.”

Fernandez said that by not taking the lead on DE&I programming, employers run the risk of establishing hostile work environments. And in the age of the great resignation, employers may find themselves in a situation of employee mass exodus.

“The great resignation was really one of those moments where people voted with their employment and they said, ‘I don’t see myself being successful here.’”

The business imperative for DE&I goes beyond increasing profits and avoiding a hostile workplace. Establishing and evolving these programs means staying competitive.

FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm’s TaChelle Lawson

TaChelle Lawson is founder and president of FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm.

“So, not only are we creating hostile work environments by not addressing this, but you’re also leaving the market wide open for competitors to walk in,” Lawson said. “Can you survive these major demographic shifts without adjusting and taking diversity seriously? The answer is no.”

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — AT&T Partner Solutions (a CP Expo Channel Champion sponsor) has made multi-gigabit fiber speeds available for all of its channel program members to sell.

Partners in AT&T’s Alliance Channel, Partner Exchange and ACC Business programs can sell the company’s 2 GB and 5GB speed tiers. Executives also said AT&T is expanding self-service tools to assist with operations.

AT&T announced 2 GB and 5 GB fiber internet plans back in January. The carrier last month said it would provide the speeds in seven new fiber metro areas by the end of the year.

Sarita Rao, president of AT&T’s integrated and partner solutions, said the channel stands to profit from fiber growth.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

“With the explosive growth of fiber, there is enormous opportunity for our indirect sales channels and multi-gig speeds unlock even more possibilities,” Rao said. “We are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of companies seeking a highly, reliable network that is designed to manage larger amounts of data.”

According to AT&T, the carrier has now made 2 GB and 5 GB speeds available for approximately 675,000 buildings containing more than 2.75 million business are lit with AT&T fiber.

Partner Perspectives

Ross Artale is president and chief operating officer Spectrotel. Spectrotel recently won a “Strategic Mover” award for the AT&T Partner Exchange reseller program.

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

“Connectivity is king. It is the catalyst to driving all the exciting over the top revenue,” Artale said. “AT&T’s multi-gig speeds will improve customer experiences, from getting to the cloud, improving video quality, processing critical business transactions, and just about any other use case you can think of. We are excited to bring these new speeds to market for our enterprise customers.”

Kyle Duncan serves as president of DYN Consulting.

“With the launch of multi-gig, our market opportunity has increased significantly. We are excited to have this expanded offer with AT&T that competitors cannot get close to,” Duncan said.

“We are the premier provider of choice for our solution providers’ connectivity needs and our growing fiber network lays the foundation for the future,” Rao said. “With companies using more data, more applications and services than ever before, highly available connectivity has never been more important.”

Rao talked about her goals for AT&T’s channel in a recent interview with Channel Futures.

AT&T operates in the channel through three main models. Reseller-focused Partner Exchange lets the solution provider own the entirety of the customer life cycle. ACC Business partners sell in a non-teamed fashion and earn residual commissions. Alliance Channel lets partners team or not team with direct sales while AT&T handles billing, contracting and support.

Rao, a multi-decade member of AT&T, moved into the AT&T Partner Solutions organization two years ago.

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — DE&I initiatives are more than a trend among such tech giants as Google and Facebook.

They are economic imperatives according to the panelists who spoke Monday at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo session, the Business Case on Diverse Talent.

There’s one statistic that stands out.

Business teams that are more diverse—whether that’s racially, socioeconomically or educationally— are 35% more profitable than organizations that are not, according to McKinsey & Company.

AppSmart’s Mayka Rosales-Peterson

Mayka Rosales-Peterson is senior program manager, managing partner program at App Smart.

“The people who are signing the contracts and who are now decision makers are women, Latinos or African American people, right? So, if your organization is not reflecting the communities that it wants to serve or communities that it wants to tap into, it’s a huge issue.”

A Demographic Shift

The demographic changes in the United States speak to Rosales-Peterson’s outlook, something the panelists discussed. By 2050, a majority of the U.S. population will be non-white, and that diversity will reflect itself in the workforce. Additionally, Deloitte says: “The labor force participation rate of women aged 25 to 54 is projected to rise between 2014 and 2024 (from 73.9% to 75.2%), while the rate for men in the cohort is expected to decline (88.2% to 87.3%).”

Beyond cultural and gender backgrounds, diversity is also about life experience, the panelists reiterated. This could mean hiring someone who didn’t go to college.

Five9’s Kelli McMillan

Kelli Ballou-McMillan is founder of Xposure and global partner director at Five9.

“Whether they finish college, whether they were entrepreneurs first and then decided to transition back into the workforce…these are diverse hires that a firm is then able to use to create additional relationships with customers.”

