Windstream, Fusion Bankruptcies Rock the Channel's Weekly Top 7

Windstream and Fusion Connect continued their bankruptcy proceedings this week.

New York-based Fusion filed its reorganization plan, while two creditors have demanded that the Arkansas-based carrier reevaluate one of its network leases. The bankruptcy articles finished fourth and second, respectively, in our weekly leaderboard.

Scroll through our recap below and you’ll find an even mix of personnel hires and product announcements. Our “first-of-the-month” image galleries also scored well with readers this week. See our seven most popular stories published this week.

7. Telesystem Debuts Comprehensive CCaaS Offer

The business communications company offers voice, text messaging, email and chat in its new Omni Channel Contact Center.

Partners can customize the CCaaS solution “al a carte” to meet their customers’ preferences and preferred communications channel. Its more advanced features include interactive voice response (IVR), automatic call distribution (ACD) and outbound campaigns.

“Telesystem’s Omni Channel Contact Center speaks to the paradigm shift we see in all things communication,” one executive told us.

Edward Gately has the scoop.

6. Lastline Hires Cisco, MCI Vet as Channel Chief

The cybersecurity vendor brought in a new vice president of global channel sales to head up ambitious growth plans.

Jarrett Miller, who has developed channel programs and negotiated distribution agreements for various other vendors, will oversee Lastline’s distributors, resellers, SIs and MSSPs. Lastline signed a distribution agreement with Synnex this year and said it will grow its partner base by 200%.

Lastline’s chief revenue officer said his company wants to treat partners “as though they were actually customers.”

Lynn Haber covered the news.

5. BCN Hires Verizon, XO Alum to Support Master Agents

Chicago-based Phile Haage joined BCN‘s partner sales direct or team, bringing more than 20 years of telecommunications experience.

Haage has worked for Allegiance Telecom, XO Communications and Verizon Business Markets — all of which are connected through a series of M&A.

BCN’s vice president of sales said the new hire knows how to build strong relationships in the channel.

Learn more about Phil Haage.

4. Fusion Connect Announces Bankruptcy Exit Date, Analyst Expects Asset Sale

Fusion told Channel Partners it is making “steady progress toward our goal of creating a stronger financial future for our company.”

The company this week filed its reorganization plan after filing chapter 11 bankruptcy. Edward Gately writes that the company’s purchase of MegaPath and BIrch Communications ultimately did not meet performance projections.

Fusion aims to exit bankruptcy in the fall.

Read the latest development in the Fusion bankruptcy saga.

3. Cisco, Salesforce, Extreme Networks Lead the Way with Big M&A

IT companies went the way of consolidation last month.

We’ve historically assembled an M&A recap every other month, but a higher-than-usual number of transactions has led us to produce a recap almost every month this year. Cybersecurity and analytics companies dominated the June list, but Extreme Networks represented the telecom side.

Check out the gallery I compiled.

2. Windstream Fights ‘Improper’ Uniti Lease Filing in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Two banks demanded that Windstream stop paying a real investment trust.

Windstream has been making $54 million monthly lease payments to Uniti Group through a master lease that will expire in 10 years. Windstream uses Uniti’s network. UMB Bank and U.S. Bank asked Windstream’s chapter 11 bankruptcy court to …… put a stop to the lease payments, citing bankruptcy laws that prohibit financing arrangements.

Windstream filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy more than four months ago.

Learn more about why creditors want Windstream to stop the payments.

1. New Services Roundup: Avaya, Intelisys, Windstream

Big names and hot technologies featured prominently in our monthly recap of new offerings.

Many vendors made announcements around software-defined networking (SDN) in particular last month. Windstream, Intelisys and Riverbed partnered with SD-WAN providers to widen their portfolios, and two companies unveiled SD-branch solutions.

We compiled an gallery of the 13 most interesting new products and services partners can sell. Take a look at our top traffic-getter of the week.