Windstream-Charter Lawsuit, Frontier Issues Among June's Top 12 Stories
Out of all these big channel stories, which was No. 1 in June?
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#12 — Avaya-Westcon Deal
Avaya signed up distribution giant Westcon to take its Cloud Office by RingCentral product to the European partner community. Westcon will offer the recently released service to its agents in the U.K., Ireland, France and the Netherlands.
Avaya Cloud Office combines RingCentral’s UCaaS platform with Avaya’s latest technologies, applications and endpoints. It delivers calling, team messaging, video conferencing, file sharing and collaboration.
Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral is the culmination of a $500 million partnership between the two companies.
Read more about the new agreement between Avaya and Westcon.
#11 — New Fusion Connect CRO
Fusion Connect's Mario DeRiggi
You always have your eye out for channel people on the move, and June was no different. One of the most notable was Mario DeRiggi's exit from Vonage to become Fusion Connect‘s new chief revenue officer.
The move isn't a huge surprise since DeRiggi worked with Brian Crotty, Fusion’s new CEO, at Broadview Networks, which Windstream acquired in 2017.. Crotty was COO and DeRiggi was executive vice president.
The hiring comes just a few months after Fusion emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it filed in 2019.
Read more about DeRiggi's decision to join Fusion Connect.
#10 — Channel People on the Move
And as long as we're on the topic, our monthly Channel People on the Move gallery once again landed in our top 12.
This edition featured new hires and promotions at PlanetOne, AireSpring, RapidScale and more. That's Chris Whitaker of Sierra Wireless pictured above.
#9 — Windstream Goes After Charter
Windstream wants cable giant Charter Communications to cough up $20 million for allegedly poaching customers during its bankruptcy proceedings.
In a court filing, Windstream said “the time has now come for Charter to face the consequences of its unlawful actions and its frivolous and dilatory conduct of this litigation," The business communications giant is referring to Charter's "scare-tactic" marketing campaign, where Windstream says Charter deceived customers into believing it would no longer provide services and was going to liquidate.
A judge in May ruled against Charter, saying the cable company needed to remedy the situation. Windstream said nearly 1,400 of its customers switched their service to Charter. As a result, it lost up to $5.1 million in profit.
Learn more about the ongoing squabble.
#8 — 8x8 Unveils Open Communications Platform
8×8 says its new Open Communications Platform offers a complete lineup of work-from-anywhere enterprise communications. It combines voice, team chat, meetings and contact center products and services, fueled by AI-driven routing and predictive analytics.
And that's not all. As part of the launch, 8×8 announced CPaaS programmable applications and APIs, including text and video. With the new platform, businesses can extend and customize 8×8 and third-party applications and workflows.
Get the full scoop on one of the hottest new products in the channel.
#7 — COVID-19-Related Recession Impact
Analysts are speculating what a long-lasting recession sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic could mean to the communications industry. For one, the outlook for landlines might not be so good; in particular, for CenturyLink business and residential landline service, MoffettNathanson, the independent research firm, said.
“Business voice losses – legacy and VoIP – will likely face incremental pressure, as the pandemic has highlighted the value of more flexible, feature-rich offerings like UCaaS, and introduced legions of businesses to videoconferencing,” the analysts wrote, in a note obtained by Fierce Telecom.
Competition from cable is also a factor. Read more.
#6 — NEC-Intermedia Partnership
A new partnership looks to challenge the recent team-up between Avaya and RingCentral for UC supremacy. We're talking about NEC calling on Intermedia to reclaim its lost share of the PBX market.
NEC fell behind rivals Avaya, Cisco and others because it lacked modern cloud PBX and contact center products and services. But a new UCaaS product stemming from the Intermedia deal could start to change that.
Learn about the various elements of the new product.
#5 — AT&T-Salesforce Agreement
It's been a big top 12 for new partnerships and agreements. This one is between AT&T and Salesforce.