Few DE&I Programs

Despite the documented benefits of DE&I initiatives, less than 15% of corporations have a DE&I strategy, the panelists said. Part of this may stem from management not placing importance on DE&I initiatives. However, for other firms, it may be a question of not knowing how to start and pay for them.

MSP Growth Coalition Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez is chief encouragement officer at MSP Growth Coalition.

“As a business owner we often think, how am I going to be able to afford this. There’s a lot of different ways you can fund [DE&I initiatives] and employee retention credits is one of them.”

Fernandez said that by not taking the lead on DE&I programming, employers run the risk of establishing hostile work environments. And in the age of the great resignation, employers may find themselves in a situation of employee mass exodus.

“The great resignation was really one of those moments where people voted with their employment and they said, ‘I don’t see myself being successful here.’”

The business imperative for DE&I goes beyond increasing profits and avoiding a hostile workplace. Establishing and evolving these programs means staying competitive.

FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm’s TaChelle Lawson

TaChelle Lawson is founder and president of FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm.

“So, not only are we creating hostile work environments by not addressing this, but you’re also leaving the market wide open for competitors to walk in,” Lawson said. “Can you survive these major demographic shifts without adjusting and taking diversity seriously? The answer is no.”

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — AT&T Partner Solutions (a CP Expo Channel Champion sponsor) has made multi-gigabit fiber speeds available for all of its channel program members to sell.

Partners in AT&T’s Alliance Channel, Partner Exchange and ACC Business programs can sell the company’s 2 GB and 5GB speed tiers. Executives also said AT&T is expanding self-service tools to assist with operations.

AT&T announced 2 GB and 5 GB fiber internet plans back in January. The carrier last month said it would provide the speeds in seven new fiber metro areas by the end of the year.

Sarita Rao, president of AT&T’s integrated and partner solutions, said the channel stands to profit from fiber growth.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

“With the explosive growth of fiber, there is enormous opportunity for our indirect sales channels and multi-gig speeds unlock even more possibilities,” Rao said. “We are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of companies seeking a highly, reliable network that is designed to manage larger amounts of data.”

According to AT&T, the carrier has now made 2 GB and 5 GB speeds available for approximately 675,000 buildings containing more than 2.75 million business are lit with AT&T fiber.

Partner Perspectives

Ross Artale is president and chief operating officer Spectrotel. Spectrotel recently won a “Strategic Mover” award for the AT&T Partner Exchange reseller program.

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

“Connectivity is king. It is the catalyst to driving all the exciting over the top revenue,” Artale said. “AT&T’s multi-gig speeds will improve customer experiences, from getting to the cloud, improving video quality, processing critical business transactions, and just about any other use case you can think of. We are excited to bring these new speeds to market for our enterprise customers.”

Kyle Duncan serves as president of DYN Consulting.

“With the launch of multi-gig, our market opportunity has increased significantly. We are excited to have this expanded offer with AT&T that competitors cannot get close to,” Duncan said.

“We are the premier provider of choice for our solution providers’ connectivity needs and our growing fiber network lays the foundation for the future,” Rao said. “With companies using more data, more applications and services than ever before, highly available connectivity has never been more important.”

Rao talked about her goals for AT&T’s channel in a recent interview with Channel Futures.

AT&T operates in the channel through three main models. Reseller-focused Partner Exchange lets the solution provider own the entirety of the customer life cycle. ACC Business partners sell in a non-teamed fashion and earn residual commissions. Alliance Channel lets partners team or not team with direct sales while AT&T handles billing, contracting and support.

Rao, a multi-decade member of AT&T, moved into the AT&T Partner Solutions organization two years ago.

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — DE&I initiatives are more than a trend among such tech giants as Google and Facebook.

They are economic imperatives according to the panelists who spoke Monday at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo session, the Business Case on Diverse Talent.

There’s one statistic that stands out.

Business teams that are more diverse—whether that’s racially, socioeconomically or educationally— are 35% more profitable than organizations that are not, according to McKinsey & Company.

AppSmart’s Mayka Rosales-Peterson

Mayka Rosales-Peterson is senior program manager, managing partner program at App Smart.

“The people who are signing the contracts and who are now decision makers are women, Latinos or African American people, right? So, if your organization is not reflecting the communities that it wants to serve or communities that it wants to tap into, it’s a huge issue.”

A Demographic Shift

The demographic changes in the United States speak to Rosales-Peterson’s outlook, something the panelists discussed. By 2050, a majority of the U.S. population will be non-white, and that diversity will reflect itself in the workforce. Additionally, Deloitte says: “The labor force participation rate of women aged 25 to 54 is projected to rise between 2014 and 2024 (from 73.9% to 75.2%), while the rate for men in the cohort is expected to decline (88.2% to 87.3%).”

