New Intelisys President, Fortinet SD-WAN Update Among the Week's Top Stories

ScanSource reshuffled the Intelisys executive team, and T-Mobile appears to have earned the green light for its Sprint merger.

The week in channel news featured a healthy balance of personnel stories, product announcements and merger mania. Our editors will continue to report on the Intelisys news and explore the ramifications of the third and fourth largest U.S. wireless carriers coming together.

In the meantime, we’ve listed seven summaries of our website’s top traffic-producing articles for you below.

7. How to Harness the Power of the Digital Experience

Windstream chief information officer Stephen Farkouh blended together “digital experience” and “customer experience” in a guest article.

Farkouh argued that self-service and AI-driven support are keys to giving customers the ease of business they demand. He in his column offered four steps for improving customer experience.

Check out the blog.

6. Avant Hires Sprint, Fuze Alum

The Chicago-based master agent has a new director of cloud engineering.

Avant Communications tapped Brent Wilford to offer his UCaaS and CCaaS expertise to partners in the western region. Wilford spent seven years at Sprint and most recently worked for the UCaaS provider Fuze.

“He brings a strong character on top of industry knowledge that is sure to push Avant and our partners to unparalleled success,” Avant’s CEO said.

Read more about the appointment.

5. UC Roundup: Avaya Cloud UC and CC, Poly and Telinta

Avaya Cloud Office is a key growth pillar for the company, according to Steve Forcum.

The Avaya technologist spoke to Edward Gately about the expectations his company has for the soon-to-be-released UCaaS solution. He also offered a few details about Avaya’s upcoming contact center solution.

The UC roundup also featured an interview with Poly’s vice president of innovation waves and new products.

Take a look at Gately’s bombastic column.

4. Samsung’s New 5G-Capable Galaxy S20 Gets Release Date, Offers Business Advantages

Samsung’s new set of smartphones will need 5G connectivity to accommodate their high quality photo capabilities, Jeffrey Schwartz writes.

The upcoming S20 phone features AI and IoT capabilities that will also make its 5G functionality come in handy. Samsung only offered one 5G-capable phone last year, but the company said 18% of the smartphone it will sell in 2019 will work with 5G.

Read Schwartz’s story.

3. T-Mobile, Sprint, Eager to Challenge AT&T, Verizon, Get Big Approval for ‘Consumer-Harming’ Merger

A federal judge dismissed concerns about the T-Mobile-Sprint merger leading to anticompetitive practices — all but confirming the purchase.

While T-Mobile must still obtain approval from a California regulatory agency, the company seems to be moving forward with its plans. The new corporate website shows several hiring and network initiatives that T-Mobile promises to complete by 2024.

“Today brings us a big step closer to creating a combined company that will provide nationwide 5G, lower costs, and a high-performing network that will invigorate competition to the benefit of all mobile wireless and in-home broadband consumers,” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said.

I covered the reaction from executives and regulators.

2. Fortinet Adds SD-WAN to Equinix Network Edge, Tackles Multicloud Challenges

Fortinet joined the Equinix virtual network services marketplace.

Executives say the new colocation option benefits businesses that use …

…multiple cloud providers and prefer to host services outside of branch locations. Equinix’s senior vice president of core product management said the arrangement could help customers reduce capital expenses.

Learn more about the partnership.

1. ScanSource Replaces Intelisys President Bradley

The massive master agent’s parent company announced drastic changes following second-quarter financial results.

ScanSource announced that Intelisys president Jay Bradley would step into an advisory role, while Mark Morgan takes his place. ScanSource CEO Mike Baur explained that the company fell short of its sales forecast while trying to reorganize its North American VAR sales team.

“Being president of Intellisys has been a great ride. I’ve been fortunate to work with a wonderful team and the best sales partners in the industry,” Bradley said. “Since the acquisition by ScanSource, we have seen great growth among our partners and an industry that continues to show unbounded opportunity.

Lynn Haber has the scoop.