If you are a VAR or dealer, moving PBX functionality to the cloud seems cannibalistic to your core hardware/software sales and break-fix business model. There simply is nothing appealing about hosted VoIP ... unless you consider the residual revenue stream, low or no-maintenance overhead and the ability to sell all-new endpoints.

It’s time you learned out how to use this service to your advantage! Attend the new pre-conference workshop, Hosted VoIP for VARs – Hosted PBX Is Not the Enemy, where you will learn how you can defend and grow your solutions provider business with hosted VoIP.

 Workshop attendees will walk away with answers to the questions:

• Why Hosted? – Market Demand/Drivers
• Who is Buying? – Target Markets
• What are They Buying? – Service Features and Pricing Models
• Who is Selling? – Service Providers
• Why Bother? – Positioning Hosted in a Hardware Business
• What’s in It For You? – Success stories from VARs who have gone to the Dark Side

Co-Moderators: Harry Brelsford, CEO, SMB Nation; Khali Henderson, Editor in Chief, PHONE+

Speakers: Daniel Williams, President, Xpedeus; William Baumgartel, Director, Channel Sales, Broadvox; Vic Levinson, President and Owner, Prime Telecommunications Inc.

The Hosted VoIP for VARs Workshop, sponsored by Broadvox, will be held Monday, Sept. 20, 8:30-10:30 a.m., and is open to Conference & Expo Package registrants only. If you’re not already registered for the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, you can do so by clicking here.

In a time when we’re all trying to trim our budgets, why would you wait to pay on-site registration prices? In just a matter of minutes, you can register today and save up to 25 percent on your Channel Partners Conference & Expo experience.

When you register for this event, you’re getting a combination of education and networking opportunities designed to propel you to the next level of success. Take a look at everything you can expect to receive when you register for the Conference & Expo package:

• 7+ hours of education across four concurrent tracks
• The SMB Nation VoIP Workshop
• The Hosted VoIP for VARs Workshop, sponsored by Broadvox Networks
• The State of the Industry and The Future of the Channel Keynote Roundtables
• A copy of the Conference Manual

PLUS, all items included in Expo Hall Package:

• 90+ vendor displays in the Exhibit Hall
• The Opening Reception, sponsored by Time Warner Business Class
• The Partner Pub Crawl, co-sponsored by ADTRAN, IP5280, Level3 Communications, Qwest Business Partners Program and Star2Star Communications
• The Hair of the Dog Continental Breakfast

One more reason to register early – HOTELS ARE SELLING OUT! Show management has secured additional rooms at the neighboring Westin National Harbor but you must book now if you want to get a room. Click here for complete travel details.

So don’t wait another minute, with less than three days left to save on registration you must act now. See you in D.C.!

PHOENIX -- Virgo Publishing, LLC (“Virgo”), an integrated business-to-business information services company, is pleased to announce the appointment of John Siefert as Chief Executive Officer.  Siefert, the former Senior Vice President and Publisher of InformationWeek Business Technology Network at United Business Media TechWeb, has been named Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and a member of its Board of Directors.  As part of a transition plan at Virgo announced in February, Jenny Bolton, who co-founded Virgo in 1986, will step down as Virgo’s CEO.  Bolton will remain a member of the Board of Directors of Virgo and a Senior Advisor to the Company.  Virgo is a portfolio company of Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm. 

Siefert joins the company following an impressive career with United Business Media (“UBM”), most recently, leading the InformationWeek and Tech Web teams as Senior Vice President.  During his 15 year tenure at UBM, Siefert was instrumental in guiding the business through a major transformation to digital media.  He led InformationWeek and nine other leading editorial brands and was responsible for the strategic direction, growth strategy and evolution of a multifaceted online, print, event and services network covering the corporate technology market.  He has also served in various other roles during his tenure at UBM, formerly known as CMP Media, including Group Publisher of Network Computing and National Director, Sales and Market Development of Network Computing Enterprise Architecture Group.

“I am thrilled to welcome John as CEO of Virgo,” said Jenny Bolton. “I am confident that John will provide the vision and leadership needed to accelerate our mission to continue to innovate in our markets and for our clients, and further establish our products and services as the leading information franchises for the communities we serve.”

