CV_Fall20_2

Uniti Group has begun offering new nationwide dark fiber services on 31,000 fiber route miles, spanning 35 states across tier I, II and III markets. Uniti has full ownership and use of this fiber network consisting of 2.2 million fiber strand miles as part of its previously announced settle- ment agreement with Windstream. Combined with its existing network, Uniti is now able to offer dark fiber services on more than 3 million strand miles of fiber. Metro, regional and long-haul fiber will be available in these markets through IRU or lease structures. Conduit infrastructure also will be available in select markets. “Changing demand trends and work practices are challeng- ing networks to address rapidly escalating bandwidth demand, increased content streaming, growing remote workforces, rise in virtual learning and the continued momentum of 5G solutions,” said Ron Mudry, senior vice president, chief revenue officer of Uniti. “I am very excited about the numerous opportunities this new network will provide for our customers to help them grow their businesses and expand their market reach.” Star2Star recently announced a wholesale partnership with ScanSource that will make its communications and collabora- tion platform available to partners through ScanSource. The partner- ship provides a unique way for VARs to participate in the owner- ship of their clients’ solutions, add support and implementation value, and deliver third-party products, said the companies. VARs now will be able to deliver customized quotes with flexible co-branded billing options through Star2Star’s Rocket quote tool. Star2Star has been successfully partnering with VARs to offer whole- sale models since its inception. The partnership will complement the master agency-led relationship with ScanSource through Intelisys, a ScanSource company. “We have a longstanding, successful partnership with Star2Star and are excited about this new opportunity,” said Paul Constantine, executive vice president at Intelisys. “While most of our partners have embraced the agent model when selling cloud solutions, our goal is to support our partners however they choose to sell. Star2Star’s new wholesale model allows us to offer partners the flexibility to choose the model they prefer.” Star2Star also has partnered with Janet Schijns and the JS Group to provide marketing and demand- generation programs including launching an exclusive initiative for ScanSource partners. “At Star2Star, we specialize in supporting 100 percent partner-driven sales models,” commented Michelle Accardi, president and chief revenue officer at Star2Star. “We do every - thing we can to help our partners be successful, including providing end-to- end support for quoting assistance, co-billing, deal protection and handling taxation. We value our relationship with ScanSource and their own history of strong rapport with their partner community, and we’re excited about this new opportunity together.” Based on surveys of more than 900 global CISOs/senior IT decision-makers, investments in cybersecurity are most commonly the result of an incident or fears of compliance audit failure, said Thycotic, a provider of privileged access management (PAM) solutions. More than three-quarters (77 percent) of respon- dents have received boardroom invest- ment for new security projects either in response to a cyber incident in their organization (49 percent) or through fear of audit failure (28 percent). Almost a quarter of respondents believe that compliance or threats of fines are the most effective way to persuade boards to invest in cybersecurity.  All told, 58 percent of respondents say their organizations plan to add more toward security budgets in the next 12 months. However, CISOs have their work cut out to gain the board’s support. Almost two fifths (37 percent) of partici - pants’ proposed investments were turned down because the threat was perceived as low risk or because the technology had a lack of demonstrable ROI, showed Thycotic’s findings. One-third believe senior management does not compre- hend the scale of threats when making cybersecurity investment decisions. “While boards are definitely listening and stepping up with increased budgets for cybersecurity, they tend to view any investment as a cost rather than adding business value,” said Terence Jackson, CISO at Thycotic. “There are some encouraging signs, particularly in APAC where ROI is a leading factor in security investment decisions.” However, there is still some way to go, he continued. “The fact that Boards mainly approve investments after a security incident or through fear of regulatory penal- ties for non-compliance shows that cyber- security investment decisions are more about insurance than about any desire to lead the field which, in the long run, limits the industry’s ability to keep pace with the cybercriminals,” said Jackson. Uniti Group Adds Nationwide Dark Fiber Services Star2Star, ScanSource Enter Wholesale Partnership ICYMI Survey: Fines, Not FUD Drives Cybersecurity Spend 62 CHANNEL VISION | September - October, 2020