Ribbon Communications Launches Remote UC&C Solution, Introduces New CEO to Partners

Ribbon Communications is rolling out new capabilities to customers and partners as telecommuting ramps up during the coronavirus crisis.

The company has rolled out its new Work@Home solution to address the telecommuting wave. The cloud-based offering gives enterprises and contact centers remote working capabilities. It’s the remote version of Ribbon’s Smart Office, which includes video, screen sharing, chat and other features. Customers can get free licenses from select partners through June 30.

Offerings like this have found traction. The Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used Etisalat’s Cloud Talk– which is built on Ribbon’s cloud-based communications solutions – to assemble his cabinet on Sunday.

“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies must be empowered to shift their operations to alternate locations quickly and efficiently,” said Sacha Gera, Ribbon’s senior vice president of cloud products. “Our Kandy communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS)-based solutions enable companies to rapidly meet this need seamlessly and cost-effectively.”

Remote work has become the new normal, and technology companies of all kinds are scrambling to accommodate their customers. The vendors’ influx of new offerings is occurring while they themselves are moving their employees off campus. Patrick Joggerst, Ribbon’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said 75% of the 3,000-person Ribbon workforce was working away from the office, as of Monday.

He said Ribbon has given select channel partners free collaboration tools through June 30. He urged partners to make themselves available to their clients.

Ribbon Communications’ Patrick Joggerst

“The partners that are serving those enterprise customers should be bold,” Joggerst told Channel Partners. “Make sure that you are in front of customers helping them weather the storm, because loyalty gets rewarded. It’s the right thing to do. It’s good for business. It’s good for society.”

The company also announced last week that its Intelligent Edge multiservice business gateways (MSBGs) are now certified for Microsoft Teams direct routing. That includes the EdgeMarc 2900, 4800, 6000 and 7000. Gary Forrest, CEO of SIP trunking provider Pure IP said the update ensures optimal calling performance and service assurance for enterprises moving to Teams.

“We are already leveraging the capabilities of Ribbon’s SBCs within our Microsoft Teams Direct Routing and SD-WAN service offering and now we are in the process of deploying their EdgeMarc devices at various customer sites,” Forrest said. “The timing of their latest certification could not be more ideal.”

Ribbon this month also released its new EdgeMarc 300 series, which is part of the company’s Intelligent Edge portfolio. The 300 serves small businesses, connecting analog-based communication systems to IP-based voice services.

“The EdgeMarc 300 is the perfect communications solution for our customers’ growing businesses,” said Centro Computer‘s Luca Vitali, whom Microsoft named a “Most Valuable Professional” for his insights on Skype for Business.

“… The EdgeMarc 300 fits perfectly into the ecosystem of Ribbon products that we already support, allowing our customers to preserve current investments and know-how, while offering us new solutions,” said Vitali.

ECI Acquisition

Ribbon last fall announced the acquisition of ECI Telecom. The $324 million and 32.5 million-share transaction finalized earlier this month.

Joggerst said that although carriers comprise a large chunk of ECI’s customer base, the enterprise remains …

… a key target for the combined company.

“Enterprise accounted for 27% of Ribbon’s total revenue in 2019 and enterprise accounted for one-third of ECI’s revenue in 2019 — so adding ECI to the Ribbon family only strengthens our commitment to growing our business outside of our large, robust service provider business,” Joggert told Channel Partners. “In addition, ECI brings some unique strengths to our combined company as it relates to channel partners and enterprises as they work extensively with partners to serve specific enterprise verticals with critical infrastructures, such as utilities.”

He said the two companies’ sales teams are exploring what it will look like to prospect together. Ribbon also has been reaching out to customers with webinars and working to communicate its vision to channel partners.

“We’re using everything we’ve got in our marketing arsenal to get the message out to the channel partners that we’ve got and to the channel partners that we inherited as part of the acquisition, to start talking about a broader portfolio,” he said.

Bruce McClelland, who joined Ribbon as CEO last month, emphasized the company’s commitment to enterprise customers and partners in a video.