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Zyxel Enhances
Channel Program
Zyxel Communications, a provider of
broadband networking, Internet access
and connected home products, has en-
hanced its Freedom Program in an effort
to make it more profitable for resellers
to sell its family of enterprise-class net-
working products and solutions.
Zyxel’s two-tiered Freedom Program,
which includes the basic Advocate and
the premium Ally tiers, is designed for
simplicity and requires no hidden costs or
certifications. Among the enhancement,
reseller partners now receive larger dis-
counts for deal registrations, are now eli-
gible for double the margin for Advocate-
level resellers and triple the margin for
resellers in the Ally tier, and resellers now
receive discounts up to 50 percent off the
cost of not-for-resale products.
As for other details, the program
also includes free webinars, free techni-
cal training, limited lifetime warranty on
specific product families, free technical
support and meet-or-beat competitor
pricing. Ally partners – those who sell
$10,000 or make four transactions per
quarter – also qualify for 24/7 technical
support, lead referral, sales engineer ac-
cess and advanced RMA replacement.
“Zyxel has shifted its focus away
from products sales and towards
becoming a networking ally to our
customer and partners,” said Matt
Dargis, vice president at Zyxel.
Altice Unveils
Low-Income Broadband
Altice USA, a subsidiary of inter-
national telecom and media company
Altice N.V., announced the availability
of Economy Internet, a new low-cost
home broadband service from its Op-
timum brand for eligible low-income
families and seniors. The $14.99
per month service, available in pilot
markets in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut, includes downstream
speeds up to 30 Mbps, a Wi-Fi smart
router, and wireless connectivity on-
the-go through access to the Optimum
network of more than 1.5 million
hotspots across the tri-state area.
The initial pilot cities are the Bronx,
Brooklyn and Yonkers; Brentwood on
Long Island; Norwalk, Conn.; and Newark
and Patterson, N.J. Altice said it plans
to launch in additional communities in
the coming months and will be available
across the entire Optimum footprint for
the start of the 2017/18 school year.
The service also comes with up to
three Optimum email accounts and McAfee
Internet Protection. No annual contract is
required and no additional fees or taxes
are charged, but the service is limited to
families that qualify for the National School
Lunch Program and seniors who qualify for
Supplemental Social Security.
Altice USA, incidentally, is the fourth
largest cable company in the U.S., op-
erating in 20 states under its Optimum,
Lightpath and Suddenlink brands.
GTT toAcquire Hibernia
Global cloud networking provider
GTT Communications recently an-
nounced a definitive agreement to ac-
quire Hibernia Networks, a provider of
global, high-speed network connectivity
solutions and owner of terrestrial and
subsea fiber assets including Hibernia
Express. The $590 million transaction
consists of $515 million in cash and
approximately 3.3 million shares of GTT
common stock, to be issued to the sell-
ers at closing, valued at $75 million.
With the deal GTT picks up owned
and leased dark fiber assets, including
five owned subsea cables and eight
cable landing stations; a video trans-
port platform servicing content rights
holders, broadcasters, cable compa-
nies and OTT providers; a client base
including financial services, media and
entertainment, web-centric and service
provider segments; and expansion of
its cloud networking portfolio.
“Following our successful, proven
acquisition template, we expect to com-
plete integration within two to three quar-
ters post-close, and to achieve a post-
synergy multiple of seven times Adjusted
EBITDA or better on a pro forma basis,”
said Rick Calder, GTT president and CEO.
For the three months ending Sep-
tember 30, 2016, Hibernia reported,
on an unaudited basis, revenue of
$45.5 million, while GTT reported rev-
enue of $131.9 million for the same
time period. The parties expect to
close the transaction by the end of
first quarter 2017.
In related news, and shortly follow-
ing announcement of the acquisition
intent, Hibernia Networks announced
two channel partnerships, with Bridge-
pointe Technologies and Cloudwirx, as
the company broadens the reach of its
indirect sales channel. Bridgepointe is a
master agency with a network of profes-
sional agents specializing in data, voice,
hosting, collaboration and mobility solu-
tions. Cloudwirx is a technology services
consultant providing global network con-
nectivity, cloud infrastructure services
and enterprise software solutions.
cPacket Launches
Partner Program
A provider of next-generation network
performance monitoring and analysis
solutions, cPacket Networks announced
the launch of its new channel partner
program, dubbed cChannel, for reseller
partners, systems integrators and man-
aged service providers worldwide.
“With changes such as 40G, 100G
and SDN, the network industry is grap-
pling with some of the biggest chal-
lenges it’s faced in the past decade,”
explained Jim Berkman, head of global
marketing at cPacket.
“Customers are looking for partners
who can help them navigate this suc-
cessfully, and those are the channel
partners we aspire to work with.”
The program consist of three tiers.
“Affiliate” is for partners interested
in selling cPacket solutions but not
ready to make training and product
commitments to cPacket. “Silver” is
for channel partners that are confident
their practice will have success with
the cPacket solution and are willing to
make a baseline commitment in return
for additional margin. The top “Gold”
tier is recommended for solution pro-
viders that are having success growing
their cPacket business. Gold Partners
make larger investments in sales and
technical training and, as a result, re-
ceive added incentives.
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Channel
Vision
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January - February, 2017