October 19, 2012 – MetTel and WTG, a nationwide master agent ranked #1 in mobility, are excited to announce a significant upgrade to their partnership. WTG’s agent partners will sell MetTel’s entire portfolio of wireless services, which run the gamut from cross-carrier connectivity plans and top-end smartphones and tablets, to ancillary services like Mobile Device Management (MDM) and MetTel Mobile Integration (MMI) for fixed-mobile convergence.

WTG, a master agent based in Southern California, has a long history of pioneering wireless distribution through the channel. It was looking for a nationwide partner that would offer it a differentiating, holistic package of solutions for its enterprise customers that goes beyond what carrier business services have to offer.

“With so many ‘protected’ accounts at the big carrier level and agents wanting residual on wireless, WTG needed a flexible partner we could trust,” explained Vince Bradley, CEO at WTG. MetTel, which has been providing integrated communications to customers via the channel and across industries since 1996, has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to identifying the next generation of services that businesses will turn to in order to execute their core value propositions better. In WTG, which signed with MetTel more than five years ago for wireline services, it has found a kindred spirit when it comes to mobility.

“We are interested in partnering with channel partners for this portfolio that have a solid background in wireless and who have a passion for this space,” said Scott Armstrong, Director – Agent Channel at MetTel. “We are being very strategic in terms of who we are choosing to partner with when it comes to mobility, and WTG has consistently demonstrated leadership in wireless with a comprehensive and forward-thinking approach to how mobility fits within channel portfolios and the agent landscape. We think this is one of its greatest strengths.”

The MetTel wireless portfolio is geared to meet a business’ end-to-end wireless requirements, beyond a simple connectivity-for-less value proposition. MetTel provides a consultative, concierge-like approach to business needs, and optimizes wireless communications using a range of customizable plans that allow for pooled minute and data usage to meet departmental and user group requests. Contracts are available with a full range of industry-leading 3G and 4G smartphones and other options, like the MiFi Wireless Hotspot, which provides the ability to connect up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

Also, service is available across all wireless networks, operating systems and devices, giving MetTel customers the unique ability to break out of “carrier-lock” in order to craft and manage their plans as needed, in a multi-operator environment. Meanwhile, MDM offers a range of security, monitoring and support features for both personal and corporate-owned smartphones, iPhones and tablets, along with customized reporting and device recovery options. MetTel MDM is secure, cloud-based software for companies of all sizes, available at no additional charge.

Additionally, mobile service can be paired with complementary services. For instance, MMI allows enterprises to integrate wireless into a hosted PBX environment, so users can transfer calls from mobile to desk phone and vice versa, use four-digit dialing from their mobile devices and more. Tem Wu, Director of Wireless at WTG said, “The maturity and flexibility of MetTel’s wireless team, in addition to the breadth of products, make it easy to partner with them.”

MetTel also leverages the MetOne portal as a key differentiator, which offers self-service to end users at no additional charge. In addition to keeping track of billing, extensive helpdesk capabilities and a robust set of real-time and historical usage reports, it incorporates the Mobile Manager for Sprint and Verizon Wireless lines. That allows users to submit requests such as ESN changes, new activations, port-ins, plan changes, suspend and restores, equipment upgrade dates and more, on their own.

“In the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) era, it can be a nightmare of complexity for enterprises to manage all of the handsets that employees are using for work, particularly if there is no standardized ‘corporate plan’ that everyone is required to be on,” explained Armstrong. “One of our core strengths is the ability to mask that complexity for end users, providing them ease-of-use and strong management options across their entire wireless footprint.”

About MetTel
MetTel has been serving Fortune 500 companies and other businesses since 1996. As a leading nationwide communications reseller for voice, a range of data and network services, next-gen offerings like hosted PBX, telecom expense management and an expansive wireless portfolio, MetTel brings an unbeatable value proposition to its 100% channel-driven business. It has deep expertise across a range of verticals, including the financial, retail, government (it is a GSA holder), healthcare and hospitality sectors, where dedicated project management teams to help clients assess the effectiveness of each existing telecom asset in order to optimize their communications footprint and migrate to the best technologies to fit their needs. The MetOne portal is a key differentiator for MetTel, using MetTel’s robust back-office platform to bring self-service, intuitive management and inventory clarity to businesses with a range of services, including billing and service management, extensive helpdesk capabilities and a robust set of real-time and historical usage reports. www.mettel.com

