APXnet Links Cable Networks for Agents

By Khali Henderson

One of the stated frustrations for agents selling big bandwidth from cable companies is that their coverage is not nationwide  a problem for large, multiregional or national companies that tend to be the most likely prospects. Out of necessity, telecom agent Jeff Wood sought to solve this problem by working with cable companies to build network-to-network interfaces for clients. Eventually, he formed his own resale company called APXnet.

APXnet, which is coming up on its year anniversary in spring 2012, is turning around and offering its services to channel partners.

“Our goal is to deliver all circuits diverse from Ma Bell,” Wood said. But he is quick to clarify that his focus is not on selling 10MBps over coax in downtown Los Angeles, but on selling 100MBps and gigabit speed fiber services from Los Angeles to New York or Boston. While the company offers cable Internet, it specializes in WAN services over fiber, including private lines, virtual private lines and multipoint-to-multipoint.

“What we offer is what [cablecos] won’t do, which is go outside their footprints. Our forte is WAN point-to-point services,” said Wood, who serves as president of network sales for APXnet.

Specifically, APXnet offers cable Ethernet services in the top 20 Tier 1 metro markets and in most Tier 2 and 3 rural markets in 45 states. 

Being a channel veteran, Wood formed the company with a channel program from the beginning. Agents, he said, bring credibility with their recommendations. “We are looking for agents in the channel who have an understanding of Ethernet products or who are willing to learn [or] who are looking to move up market.”

APXnet offer agents a buy rate that they can mark up by as high as 18 percent. This gives agents some control in a competitive bidding situation, Wood said. Agents have no quota, residuals are evergreen and renewals are based on current network pricing. APXnet offers partners training, marketing, sales engineering and service.

APXnet has hired Lou Ebert as vice president of sales. Ebert has experience in the channel going back to 1985. Most recently he was senior director of channel and carrier services in  the Northeast Region for Time Warner Business Class. In this role, he said he found agents shared objections to working directly with the cable company, including lack of pricing flexibility and low commissions  both of which APXnet addresses.