Comcast's Masergy Buy, COVID-19 Mandate Debate Highlight Big Week in Channel

One of the biggest acquisitions of the year took the channel by storm this week. But it didn’t come from where you might expect. It wasn’t a security giant gobbling up a rival, nor was it a private equity company adding to its massive portfolio. This time, it was a cable company getting into the act, with Comcast Business snatching up Masergy. The deal gives the cable behemoth a bigger enterprise play and access to all of Masergy’s SD-WAN expertise.

ZK Research’s Zeus Kerravala

The deal, which drew rave reviews from much of the industry, could also be a harbinger of things to come. Analyst Zeus Kerravala, who spoke with our James Anderson, expects this move means other MSOs will make similar moves.

“Any of the cablecos that have their eyes on up-market would try and replicate this,” he noted.

The other story making the biggest headlines on Channel Futures this week? We took the temperature of partners to get their take on COVID-19 mandates. As you might expect, some are all for them; others say “no way.” And, not unexpectedly, some of those opinions vary depend on which parts of the country and world they call home.

Take a quick stroll through our slideshow above for more on Comcast-Masergy, COVID-19 and what else had the channel buzzing this week.