Perry Steiner, Managing Partner of Arlington Capital, commented, “John Siefert is a highly accomplished executive, and we are very excited to have him join the talented Virgo team.  We are confident that John’s experience and enthusiasm for the business will put him in the best position to lead Virgo in its future growth.  We are also very pleased that Jenny Bolton will continue to play a major role on the Board of Directors going forward.  On behalf of the entire team at Virgo, we all thank Jenny for her dedication and leadership over the last 24 years, and look forward to working with her through Virgo’s next phase of growth.”

John Siefert, incoming CEO, commented, “The team at Virgo has built an impressive business, with leading offerings in its markets, and I look forward to building on the Company’s culture of providing exceptional service and high return on investment for our clients.  Virgo has an excellent team of committed professionals and I am looking forward to leading the company into the next phase of growth.”

About Virgo Publishing
Virgo Publishing, LLC (Virgo) (www.vpico.com) is an integrated B2B information services business delivering trade shows and conferences, print and e-media, and online education to key growth markets.  With 17 brands including trade magazines and/or websites, 8 trade shows/conferences, a training and accreditation program and an expanding online platform, Virgo leverages its category-leading events, publications, electronic and other media to provide integrated solutions for the healthcare, natural products and telecommunications industries as well as other niche businesses.

Virgo Publishing LLC, a business-to-business information services company, and SMB Nation, a small and medium business technology partner community portal, are pleased to announce they have renewed their partnership to colocate their respective events for voice and data communications solutions providers. Under the agreement, the Fall 2010 Channel Partners Conference & Expo and SMB Nation’s 2010 VoIP Workshop will be held concurrently, Sept. 20-22, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

The events will conduct separate conferences with a joint exhibit hall, featuring suppliers of voice and data communications products and services and attracting more than 2,000 attendees. As a bonus, full conference attendees will be able to participate in the education programming for both events at no additional charge.

The two media companies first partnered with the Spring 2010 Channel Partners Conference & Expo and the inaugural SMB Nation VoIP Workshop, March 1-3, in Las Vegas.

“Our first collaboration was a tremendous success for the attendees, exhibitors and sponsors of both events," said Larry Lannon, group publisher for PHONE+ magazine, host of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo. “We are pleased, but not surprised by the synergies of the events. The Channel Partners Conference & Expo serves agents and VARs selling voice communications products and services while SMB Nation targets computer resellers and data VARs. Changes in technology, such as cloud computing, managed services and VoIP, are bringing these channels together on a more frequent basis, making a joint event a natural."

“Literally every conversation in our community right now concerns integrating voice services into data networks. It seems like the ‘much talked about’ convergence of voice and data is finally occurring with the robust economic recovery underway and small business increasing its technology spends," said Harry Brelsford, CEO for SMB Nation. “The opportunity to team with the Channel Partners Conference & Expo really allows us to elevate and accelerate the voice and data conversation into immediate actionable outcomes. We really appreciate the support we have received in helping us build out our impactful SMB VoIP workshop."  

Brelsford added:  “Every single technology community, including voice and data, is being impacted by the cloud. There are more questions than answers right now and SMB Nation and Virgo Publishing are in partnership to help everyone to ‘sort it out,’ moving forward. Now is the time to team and glean insights into the next wave of business opportunities; it’s not a good time to go it alone."

About Virgo Publishing
Virgo Publishing LLC (Virgo) is an integrated B2B information services business delivering trade shows and conferences, print and e-media, and online education to key growth markets. Virgo Publishing’s Telecom Division publishes PHONE+, VON/xchange and Billing & OSS World magazines and is the producer of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and the Billing & OSS World Conference & Expo. For information, visit www.vpico.com.

About Channel Partners Conference & Expo
The Channel Partners Conference & Expo is the communications industry’s only event exclusively for indirect sales organizations – agents, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and consultants – focused on transforming their businesses to become converged solutions providers. Produced by PHONE+, the event is produced twice annually in the spring and fall and features future-proofing advice from thought-leading speakers and how-to courses on best practices, technology and strategy. Topics range from hot technologies and new opportunities to partnering, diversification, sales tips and skills building.