AT&T is deploying Salesforce Customer 360 to create a single view of every customer across every point of contact. That includes in person at a store, over the phone, in a business setting or on any AT&T website. Salesforce says Customer 360 allows AT&T to deliver customer experiences across retail, marketing, online, business and more.
Read what this means for partners.
#4 — CenturyLink Copper Retirement
CenturyLink is the latest communications provider saying it will retire copper in numerous areas. Look for the company to replace more copper with fiber as customers migrate to higher speed broadband.
The latest updates, to come in September, will happen in parts of Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
Get more details on the technology upgrades.
#3 — AT&T Job Cuts
The Communications Workers of America union says AT&T is dumping 3,400 technician and clerical jobs across the country. It also said the wireless giant plans to permanently close more than 250 AT&T Mobility and Cricket Wireless stores, affecting 1,300 retail jobs.
The carrier blames economic woes from the COVID-19 pandemic, in part, for the layoffs.
"AT&T could help lead the country toward recovery by partnering with its workforce to build next-generation networks; instead, the company is adding to the pain of the recession already underway," said the union.
Get the full story.
#2 — New Vonage CEO
Vonage's Rory Read
Vonage, the channel stalwart, got its new CEO from Dell Technologies.
Rory Read replaces Alan Masarek, who is stepping down after more than five years as CEO and board member. Masarek says he will work closely with Read to assist in the transition.
Learn about Read's goals atop the personnel flow chart.
#1 — Frontier Communications Bankruptcy Impact
A pair of articles about Frontier Communications and its post-bankruptcy filing caught your eye big time in June. So, we've combined them here at No. 1.
First, in a story we published in May, the company turned over its Northwest operations to Ziply Fiber. That's a new company investing $500 million to improve its network and service. Unfortunately, it's off to a rocky start if you believe the comments from our readers.
The next article, also debuting May, was still going strong in June. Many of you were surprised to learn that a bankruptcy judge approved $38 million in executive bonuses at Frontier despite its ongoing chapter 11 process. However, the judge said the bonuses are in line with industry standards and are not earmarked for company insiders.
#1 — Frontier Communications Bankruptcy Impact
A pair of articles about Frontier Communications and its post-bankruptcy filing caught your eye big time in June. So, we've combined them here at No. 1.
First, in a story we published in May, the company turned over its Northwest operations to Ziply Fiber. That's a new company investing $500 million to improve its network and service. Unfortunately, it's off to a rocky start if you believe the comments from our readers.
The next article, also debuting May, was still going strong in June. Many of you were surprised to learn that a bankruptcy judge approved $38 million in executive bonuses at Frontier despite its ongoing chapter 11 process. However, the judge said the bonuses are in line with industry standards and are not earmarked for company insiders.
There was a lot of shop talk to bandy about last month. A Windstream-Charter lawsuit, a new NEC-Intermedia partnership and fallout from Frontier’s bankruptcy all caught your eye.
Also in our countdown, CenturyLInk said it is retiring copper in more states, an ongoing trend among the big communications providers. 8×8 debuted its new Open Communications platform, which it calls a complete portfolio of work-from-anywhere enterprise communications.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop there. One analyst firm predicted another big hit to business landlines if the economy gets worse.
But that’s not all. You stayed glued to the ongoing drama at Frontier Communications, which filed for bankruptcy this year. First, our article about the company divesting resources in the Pacific Northwest stayed red hot. You also furrowed your brow when you learned company execs were getting $38 million in bonuses.
We assemble our rankings by assessing online page views and the most popular articles in our weekly newsletters. If you want your voice heard in this list, sign up for the channel’s most popular newsletter. Then check your inbox on Wednesday mornings. Stay informed on the channel’s hottest topics so you don’t have to fake it in that next video conference!
Want to learn more about the Windstream-Charter lawsuit, Frontier’s ongoing issues and landline death forecasts? Click through our gallery below to see which story was No. 1 in June.
Missed the previous month’s top stories? Click here to see our most-read posts in May.
Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.
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