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Sandler Partners Acquires
X4 Solutions
In a move that reportedly creates the
second largest distributor of telecom and
cloud services in the nation, Sandler Part-
ners announced that it has acquired X4
Solutions, a master agency based in the
Midwest. Together, the companies serve
more than 4,000 sales partners in the
West, Northwest, Southwest and Midwest.
The combined company will
generate approximately $65 million
in revenue this year. Terms of the
deal, which closed July 21, are not
being disclosed.
With X4, Sandler Partners is adding
about 30 new providers for a current
total of 140 direct relationships with pro-
viders of voice, data, connectivity, cloud
computing, cloud communications, mo-
bility, security and more.
Sandler Partners says it’s welcom-
ing all X4 employees into the company
with no planned layoffs. X4 president
Curt Allen will become president of
channel for Sandler Partners, while co-
founder and CFO D.J. Fioretti will re-
main with the company as a consultant
overseeing the financial integration of
X4 into the Sandler Partners organiza-
tion. X4 co-founder and CEO Steve
Braverman reportedly will provide ongo-
ing assistance in the transition of mar-
keting platforms and events as well as
being available to key partner contacts
as an ambassador to the new Sandler
Partners organization. Steve Snure,
X4 co-founder and CIO, reportedly will
provide ongoing assistance with the
integration of back-office systems.
Agents will not be asked to sign
new agreements with Sandler Partners,
but there may be situations where they
might want to update their agreements,
said the company. Sandler Partners
currently has more than 3,400 agent
partners, and X4 has 1,200 for a total
of more than 4,600. The crossover in
partner bases is less than 3 percent, and
partners that work with both companies
can continue to work with whom they
choose, said Sandler executives.
Through the economies of scale,
Sandler believes the combined agen-
cies will be able to better meet the in-
creasing needs for partner training on
ever-changing solutions and enhance
the ability to serve enterprise accounts.
“X4 is a respected company in
our space that shares our values of
personalized service and support for
our sales partners,” said Alan Sandler,
founder and managing partner for
Sandler Partners. “This deal gener-
ates significant value for Sandler Part-
ners and X4 sales partners and their
customers, including stronger provider
contracts, a broader and more robust
portfolio, additional layers of support
and a larger footprint.”
“The combination of Sandler
Partners and X4 will be able to offer
sales partners even more resources
to deliver best-in-class telecom and
cloud solutions, packaged in partner
programs designed to fit each of their
unique business models,” Allen said.
“Our combined provider portfolio offers
more options for our sales partners to
deliver the cloud and connectivity solu-
tions their customers demand.”
“We’ve always grown organically,
and we still have a very strong organ-
ic growth engine that will continue to
power significant growth for our com-
pany,” added Sandler. “However, we
are actively looking for other compa-
nies and agencies that would benefit
the partner and customer ecosystem
and integrate with our culture.”
LSI Rolls Out Virtual
Office for SMBs
Line Systems formally announced
its Virtual Office product, a completely
cloud-based phone system solution that
integrates with the increasingly mobile
workforce within SMBs.
Providing a way for SMB orga-
nizations to manage and run their
business completely in the cloud, the
solution utilizes any broadband Inter-
net connection to access the feature
server, rendering full office product
suites and the functionality of a PBX.
Call routing can be configured to send
all calls to the mobile device of the
customer’s choice.
“In the past, small business orga-
nizations and home-based businesses
have struggled with balancing their
service needs and presence with as-
sociated budget constraints,” said
Bruce Wirt, LSI vice president of sales
and marketing. “Virtual Office allows
a central number, local or toll free,
to take inbound calls using a cloud-
based auto attendant, with prepro-
grammed extension options to deliver
phone calls to the device of the cus-
tomer’s choice.”
Virtual Office will be offered to the
market with an introductory rate starting
at $29.95, moving upward depending
on call volume packages and sub-
scribed extensions. LSI is also incenting
the indirect sales channel by offering a
$50 per instance spiffs for agents that
sell the product.
“This is another step in our effort
to expand our presence throughout
the nation,” said Warren Reyburn,
executive vice president at LSI. “This
product fills a need in the SMB/SOHO
marketplace, with a level of support,
functionality and ease of use that rivals
options enjoyed by upstream markets.”
Equinix Partners with
Datang in China
Equinix has announced a strate-
gic partnership with Datang Telecom
Group in China. As a part of the part-
nership, Datang Telecom, which cur-
rently holds a cross regional Internet
data center (IDC) license in Beijing
and Shanghai, will become the ser-
vice delivery partner for Equinix in
China, enabling Equinix to expand
further into the growing domestic en-
terprise market. On behalf of Equinix,
Datang will offer Equinix customers
in China a broad range of intercon-
nection services, including Equinix
Cloud Exchange.
This partnership comes as Equinix
continues to extend the reach of its
global platform to 145 data centers.
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