AT&T 5G, Windstream Drama Lead This Week's Top 7

It was a week for the carriers.

Journalists salivated at the news prospects MWC Barcelona (formerly known as Mobile World Congress) presented this week. 5G dominated the main stage, eliciting major announcements on both the consumer and business sides of the tech industry. Heavy-hitting American service providers AT&T, Verizon and Sprint touted their new and upcoming offerings.

While the news wire buzzed in Spain, our biggest news of the week occurred stateside. If you were following the telecom channel, it should come as no surprise that Windstream sparked the most conversations. And why was that? Find out in our weekly recap of top stories below.

7. 9 Pitfalls of Cloud Migration and How to Protect Your Customer

A couple of cloud experts dished out advice.

Jo Peterson, vice president of cloud services for Clarify360, and Chuck Price, co-founder and chief operating officer at Effectual, laid out a series of recommendations for how to successfully move infrastructure into the cloud. Peterson and Price offered nine “technical, financial, cultural and process-based aspects” to consider.

Check out the gallery containing their tips.

6. 8×8 Rolls Out New Partner Portal to Drive Sales

The PartnerXchange portal offers partners a wide range of features.

The cloud services provider wanted to create a single platform for deal-registration submission, sales information, marketing tools and training resources. Their channel chief told us that partner feedback played an important role in the portal’s development.

Learn more about the new tool.

5. AT&T, VMware Building 5G Into SD-WAN Platform

It was only a matter of time before you saw both acronyms in the same sentence.

AT&T will give its SD-WAN platform 5G capabilities so that business customers can use its next-gen mobile network as a connectivity path. The carrier made the announcement in conjunction with VMware’s VeloCloud, which is AT&T’s SD-WAN partner.

Read my analysis of AT&T’s SD-WAN strategy.

4. Verizon Preps 5G Plans with Samsung Galaxy S10

The 5G-related posts in this countdown have just started.

Verizon will be the first carrier to offer Samsung’s new Galaxy 10 5G phone this summer.

It’s a mutual beneficial arrangement that raises Verizon’s 5G profile. The company has “disclosed less than its nearest rivals about when and where its commercial 5G services will become available,” writes Jeffrey Schwartz.

He has the scoop.

3. The CP List: 20 Ethernet Service Providers You Should Know

Edward Gately was at it again this week with one of his patented lists.

This time he compiled a leaderboard of 20 top Ethernet providers. AT&T and Verizon are two of the large telcos and cablecos you might expect to make the list. But you’ll also find some of the smaller, up-and-coming players, and perhaps some companies you haven’t heard about in a while.

Check out the Gately Special.

2. AT&T, Sprint Partner with Microsoft, AWS for 5G, IoT

Two big telcos announced public cloud partnerships in conjunction with Mobile World Congress.

AT&T is using Microsoft Azure to give its mobile 5G network edge computing capabilities. The goal is to deploy Azure-powered cloud services at strategic locations to lower latency and optimize network routing.

Sprint enhanced its IoT platform via an AWS partnership. Business custumers stand to gain better analytics and …

…application management.

Check out my brief MWC recap.

1. Windstream Stuns Industry, Channel, Files Bankruptcy in ‘Offensive Move’

We hinted last week that Windstream might head for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and we were right.

Windstream made the announcement after a U.S. District Court ruled that a major bondholder deserved a judgment of nearly $310.5 million from the CLEC.

Windstream executives filed for motions that will keep it on a “normal course of business” that shouldn’t change life for employees, customers and partners. Some influential partners shared their concerns about the move, notably that it will negatively impact agent commissions, but those details remain to be seen.

Read the original bankruptcy story.