7 Stories You Missed: Gartner UCaaS Leaders, New 5G Security Offering

Gartner unveiled its latest Magic Quadrant, and Mitel enhanced its UCaaS strategy.

We experienced a quieter week here at Channel Partners as we inched closer to Thanksgiving. Our editors covered the communications market, a 5G security announcement and a notable hiring.

Check out these seven stories, and keep yourself and your neighbors safe as we head into the holidays.

7. Increasing Diversity, Adapting to ‘No Normal’ Among 2021 Channel Trends

Look. We all wish we could write story that isn’t about COVID-19. We really do. But the virus is “elephant in the room,” as CompTIA‘s Carolyn April put it.

The trade association outlined 10 trends that will define 2020. That list features cloud-first IT and zero trust cybersecurity.

Edward Gately has the scoop.

6. Fast Chat: Mitel Goes Big with Microsoft Teams

The business communications provider has been enhancing and building its strategic partnerships lately. And that includes Microsoft Teams.

Jim McGarry, Mitel’s regional vice president of field sales, sat down with Channel Partners Executive Editor Craig Galbraith in a video interview. McGarry spoke about the company’s ambition of delivering a “single point of collaboration.”

See what he had to say.

5. Former Top CenturyLink Channel Exec Joins Master Agent Spearhead Advisors

Lisa Miller’s association with Lumen Technologies continues even after landing at a new company.

Miller joined Spearhead Advisors, a Dallas-based master agent that holds a special agreement with the re-branded CenturyLink enterprise unit. Spearhead leads with Lumen products and sells directly.

“This allows me to honor my commitment to Lumen Technologies, but also allows me to go out and start a very exciting business that not only complements Lumen, but also allows us to develop a new small business in the marketplace,” said Miller, who previously served as CenturyLink’s president of wholesale, indirect and SME.

Read about Miller’s new employer.

4. Gartner ID’s Cisco, 8×8, Microsoft, RingCentral, Zoom as UCaaS Leaders

Gartner, the Connecticut-based research firm, unveiled its UCaaS Magic Quadrant.

No 2019 vendor honorees departed from the list. However, Vonage and Zoom joined the leaderboard for the first time. Gartner pointed to upsides and downsides from of the leaders.

See who appeared in the latest Gartner UCaaS magic quadrant.

3. Latest M&A: TCG, TPx, Five9

Cisco made a security purchase, and Juniper Networks bought an SD-WAN provider.

M&A is clearly ticking up in 2020, as we’ve gone from scant, two-month summaries in the summer to packed monthly updates in the fall. October was full of consolidation, as financially stable providers demonstrated their viability with purchases.

Check out the gallery.

2. Palo Alto Gives Service Providers ‘Industry-First’ 5G Security Capabilities

Palo Alto Networks enhanced some of its firewalls to prepare for the 5G wave.

The enhancements take a fundamentally different approach to 5G than that of 4G LTE. For example, Palo Alto emphasized the “containerized,” multi-cloud nature of 5G in its announcement.

Read about the new capabilities.

1. Channel Conflict and Controversy: Racial Reckoning, Verizon, AT&T

A Datto lawsuit. Labor disputes. And a record-setting FCC fine.

Our editors have covered no shortage of controversial stories in the last few months. Edward Gately brought several of them together into one image gallery.

View our summary of recent controversy.