Beyond cultural and gender backgrounds, diversity is also about life experience, the panelists reiterated. This could mean hiring someone who didn’t go to college.

Five9’s Kelli McMillan

Kelli Ballou-McMillan is founder of Xposure and global partner director at Five9.

“Whether they finish college, whether they were entrepreneurs first and then decided to transition back into the workforce…these are diverse hires that a firm is then able to use to create additional relationships with customers.”

Few DE&I Programs

Despite the documented benefits of DE&I initiatives, less than 15% of corporations have a DE&I strategy, the panelists said. Part of this may stem from management not placing importance on DE&I initiatives. However, for other firms, it may be a question of not knowing how to start and pay for them.

MSP Growth Coalition Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez is chief encouragement officer at MSP Growth Coalition.

“As a business owner we often think, how am I going to be able to afford this. There’s a lot of different ways you can fund [DE&I initiatives] and employee retention credits is one of them.”

Fernandez said that by not taking the lead on DE&I programming, employers run the risk of establishing hostile work environments. And in the age of the great resignation, employers may find themselves in a situation of employee mass exodus.

“The great resignation was really one of those moments where people voted with their employment and they said, ‘I don’t see myself being successful here.’”

The business imperative for DE&I goes beyond increasing profits and avoiding a hostile workplace. Establishing and evolving these programs means staying competitive.

FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm’s TaChelle Lawson

TaChelle Lawson is founder and president of FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm.

“So, not only are we creating hostile work environments by not addressing this, but you’re also leaving the market wide open for competitors to walk in,” Lawson said. “Can you survive these major demographic shifts without adjusting and taking diversity seriously? The answer is no.”

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — AT&T Partner Solutions (a CP Expo Channel Champion sponsor) has made multi-gigabit fiber speeds available for all of its channel program members to sell.

Partners in AT&T’s Alliance Channel, Partner Exchange and ACC Business programs can sell the company’s 2 GB and 5GB speed tiers. Executives also said AT&T is expanding self-service tools to assist with operations.

AT&T announced 2 GB and 5 GB fiber internet plans back in January. The carrier last month said it would provide the speeds in seven new fiber metro areas by the end of the year.

Sarita Rao, president of AT&T’s integrated and partner solutions, said the channel stands to profit from fiber growth.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

“With the explosive growth of fiber, there is enormous opportunity for our indirect sales channels and multi-gig speeds unlock even more possibilities,” Rao said. “We are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of companies seeking a highly, reliable network that is designed to manage larger amounts of data.”

According to AT&T, the carrier has now made 2 GB and 5 GB speeds available for approximately 675,000 buildings containing more than 2.75 million business are lit with AT&T fiber.

Partner Perspectives

Ross Artale is president and chief operating officer Spectrotel. Spectrotel recently won a “Strategic Mover” award for the AT&T Partner Exchange reseller program.

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

“Connectivity is king. It is the catalyst to driving all the exciting over the top revenue,” Artale said. “AT&T’s multi-gig speeds will improve customer experiences, from getting to the cloud, improving video quality, processing critical business transactions, and just about any other use case you can think of. We are excited to bring these new speeds to market for our enterprise customers.”

Kyle Duncan serves as president of DYN Consulting.

“With the launch of multi-gig, our market opportunity has increased significantly. We are excited to have this expanded offer with AT&T that competitors cannot get close to,” Duncan said.

“We are the premier provider of choice for our solution providers’ connectivity needs and our growing fiber network lays the foundation for the future,” Rao said. “With companies using more data, more applications and services than ever before, highly available connectivity has never been more important.”

Rao talked about her goals for AT&T’s channel in a recent interview with Channel Futures.

AT&T operates in the channel through three main models. Reseller-focused Partner Exchange lets the solution provider own the entirety of the customer life cycle. ACC Business partners sell in a non-teamed fashion and earn residual commissions. Alliance Channel lets partners team or not team with direct sales while AT&T handles billing, contracting and support.

Rao, a multi-decade member of AT&T, moved into the AT&T Partner Solutions organization two years ago.

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — DE&I initiatives are more than a trend among such tech giants as Google and Facebook.

They are economic imperatives according to the panelists who spoke Monday at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo session, the Business Case on Diverse Talent.

There’s one statistic that stands out.

Business teams that are more diverse—whether that’s racially, socioeconomically or educationally— are 35% more profitable than organizations that are not, according to McKinsey & Company.

AppSmart’s Mayka Rosales-Peterson

Mayka Rosales-Peterson is senior program manager, managing partner program at App Smart.