Join us on LinkedIn at Channel Partners Network.

About SMB Nation
SMB Nation is a publishing and events company, targeted at the small and medium business technology consultant and reseller community. SMB Nation spreads the knowledge of SMB technology trends through its books, magazine, online services, conferences and worldwide seminars and workshops. As an active participant in the technology community, SMB Nation has a long history of advocacy and evangelism.

The company was founded in 1999 as Matthew\Brelsford Associates and became SMB Nation in early 2003, to promote the books and consulting services of Harry Brelsford, the author of a successful series of SMB technology books.

Today, SMB Nation conferences, seminars and workshops bring forward-thinking IT consultants, technologies and vendors together, sparking new opportunities in the SMB space. Being THE information source for SMB technologists and Small Business Specialists worldwide, SMB Nation delivers complete business solutions to help them better manage their business, technological and marketing needs. Whether it’s delivered in print, online, or in person, everything SMB Nation produces reflects our unshakeable belief in the power of information to spur a profitable global community.

By Dan Foster, MegaPath

Let’s talk about the value you provide to your customers. In other words, your secret sauce. If I asked you to use just one sentence and describe that value by beginning with "We help customers..." How would you articulate your company’s approach in a way that breaks from the crowd? And how would you ensure that one sentence isn’t so ethereal that your customers would be confused, or wouldn’t be able to recognize it’s your company disguised in that lofty language? This is an important exercise for every growing company, regardless of their size or industry. It’s a critical way to level set with your team “here’s who we are, here are the customer types we serve, and here are the problems we help them solve.” When you can make this statement confidently, it’s clear that someone has put time into the necessary big thinking, and with it, your team – however small or large it is – can communicate with customers, knowing what you’re working to accomplish. Done correctly, this exercise sets your company on a collective right path for all potential customer conversations that should follow. And especially for all of you running agent organizations, you know that it isn’t wise to get pigeonholed into being the commodity product middlemen. You’ve got to be able to provide something more tangible and valuable to your customers, and they need to view you in the same way.

Now don’t get me wrong, I often cringe at the thought of heavy-handed marketing approaches to answering the secret-sauce question. It doesn’t take much to overbake these things, so let’s lighten it up a little. Remember the HBO series, “The Larry Sanders Show”? It was a backdoor view of what the Johnny Carson show would have been like day-to-day. In this episode , Larry (Garry Shandling) accepts an invitation to host the People’s Choice Awards, but unfortunately he agrees before knowing the full story. In reality, Larry signs on to co-host with Superman and Rita Moreno. For a successful late-night talk show host like himself, this was a dumb move and his agent, Stevie Grant, lights into him for agreeing to it. To drive his point home, Stevie makes Larry repeat out loud: "Co-hosting detracts from my essential specialness in the marketplace"! Talent agent speak to be sure, but it’s situationally funny for many reasons, including the fact that Stevie’s advice is spot-on correct. Bad gets worse as Larry ends up in the not-so-glowing position of sharing the stage with his two co-hosts, including a dance routine with Rita Moreno. Bottom line -- know how you’re unique, and don’t mess it up.

Back to providing telecom services. Here’s an example that I’ve noticed several times in the last couple of months. “How to be a managed service provider” seems to a popular topic. First, an MSP of what specialty? Second, do you have a team skill set for that specialization? How does it compare with the competitive landscape for that service? And what about the front- and back-end infrastructure needed to manage the service and commit to the SLAs that your customers will require? These are not quick hurdles. In fact, at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Vegas, MegaPath’s own Bernie McGroder spoke on the “Is Managed Services Right for You?” panel. Because Bernie leads our sales engineering group, he can truthfully state that there isn’t a managed network services issue that his team hasn’t tackled. In fact, we blogged about that panel discussion. And because we’ve been providing 24x7x365 network, voice, and security services support for years, we realize that much of the value in the service we provide comes from the strong technical teams we’ve built across the company. While customers may not realize their issue or project is being handled by a team of CCIEs, CCNPs, and CCNAs, we’re confident in our team’s unique ability to deliver the services that our customers value. It’s definitely part of the secret sauce. I encourage you to invest the time to know your “essential specialness in the market” and to use it well!