About WTG
WTG is the #1 Master Agent in the US (source: most recent Telecom Association Members Choice Awards) and a CRN 5 Star Vendor for Connectivity Services. WTG has provided exceptional service to agent and VAR partners since 1996. Commerce Consulting Corporation (CCC), WTG’s parent company, has the most diverse portfolio in the industry with over 100 Providers, including voice, data, managed services and cloud products and services. It also includes the following specialty Divisions with dedicated extra support: Cloudology, award winning wireless/mobility, Equipment, International, Wholesale, Cost Containment (TEM, Logistics and all other Cost Containment) and its Energy Division, Energent, which includes Electricity, Natural Gas, Revenue Recovery, DSM and LED Lighting. WTG Agents have the ability to sell and consistently expand their business without revenue commitments or quotas. WTG is 100% partner driven and pays top commissions in the industry. WTG exceeds expectations with a dynamic approach to automation, partner support and its commitment to success. For more information, please visit www.wtgcom.com.

Ron Feldman now runs Energent’s daily operations and oversees the unit’s growth. He reports to Vince Bradley, CEO of CCC.

“Having Ron join us as president reinforces our commitment to our energy division,” Bradley said. “We are very excited to have someone with his talents leading the cause for Energent.”

Feldman’s résumé is extensive. He has sold energy services for more than 15 years. In addition, he has taught business services marketing at California State University East-Bay and at the MBA level at Golden Gate University. Feldman also earned recognition from Who’s Who In California and Who’s Who In Lodging, and awarded a U.S. patent for a transaction processing technology. Feldman also founded World Business Services Inc. in 1994, a firm that specializes in general ledger cost-reduction programs.

Click here to read article on channelpartnersonline.com.

WTG CEO, Vince Bradley, stated “As we observe very dramatic growth in the sales of Cloud products, we felt that a unique name and training module where necessary.  Most importantly, we are launching a complete suite of services with over 30 mission critical applications. Cloudology not only enables our Agent and VAR Partners to have a total package to offer to their clients, it also produces a Cloud specific training environment for them to quickly learn and adapt to the new environment that our industry is in today.” 

To find out when you can experience Cloudology next in a market near you or virtually, contact us at 310-456-2200 x 2, email partnersupport@wtgcom.com or stop by booth 311 during the Fall Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Orlando September 12-14.

About WTG
WTG is the #1 Master Agent in the US (source: most recent Telecom Association Members Choice Awards) and a CRN 5 Star Vendor for Connectivity Services. WTG has provided exceptional service to agent and VAR partners since 1996. Commerce Consulting Corporation (CCC), WTG’s parent company, has the most diverse portfolio in the industry with over 100 Providers, including voice, data, managed services and cloud products and services. It also includes the following specialty Divisions with dedicated extra support: Cloudology, award winning wireless/mobility, Equipment, International, Wholesale, Cost Containment (TEM, Logistics and all other Cost Containment) and its Energy Division, Energent, which includes Electricity, Natural Gas, Revenue Recovery, DSM and LED Lighting. WTG Agents have the ability to sell and consistently expand their business without revenue commitments or quotas. WTG is 100% partner driven and pays top commissions in the industry. WTG exceeds expectations with a dynamic approach to automation, partner support and its commitment to success.

Click here to read more about this on channelpartnersonline.com.
Press Contact:
Salwa Scarpone
sscarpone@wtgcom.com
310.456.2200 x 304

 “WTG is a long established Master Agent and provides a very diverse portfolio of services to its customers,” states Mark Noonan, VP of Sales at Data Foundry. “We are excited that Texas 1 will become a key resource for their customer’s colocation and disaster recovery needs.”

Focused on providing seamless interactions for its customers, WTG offers a nationwide network of over 2,500 telecom consultants, VARs, and Independent Sales Agents. WTG has one of the most diverse portfolios in the industry, including local, long-distance, data, internet and associated equipment.

“We pride ourselves in providing our clients the best solutions”, states Vince Bradley, CEO of WTG, “from that standpoint, Data Foundry and Texas 1 were a perfect fit within our product portfolio. Their technical expertise is second to none, and having access to a world-class facility like Texas 1 helps us attract new customers.  We can also ensure that they are inside one of the most reliable colocation facilities in the world.”

Data Foundry equips its partners with the resources and services necessary to meet the demand for premium data center space and disaster recovery solutions. By becoming a Data Foundry partner, service providers have access to state-of-the-art colocation, reliable connectivity, and dedicated worksite recovery space. Texas 1 is powered by two independent substations and connected to over 17 fiber providers, making it the most redundant, connected, and secure data center and disaster recovery solution available in Texas. Located on a 40 acre development, this 250,000 SF facility can address the most stringent of requirements including large-scale deployments and high performance computing demands.

For more information, visit www.datafoundry.com or call 1.888.839.2794.

