This Month in Telecom: March 2018
This Month in Telecom is a monthly news round-up on VoipReview.org that aims to give our readers a fast and easy way to catch up on the latest news and top stories that are trending in the voice and telecommunications space. Check in every month to find out more about stories you may have missed in regards to new companies, mergers, trends, and other telecom advancements.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories in telecom for the month of March.
Ooma to Acquire Advanced UCaaS Business, Voxter
Leading provider of smart communications and collaboration solutions Ooma, Inc. (NYSE: OOMA) continues on its growth path as the company announced its intent to acquire Voxter Communications Inc., a premier provider of unified communications as a service (UCaaS) solutions for mid-market and enterprises businesses. By bringing Voxter into its fold, Ooma aims to deliver the most advanced unified communications solutions that meet the needs of every organization. 
“Voxter’s industry-leading technology and outstanding engineering talent will help accelerate Ooma’s strategy to provide the most advanced unified communications solutions,” said Eric Stang, the Chief Executive Officer at Ooma. “With the addition of Voxter, Ooma can now serve larger businesses with highly customizable solutions that uniquely meet their individual needs, in addition to serving small businesses with the award-winning Ooma Office platform. Together, Voxter and Ooma bring deep expertise in cloud-based voice technology, increased scale, and stronger solutions for channel partners.” The deal is expected to close this March and the economic terms of the transaction will not be disclosed.
888VoIP Partners with Peplink
Premier distributor of VoIP hardware and software solutions, 888VoIP, recently teamed up with Peplink, an industry-leading developer of high-performance networking solutions. Through this partnership, 888VoIP aims to expand its product portfolio and deliver more growth opportunities for their current and future customers.
By adding Peplink’s range of durable, cutting-edge, and effortless solutions to 888VoIP’s portfolio, 888VoIP can propel their business to succeed in an ever-changing business communications market. Plus, migrating to a Peplink SD-WAN solution also enables users to increase their bandwidth and have higher wide area network (WAN) reliability and cost savings. As a distributor of Peplink’s comprehensive suite of networking solutions, 888VoIP will now be able to provide their partners and customers with the following:
- Powerful and straightforward Balance Series Routers with models for small offices with only one to 60 users and large enterprises with thousands of users.
- SD Switch that comes with unbreakable power and cutting-edge cloud-based management.
- Secure, robust, and easy-to-use Surf SOHO SMB Professional Grade Router.
8×8 Rolls Out the X Series Platform
In keeping with the company’s mission to revolutionize enterprise communications, 8×8, Inc. (NYSE:EGHT), a global cloud communications and customer engagement solutions provider, announced the launch of their newest platform, the X Series. Combining cutting-edge call, conferencing, collaboration, and contact center solutions, 8×8’s X Series platform helps businesses of all sizes radically improve customer experience and boost employee-customer engagement in real time. 
By introducing X Series, 8×8 aims to transform the customer experience by giving enterprises the capability to quickly and intelligently collaborate in the cloud across any device or channel, and instantly access their most critical data for in-depth analysis. The new X Series platform offers businesses with one workflow engine, one set of data, and one analytics engine inside an integrated solution for meeting, voice, team collaboration, and contact center. As a result, companies can take advantage of context-rich engagements, collaborative contact center, and advanced customer journey analytics.
Windstream Scoops Up MASS Communications for $37.5 million
The month closed with Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) announcing that the company has acquired New York-based telecommunications network management company, MASS Communications. Estimated to be valued at $37.5 million, the acquisition will enable MASS Communications customers to access Windstream Enterprise’s comprehensive portfolio of networking solutions and cloud-based services, including OfficeSuite and SD-WAN Concierge.
According to the release, MASS Communication’ Chief Executive Officer Darren Mass will become the president-resale for the company’s Enterprise & Wholesale business unit. Mass’ commitment and collaborative, customer-centric approach to solutions will help drive organic revenue growth for Windstream.
Avaya Unveils Cloud Master Agent Program
In an effort to accelerate sales of Avaya cloud to small and midmarket businesses, Avaya Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AVYA) has recently launched a new Cloud Master Agent program. Purpose-built to address the ever-increasing demand for Ayala cloud services, the Cloud Master Agent program provides a better option for channel partners, customers, and sales agents to easily access Avaya’s enterprise-level communications solutions.
Under the Avaya Cloud Master Agent program, users are able to simplify the process of onboarding, deploying, and managing the customer’s communications. Most importantly, agents can have the capability to deliver industry-leading solutions to support provided directly by Avaya, including unified communications services that are fully hosted by Avaya; desktop options; monthly, subscription-based billing; bundled carrier services (i.e., SIP trunks, minutes); and delivery, management, and support capabilities.
Mitel Strengthens Partnership with ScanSource
To streamline the distribution of its on-site products in the US as well as to better equip their partners with top quality tools, services, and support needed to enhance their operations and improve their business growth, global leader in business communications, Mitel (Nasdaq: MITL) (TSX: MNW) has recently announced its expanded partnership with ScanSource (Nasdaq: SCSC).
“In the rapidly evolving and highly competitive U.S. market, modernizing and simplifying our go-to-market strategy is key to driving growth and expansion for our partners and for Mitel,” said Mike Conlon, the Vice President of Global Channels at Mitel. “By strengthening our partnership with ScanSource, Mitel partners can take advantage of the speed, simplicity, and scale of services available from the market’s premier value-added distributor, while leveraging Mitel’s innovation and technology to support customers and drive growth.”
As a result of the strengthened and expanded partnership, ScanSource will now act as the primary distributor for all Mitel on-site products in the US. Aside from holding product inventory, ScanSource will provide both technical and professional support, offer sales support, and manage training, onboarding, and certifications.
