Channel Partners' Top 12 Stories in May
What was No. 1? Click through our gallery to find out!
![12, twelve 12, twelve](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt28fb6fedea14c336/65255076639993892d9431bd/12.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
#12 — CenturyLink, Level 3 Prep for Cable Competition
Speaking at an investment conference, Stewart Ewing, CenturyLink’s CFO, and Sunit Patel, Level 3’s executive vice president and CFO, said they would be ready to compete against cable companies for SMB business when their merger is completed this fall.
Patel noted that CenturyLink-Level 3 will be the second-largest player in the enterprise wholesale market, and, “I think we can really leverage that from multiple fronts, whether it’s brand name, the facilities footprint or several products and services."
Read more about what the men had to say here.
#11 — ServiceNow Knowledge17
About 15,000 customers, partners and others from around the globe descended on Orlando, Florida, for ServiceNow’s Knowledge17 conference. The event included keynotes, more than 400 breakout sessions, ExpoNow, the Pavilion and more.
Our cameras were there. Our gallery piqued your interest.
#10 — Sophos Reinforces Channel Strategy
During its fiscal third quarter, Sophos saw a 40 percent increase in the number of global partners selling its endpoint and network products, and a more than 90 percent jump in the number selling its Sophos Central integrated management platform.
We caught up with Kendra Krause, Sophos’ vice president of global channels, who briefed us on updates to the company's channel program following its North American Partner Kickoff Conference in Las Vegas.
Click here to read the full Q&A.
#9 — How to Pick Your SD-WAN Provider
SD-WAN is taking the channel by storm. But how do partners know how to pick the right provider for their customers?
MicroCorp, the master agent and provider of telecom and cloud services, offered up some tips.
#8 — TPx Hires Delis
The newly rebranded TPx Communications hired a channel veteran who has led teams at Time Warner Cable and XO Communications.
Jim Delis, who spent the past six-and-a-half years at TWC – most recently as channel chief – is TPx's new senior vice president of national channel development. He told Channel Partners that his job will focus on master agents and to help them expand into new markets.
Learn what spurred Delis to take the new job here.
#7 — BIG M&A
You're always looking for the latest in merger and acquisition news. We didn't disappoint you last month.
Our popular recap featured Windstream's Broadview Networks purchase announcement, Intelisys buying a key Verizon partner, and important news from CenturyLink about its Level 3 acquisition.
The full recap is here.
#6 — Lenovo Returns to Product Focus
Sammy Kinlaw, U.S. SMB and North America Commercial Channel vice president – formerly, NA channel chief at Lenovo – shared his priorities for the next 12 months, the company’s relationship with its partners, and competing against the likes of Dell EMC and HPE.
He also announced some new hires.
Read our Q&A with Kinlaw here.
#5 — Toshiba Telecom Shutdown
Man, did you have something to say about the shutdown of Toshiba's telecommunications division.
Our coverage of the pending closure drew a lot of chatter from readers. We posted an update in mid-May that included comments from readers.
#4 — UCaaS Rankings
Verizon made up some serious ground on UCaaS leaders 8x8 and RingCentral – according to IHS Markit's quarterly rankings – thanks in big part to the introduction of its mobile-first UCaaS offering.
8x8 and RingCentral were in a virtual tie atop the scorecard, followed in order by Verizon, Vonage, West, Comcast, Star2Star, Mitel, Nextiva and Jive.
Click here to read more about how suppliers fared in the standings.
#3 — WTG Tee & Sea
A lot of you who attended WTG’s Tee & Sea, May 10-12, wanted to see our pictures from the event. And others of you who missed it got to sneak a peek at what could've been.
#2 — Channel People on the Move
They're people. They move.
Every month our popular Channel People on the Move gallery – featuring new hires and promotions in the telecom and IT channels – is near the top of our list.
This version featured movers and shakers from Telarus, Momentum Telecom, TeleDomani and more.
#1 — Rackspace Q&A
Fresh off taking home Innovator of the Year honors at the Red Hat Summit, Rackspace channel leaders sat down with us to discuss partner reception of the company’s managed OpenStack as-a-service offering, the resurgence in private cloud, a new hardware deal with Dell EMC and the outlook for open source for enterprise customers.
This shouldn't be missed. Read the Q&A here.
#1 — Rackspace Q&A
Fresh off taking home Innovator of the Year honors at the Red Hat Summit, Rackspace channel leaders sat down with us to discuss partner reception of the company’s managed OpenStack as-a-service offering, the resurgence in private cloud, a new hardware deal with Dell EMC and the outlook for open source for enterprise customers.
This shouldn't be missed. Read the Q&A here.
There’s never a dearth of news in the converging telecom and IT channels.
That statement proved true again in May, with a dozen popular topics cracking our list of top stories in the last full month of spring.
May featured TPx Communications making a key channel hire as it leaves its TelePacific legacy behind; an update on the shutdown of Toshiba Telecom — which took the channel by surprise; and Verizon’s move up the UCaaS rankings, in pursuit of 8×8 and RingCentral.
So what was No. 1? Click through our gallery to find out!
Looking for more top stories? Click here to see our most-read posts in April.
Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.
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