The channel has witnessed several major mergers among its carrier suppliers in the past two years. The largest was the $22 billion acquisition of Qwest Communications by CenturyLink in spring 2011, followed by its $2.5 billion Savvis purchase. In the fall, Level 3 Communications finalized its acquisition of Global Crossing Ltd. and Windstream Corp. closed its purchase of PAETEC. In 2010, MegaPath merged with Covad Communications and Speakeasy in September. during the past 24 months, EarthLink rolled up a number of companies, including One Communications, STS Communications and DeltaCom, to add to its earlier New Edge Networks acquisition, forming EarthLink Business.
The channel leaders of these organizations got together at Nov. 9 channel event hosted by PlanetOne Communications at the Talking Stick Resort, Scottsdale, Ariz. PlanetOne CEO Ted Schuman moderated a discussion, which included CenturyLink’s Blake Wetzel, vice president of alternate channels for the Business Markets Group; Windstream’s John Leach, executive vice president of business sales and marketing; EarthLink Business’s Cardi Prinzi, executive vice president of marketing; MegaPath’s Dan Foster, president of business markets; and Level 3's Garret Gee, director, sales engineering — partner channel.
What follows is an edited transcript of that roundtable discussion concerning changes to the post-merger channel programs, including support, personnel, channel integration policies, performance expectations and recruiting strategies.
For a status report on the integration of the merging carriers operations, back offices, networks and product road map, see Part I.
Schuman: Have there been any changes or changes coming in the next six to 12 months as it relates to the channel?