“The people who are signing the contracts and who are now decision makers are women, Latinos or African American people, right? So, if your organization is not reflecting the communities that it wants to serve or communities that it wants to tap into, it’s a huge issue.”

A Demographic Shift

The demographic changes in the United States speak to Rosales-Peterson’s outlook, something the panelists discussed. By 2050, a majority of the U.S. population will be non-white, and that diversity will reflect itself in the workforce. Additionally, Deloitte says: “The labor force participation rate of women aged 25 to 54 is projected to rise between 2014 and 2024 (from 73.9% to 75.2%), while the rate for men in the cohort is expected to decline (88.2% to 87.3%).”

Beyond cultural and gender backgrounds, diversity is also about life experience, the panelists reiterated. This could mean hiring someone who didn’t go to college.

Five9’s Kelli McMillan

Kelli Ballou-McMillan is founder of Xposure and global partner director at Five9.

“Whether they finish college, whether they were entrepreneurs first and then decided to transition back into the workforce…these are diverse hires that a firm is then able to use to create additional relationships with customers.”

Few DE&I Programs

Despite the documented benefits of DE&I initiatives, less than 15% of corporations have a DE&I strategy, the panelists said. Part of this may stem from management not placing importance on DE&I initiatives. However, for other firms, it may be a question of not knowing how to start and pay for them.

MSP Growth Coalition Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez is chief encouragement officer at MSP Growth Coalition.

“As a business owner we often think, how am I going to be able to afford this. There’s a lot of different ways you can fund [DE&I initiatives] and employee retention credits is one of them.”

Fernandez said that by not taking the lead on DE&I programming, employers run the risk of establishing hostile work environments. And in the age of the great resignation, employers may find themselves in a situation of employee mass exodus.

“The great resignation was really one of those moments where people voted with their employment and they said, ‘I don’t see myself being successful here.’”

The business imperative for DE&I goes beyond increasing profits and avoiding a hostile workplace. Establishing and evolving these programs means staying competitive.

FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm’s TaChelle Lawson

TaChelle Lawson is founder and president of FIG Strategy and Consulting Firm.

“So, not only are we creating hostile work environments by not addressing this, but you’re also leaving the market wide open for competitors to walk in,” Lawson said. “Can you survive these major demographic shifts without adjusting and taking diversity seriously? The answer is no.”

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO, LAS VEGAS — AT&T Partner Solutions (a CP Expo Channel Champion sponsor) has made multi-gigabit fiber speeds available for all of its channel program members to sell.

Partners in AT&T’s Alliance Channel, Partner Exchange and ACC Business programs can sell the company’s 2 GB and 5GB speed tiers. Executives also said AT&T is expanding self-service tools to assist with operations.

AT&T announced 2 GB and 5 GB fiber internet plans back in January. The carrier last month said it would provide the speeds in seven new fiber metro areas by the end of the year.

Sarita Rao, president of AT&T’s integrated and partner solutions, said the channel stands to profit from fiber growth.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

“With the explosive growth of fiber, there is enormous opportunity for our indirect sales channels and multi-gig speeds unlock even more possibilities,” Rao said. “We are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of companies seeking a highly, reliable network that is designed to manage larger amounts of data.”

According to AT&T, the carrier has now made 2 GB and 5 GB speeds available for approximately 675,000 buildings containing more than 2.75 million business are lit with AT&T fiber.

Partner Perspectives

Ross Artale is president and chief operating officer Spectrotel. Spectrotel recently won a “Strategic Mover” award for the AT&T Partner Exchange reseller program.

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

“Connectivity is king. It is the catalyst to driving all the exciting over the top revenue,” Artale said. “AT&T’s multi-gig speeds will improve customer experiences, from getting to the cloud, improving video quality, processing critical business transactions, and just about any other use case you can think of. We are excited to bring these new speeds to market for our enterprise customers.”

Kyle Duncan serves as president of DYN Consulting.

“With the launch of multi-gig, our market opportunity has increased significantly. We are excited to have this expanded offer with AT&T that competitors cannot get close to,” Duncan said.

“We are the premier provider of choice for our solution providers’ connectivity needs and our growing fiber network lays the foundation for the future,” Rao said. “With companies using more data, more applications and services than ever before, highly available connectivity has never been more important.”

Rao talked about her goals for AT&T’s channel in a recent interview with Channel Futures.

AT&T operates in the channel through three main models. Reseller-focused Partner Exchange lets the solution provider own the entirety of the customer life cycle. ACC Business partners sell in a non-teamed fashion and earn residual commissions. Alliance Channel lets partners team or not team with direct sales while AT&T handles billing, contracting and support.

Rao, a multi-decade member of AT&T, moved into the AT&T Partner Solutions organization two years ago.