#  #  #

About Data Foundry

Data Foundry provides comprehensive wholesale and retail data center outsourcing, colocation, and disaster recovery services. Providing its customers with secure facilities for servers and equipment, emergency workspace and carrier-neutral network accessibility, Data Foundry’s facilities are supported by experienced onsite technicians and customer support 24/7/365. Founded in 1994, Data Foundry supports more than 1,000 enterprise customers across a variety of industries. Today, Data Foundry operates data centers in Austin and Houston and owns private networks in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.

Click here to read about this on channelpartnersonline.com.

Olympusat, a turnkey provider of broadband solutions and content rich media platforms for entertainment and video-centric clients, announced at the Fall 2012 Channel Partners Conference & Expo an agreement that will increase its visibility and market coverage, while WTG and its sales agent partners increase recurring residual income streams by offering Olympusat’s full set of end-to-end video solutions for media companies and video-centric enterprise customers in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Olympusat Telecom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympusat Holdings Inc., the owner and distributor of Spanish-language, pay-television networks and specialty and faith & family networks in the U.S.

“The Olympusat Telecom Offering is a great complement to our global portfolio of services,” said Vince Bradley, WTG CEO. “Demand for high quality HD video services and CDN in general is growing exponentially within our sales agent base and Olympusat Telecom offers us a broadcast grade solution that our agents will benefit from significantly.”

“We are very excited about our WTG partnership,” said C. Austin Powers, president, Olympusat Telecom. “Olympusat looks forward to a very successful future, as we introduce our broadcast-grade video quality products and services to WTG Agent Partners. WTG and its agents will help us to provide accelerated growth and profitability for a broader range of clients in multiple verticals by delivering our wide range of communications-infrastructure solutions and versatile media offerings.”

Click here to read article on channelpartnersonline.com

The Telecom Exchange brought together a global herd of telecom executives from all sides of the telco spectrum including the World Telecom Group (News- Alert)– a Master Agent. A nontraditional fit for the event, WTG has a unique place in the market as “the most diverse Master Agent in the industry” with over 100 providers comprised of several elements, according to Vince Bradley, CEO of Commerce Consulting Corp., WTG is the telecom division of Commerce, and Bradley let us in on his plans for the business moving ahead into the years of the cloud.

“We’ve been successful at wholesale brokering. We have relationships with carriers in addition to having a retail contact and agent contact. We have a wholesale broker, and we can sell carrier services to other carriers,” revealed Bradley. He noted that WTG has been doing a “tremendous amount of interaction with providers” that the company has not officially met. As one of the top Master Agents in the US, the company is looking to procure more international channels.

“The cloud is going to take things global anyway,” said Bradley. With the evolution of the cloud, “we can cover virtually any populated area of the globe with our services. Customers with our services can now get not just one provider or one carrier. Customers can utilize us to manage all their international services.”

WTG focuses on providing seamless interactions for its customers with its technology. “We have a portal they can use to look at their stuff,” Bradley simplified. “One portal in addition to one phone call and one relationship. One system gives them information on new facilities. The technology follows the relationship.”

The company also has a lot going on in the energy division. Bradley remarked that, while telecom is huge in terms of utility, energy is big, if not bigger. “It’s simple to sell energy,” he said. “We’re going back to our distribution channel,” so there’s no reason not to add utility to the product set. “We’ll increase business and retain customers. Once you bundle services, customers tend to stay with you.”

Read more on TMCnet.com

When World Telecom Group was founded in 1996, Vince Bradley already had energy on the brain. But by the time his Malibu, Calif.-based master agency was starting to make gains in the telecom channel, his timing wasn’t quite right.

“Enron happened,” Bradley recalled in a recent interview at WTG’s headquarters. “And I was like, no way.”

But with the economic downturn in 2008 making cost savings and efficiency top of mind for customers, WTG found its opportunity. According to Bradley, when WTG stood up its energy business — Energent, a division of the WTG-affiliated Commerce Consulting Corp. — it was the first major telecom master agent to offer such a practice.

[Related: What's Really Holding Up Telecom-IT Convergence?]

It took a few years to get rolling, said Bradley, but in 2011, Energent began to become a substantial revenue contributor and has finally caught on with WTG’s base of agents and VARs. In much the same way it manages telecom, carrier and cable company vendor relationships as a master agent, WTG also works with electricity supply companies, or ESCOs, as a broker or distributor.

Working with Energent, the hook is that solution providers create a lucrative new revenue stream via existing customers as they start bringing customer energy usage costs in line.

“What does every business need?” Bradley asked when pressed on why IT solution providers should consider energy sales. “Every business needs communications and power.”

