Partner Channel - NEWS BRIEFS

Posted: 09/2001

Partner Channel

NEWS BRIEFS

* GTC Telecom Corp. (www.gtctelecom.com) has stepped up recruitment for its sales affiliate program. It offers residual commissions to affiliates for the life of the customer, at a rate of 10 percent of the agent’s monthly account revenue.

GTC says it plans to expand its sales and marketing programs, introduce new rates and roll out bundled programs through the rest of the year. A public company founded in 1997, GTC offers long distance, Internet, calling card and computer telephony. It credits its revenue growth this year to the efforts of its agents and has benefited from positive reviews in CBS MarketWatch, The Kiplinger Report
and The Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money magazine.

* Sonus Networks Inc. (www.sonusnetworks.com) has extended its two-year-old open services partner alliance (OSPA, ospa.sonusnet.com). New entrants include BeVocal Inc. (www.bevocal.com) of Sunnyvale, Calif.; Brix Networks Inc. (www.brixnet.com) of Chelmsford, Mass.; Digiquant (www.digiquant.com) of Roskilde, Denmark; Kagoor Networks Inc. (www.kagoor.com) of San Mateo, Calif.; and Navini Networks Inc. (www.navini.com) of Plano, Texas. Sonus partners with companies whose innovative products complement its IP voice technologies. The OSPA consists of more than 140 partners, including enhanced services applications pro-viders, network infrastructure vendors, VARs and systems integrators.

* ChannelWave Software Inc. (www.channelwave.com) will develop a collaborative, online partner relationship-management software package for Motorola Inc.‘s (www.motorola.com) wireless messaging division. The
solution will provide partner support. Motorola also plans to use the
system to recruit new channel players and for online training and certification programs.

Using ChannelWave’s
eConversations technology, Motorola also will provide a dedicated website (www.motorola.com/messaging/solutions) where end users can use interactive tools to select the best wireless messaging solution, then find the right partner to work with.

* WISP Inc. (www.wispinc.com) has released WISP NOMAD, a tool to control wireless roaming costs, available via direct sales and a value added reseller (VAR) channel. Cell phones charge per voice minute and downloaded data kilobyte, which can add up to
thousands of dollars in monthly roaming charges. NOMAD solves the problem by recognizing and selecting a cellular digital packet data (CDPD) carrier for a local connection while on the road. NOMAD chooses from a user-selected list of CDPD carriers; if none is available at a given location, it does not complete the transmission. This allows travelers to maintain nationwide connectivity at a fixed cost with no roaming surprises. NOMAD also incorporates real-time management tools, such as tracking of roaming and data use.

* Z-Tel Technologies Inc. (www.z-tel.com), has shored up financial flexibility with access to more liquid capital by issuing $9.5 million in convertible preferred stock under its recently executed equity financing agreement. Z-Tel projects the move will help achieve cash-flow-positive status by the end of the year.

In July, Z-Tel secured $17.5 million in equity financing with Brown Brothers Harriman’s “The 1818 Fund III L.P.” and members of the company’s management team. It exercised an option to issue $8 million in convertible
preferred stock, initially convertible into Z-Tel common stock at $2 per share. The company will issue the remaining $9.5 million in convertible preferred stock, at an initial conversion price of $1.23. The company says the move will provide it with greater expansion opportunities.

Z-Tel, a UNE-P CLEC in 21 states that targets the residential market, has 300,000 subscribers, 18,000 agents and a quarterly churn rate of 4 percent. It has been growing steadily since its launch in September 2000.

* Sprint Corp. (www.sprint.com) has appointed Lee Priest director of indirect channel marketing. He will work with sales, sales support and product teams, with a targeted focus on Sprint’s broadband and data product sets.

Priest returns to Sprint from a position as vice president of marketing at eVoice Inc. (www.evoice.com), where he concentrated on wholesale voicemail, provisioning systems and call control technologies.

Priest formerly was director of e-business for Sprint’s consumer services group, where he developed products and services for the consumer side of Sprint’s website. Priest and his team defined product features and strategy, managed product rollouts and completed strategic partnerships with complementary software vendors.

Partner Channel
Links

Affinity
Internet Inc. www.affinity.com
BlackBerry
(Research In Motion Ltd.) www.blackberry.net
Cable
& Wireless USA www.cw-usa.net
Danet Inc. www.danet.com
GTE Communications Corp. www.gte.com
IP AXESS Inc. www.ipaxess.com
NEC America Inc. www.necamerica.com
PlanetOne
Communications Inc. www.planet1comm.com
Qwest Communications
International Inc. www.qwest.com
Ricochet
(Metricom Inc.) www.ricochet.com
Samsung Inc. www.samsung.com
Sun Microsystems Inc. www.sun.com
TellSoft
Technologies www.tellsoft.com
Toshiba Corp. www.toshiba.com