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By
Tara
Seals
A
s channel partners move upmar-
ket and diversify from the tra-
ditional base of dentist offices
and burger franchises, they’re
increasingly finding themselves
with opportunities to sell international con-
nectivity. Enterprises and mid-tier compa-
nies alike are looking to establish offices
and locations overseas – and it’s an oppor-
tunity that Colt Technology Services has leapt
into with a big channel push in the U.S.
Since its founding in 1992 as City of London Tele-
communications (COLT, since rebranded to Colt), the
company steadily has grown by acquisition into a mul-
tinational telecom carrier, offering voice, data, hosting
and managed services in 13 countries in Europe. The
2014 acquisition of KVH also gave it a footprint in Asia-
Pacific, especially in the key markets of Tokyo, Singa-
pore, Hong Kong and Seoul.
After a stint as a public company, it became private
again last year when Fidelity bought it in August. And
Carl Grivner, the former CEO of Pacnet as well as XO
Communications, became the company’s CEO last Sep-
tember. But besides the high-level restructuring, the
company has doubled down on its channel partner
strategy in the U.S.
A High-Touch Approach
to International
With established points of presence in Bos-
ton, the New York and Chicago areas and Los
Angeles, Colt offers U.S. companies a streamlined
way to establish on-net offices in other regions of
the world. And one of the things that sets Colt apart
is its unique ability to support multinational installa-
tions with in-region resources.
“That’s particularly important in North America,” said
Patrick Ferretti, head of marketing for North America at
Colt. “When we talk to U.S. headquartered companies,
many of them have some scar tissue from previous in-
ternational implementations. We have the ability to sup-
port them on a local basis, with teams that have institu-
tional knowledge of the culture, heritage and how things
get done in a certain market.”
Think Global,Act Local
INTERNATIONAL AGENTs
SECTION
Colt Technology Makes a Big Play for the
U.S. Multinational Market
Colt VP of
channel sales
Mike Kopp
28
Channel
Vision
|
May - June 2016