Energent helps solution providers offer various pricing scenarios, including fixed rate energy and gas, variable rate energy gas, and blended rate electricity, which is tailored to businesses that require heavy electricity usage outside of the normal peak hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Ideally, customers require 5,000 kilowatts of electricity or 300 therms of gas monthly. Solution providers have to learn to set pricing expectations appropriately, considering that the market settles daily — and pricing changes — based on trading conditions and expected utility usage.

It’s not yet a national opportunity, explained Tyler Price, Energent agent sales manager, because solution providers can sell in deregulated energy markets such as Texas, Ohio, Californiaand parts of the Northeast. But a big difference between the energy and telecom markets, he explained, is that most energy suppliers don’t have the big protected account lists that solution providers tend to find from major carriers like CenturyLink or AT&T (NYSE:T).

“It’s a beautiful time right now to get into this,” Price said.

Energent has continued to expand, earlier this year adding demand side management resources — a blanket term for helping customers reduce their energy demand — such as retrofitting, demand response and distributed generation.

According to Price, about 25 percent of WTG partners are at least looking at how to position energy, and he expects that number to keep growing. Energy deals can net solution providers residuals between 6 percent and 11 percent for a minimum of time invested, and using Energent as the back office.

“Right now, there’s so much saturation for the products they already offer customers that they need something new to attract attention,” he said. “It also allows them to create a lot more value for something that’s essentially a billing change. It’s very easy to start this.”

Simple Cloud Technologies, anOrland Park, Ill.-based solution provider focused on hosted networking and monitoring services, is among recent partner sign-ons for WTG’s energy business.

“You have to diversify,” explained Mike Brown, Simple Cloud’s CEO. “We have a strong proposition around hosted and cloud, and now we’re bringing energy into that.”

With cloud adoption putting pressure on IT solution providers to create services-driven, residual-based revenue streams, the move by solution providers toward finally adopting carrier services — busting down traditional barriers between IT reseller and telecom agent — is reaching critical mass.

But it isn’t coming easy. The so-called convergence of IT and telecom is a transition to a tangled mess of lumpy partnerships, work-in-progress vendor programs, and much debate over which services and revenue models are the best fit for solution providers long used to hardware and software resale and integration and maintenance.

That convergence was a hot topic last week at World Telecom Group’s Tee & Sea event, an annual gathering of vendor and agent partners near the master agency’s headquarters in Malibu, Calif., where the only consensus on the topic seemed only to be that it is a major topic.

[Related: Ring Leaders: Why The Convergence of VARs, Carriers and the Telco Channel Is Here To Stay]

Solution providers remain the No. 1 profile of new agents joining WTG and soon will comprise about 40 percent of all of WTG’s partners. The efficiency and cost savings promised by the cloud model are what have swayed a lot of customers — and the solution providers that serve them — to look at it closely, and that means wanting to buy networking, infrastructure and communications from one trusted adviser.

So why aren’t more solution providers jumping in with both feet?

“I think a lot of VARs are still afraid,” said Vince Bradley, WTG’s president and CEO. “But the last decade, with the downturn in ’08, folks in the midmarket and below that are just not seeing the same resources anymore. That’s what’s opened the door for a lot of this stuff.”

WTG is looking for partners that understand that fundamental shift, and those include recent sign-ons such as Simple Cloud Technologies, an Orland Park, Ill.-based solution provider.

Simple Cloud focuses principally on hosted networking and monitoring services, said CEO Michael Brown, from videoconferencing and wireless, to mobility, VoIP, PBX, redundancy and energy. It was founded in late 2011 by members of two families with decades of telecom experience between them, from jobs in IT management at universities to down-and-dirty infrastructure installation.

“We’re all cloud,” Brown said. “We manage everything from wireless networks in multiple locations to hosted Exchange servers. Customers don’t want to spend $70,000 a year or more for one guy to manage a server. They don’t have to.”

Read article on CRN

Some of the ways to improve partnerships between agents and VARs are straightforward and what you might expect. Among them: learning about each other’s business models and communicating more effectively.

“You really have to know what’s going on within each other’s organizations,” said Mark Sondergaard, VP of sales with WTG, a master agency.

Those were just some of the conclusions that channel partners reached Wednesday at an Agent-VAR Partnering Best Practices Workshop during the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. Participants broke out into groups to discuss such issues as the cloud, compensation models and finding the right partner.

Catherine Lazarock, president of Simplicity Communications, Inc., said the agent/VAR partnership will erode if agents don’t give VARs leads that will work. She also emphasized that it was important to understand a partner’s business.

“You can do that over lunch. It’s not complicated,” she said. “In that conversation, talk about compensation and make sure they understand.”

Many agent/VAR relationships continue to be informal, online surveys commissioned by Channel Partners and CompTIA have found.

Lazarock indicated that formal agreements are recommended when dealing with larger VARs but that informal agreements are OK when sharing leads with smaller organizations.

Channel Partners and CompTIA have found that agents overwhelmingly are paying a commission to VARs while VARs are paying a referral fee, said Carolyn April, director of industry analysis with CompTIA, an IT trade association.

VARs, the surveys also have found, are – by and large – earning a bigger percentage of revenues from agent partnerships than agents are earning from VAR relationships.

“Frankly I would have thought it would have been flipped the other way,” Channel Partners Editor-in-Chief Khali Henderson said.

In a live online poll during the workshop that asked partners how they expected revenues from their partnerships to change in the next 12 months, most respondents indicated they anticipated either revenues to increase significantly or somewhat. A majority of the people in the room were agents.

The convergence of IT and telecommunications may help explain some of the anticipated growth in revenues.

“Convergence is driving a lot of new relationships,” April of CompTIA said. “Cloud computing is driving a lot of new relationships.”

Still, the agent/VAR relationship is far from perfect. Asked in another live poll about specific pain points, many partners cited lack of commitment and dissimilar goals.

One participant alluded to the importance of building a deep relationship in which partners can trust each other to promote the right services and steer clear of stepping on each other’s toes.

And sharing leads may not be the most prudent business arrangement. One channel partner said his  group determined that there’s always some disparity when an agent and VAR are sharing leads. In other words, one of the parties invariably will have shared more.
Establishing a compensation model “does put a more solid business practice in place,” he said.

Read Article on Channel Partners Online

WTG Recognized Across the Board in the Channel

Plus WTG Hosts Unforgettable Event for its Agent Partners and Provider Sponsors

WTG was recognized for its outstanding work in the Channel at this year’s Spring Channel Partners Conference and Expo. MegaPath, ACC Business, tw telecom and Airband were among some that awarded WTG with top honors during the conference for their accomplishments of the past year.

“This has been an incredible ride for WTG,” stated CEO Vince Bradley. “With our rebranding, huge presence at the conference (20×20 booth, speaking engagements, sponsoring the VAR event, etc.), additionally receiving top agent awards at the event to already have been named the top Master in the industry (TA), a CRN Five Star award winner for Connectivity plus a Top 10 Up n’ Comer; it is a great time for the WTG channel.”

In celebration of its accolades, WTG hosted its “One Night Only” Event at Cleopatra’s Barge inside CaesarsPalace, Las Vegas, NVon Wednesday, March 28. The event was supported by Gold sponsor Data Storage Corporation; Silver sponsors Time Warner Cable Business Class and Technology Law Group plus Bronze sponsors tw telecom, Velocity Networks, West IP Communications and XO Communications.

Agent Partners and Provider Sponsors enjoyed a memorable performance from the Rat Pack which brought back the feeling of oldLas Vegasclass with Frank, Dean, Sammy and Marilyn. Guests were able to mingle and network with their peers while toasting to the success of another great Channel Partners Conference and Expo. Guests indulged in cocktails, appetizers and desserts throughout the night. Data Storage Corporation raffled an Apple iPad 2 during the event. The big winner was a top WTG Agent PartnerBob Morrisonfrom Morrison Telecom Management.

WTG VP Sales Mark Sondergaard, stated “This event offered our agents a unique and diverse experience that parallels our business model while allowing our sponsors and agents to actually network with each other and achieve ROI.”

About WTG
WTG is the #1 Master Agent in theUS(source: recent Telecom Association Members Choice Awards) and a CRN 5 Star Vendor for Connectivity Services. WTG has provided exceptional service to agent and VAR partners since 1996. Commerce Consulting Corporation (CCC), WTG’s parent company, has the most diverse portfolio in the industry with over 100 Providers, including voice, data, managed services and cloud products and services. It also includes the following specialty Divisions with dedicated extra support: award winning wireless/mobility, Wholesale, Cost Containment (TEM, Logistics and all other Cost Containment) and its Energy Division, Energent, which includes Electricity, Natural Gas and DSM. WTG Agents have the ability to sell and consistently expand their business without revenue commitments or quotas. WTG is 100% partner driven and pays top commissions in the industry. WTG exceeds expectations with a dynamic approach to automation, partner support and its commitment to success.

Press Contact:
Salwa Scarpone
WTG Marketing
Vice President of Marketing
sscarpone@wtgcom.com
310.456.2200 x304