Dan Foster is the chief sales and marketing officer for MegaPath Inc., where he manages the company’s sales, marketing and channel organizations. He has been instrumental in driving MegaPath’s rapid growth to become the leading provider of managed IP communications services in North America with 20,000 customers. He is also a member of the 2009-10 Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board.

By Randy Jeter, Premiere Worldwide

As technology sales professionals, we are use to change by now ... some good and some bad.  By now most successful telecommunications agents have realized the importance of being data-centric, which has primarily been centered on WAN applications. The next step in this evolution is Infrastructure as a Service; Disaster Recovery as a Service and Desktop as a Service via the cloud.  Why? Simple. Increased bandwidth options, decreased bandwidth costs, Network based QoS, IT budgets (capex), in-house infrastructure needs (advanced LAN knowledge) and the ROI for companies, which can now be seen in most business cases.

The fact is the “cloud” market today is much like the MPLS market seven years ago – you have a lot of people talking about it, few people doing it, and even fewer people doing it right.  Most companies today that are focused on the cloud are focused on cloud backup, cloud storage, or cloud applications (a la SalesForce). There are other companies, such as SAVVIS and Terremark that are focused on addressing these needs, however they themselves do not provide flexibility customers demands and more importantly, their offerings are targeted toward large, Fortune 500 companies.

This is why there is growing demand for companies like RapidScale, with expert engineers whose focus is on meeting clients’ needs while at the same time always looking to show their clients an ROI.  Additionally, companies like RapidScale have realized the power of the channel and built successful agent programs with healthy commissions ranging from 15-18 percent and spiff programs with substantial upfront payouts. 

With the Channel Partners shows and PHONE+ focused on helping increase the per-client revenue, it is now time for the channel itself to embrace the LAN and start capitalizing on revenue opportunities currently being left behind or sold by LAN management organizations.

Randy Jeter is a partner and lead consultant at Premiere Worldwide, a telecom consulting firm. Since 2008, Jeter has focused on redeveloping Premiere Worldwide’s core business approach and expanding it to include fee-based consulting, outsourced IT services, network monitoring, phone system RFPs, Web site development, application development and inventory/telecom expense management solutions. He is also a member of the 2009-10 Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board.

Virgo Publishing LLC, an integrated business-to-business information services company, is pleased to announce the addition of two new leaders to the Telecom Division, which includes PHONE+ and the Channel Partners Conference & Expo. 

Larry Lannon joins the Telecom Division as group publisher overseeing both the channel and service provider segments of the business.  Lannon was formerly the group vice president and publisher for Telephony. Most recently, he was the president of Ascend Media’s Allied Division.  He has more than 20 years of experience in event, digital and print media.

Susan Pienkos-Kostbar joins Virgo Publishing  as senior account executive for PHONE+, the premier publication and online community covering the communications industry channel. Pienkos-Kostbar served most recently as channel sales manager for Channel Insider, managing sales of Ziff Davis Enterprise's channel portfolio as proprietor of her independent organization, Arancione Group LLC . She also spent 14 years in sales management for Everything Channel division of United Business Media, which includes CRN, ChannelWEB, VAR Business and XChange events.

“The collision of the IT and telecom channels is creating incredible growth opportunities for the channel properties,” said Mike Saxby, adviser to PHONE+ and the Channel Partners Conference & Expo. “Every day, Larry’s job is to plan and strategize to address these opportunities. In addition, Susan’s 14 years of experience in the IT channel brings complementary expertise that will be critical to our growth strategy.”

“I am excited to join Virgo’s Telecom Division and welcome Susan to the team,” Lannon said. “Virgo has leading telecom properties with strong conference, trade show, print and digital elements. Virgo has an excellent team of committed professionals and Susan’s experience and market knowledge will serve our channel clients well.”

About PHONE+
For more than two decades, PHONE+ has been the leader in providing news and analysis to indirect sales channels serving the communications industry. It is the unrivaled resource for resellers, aggregators, agents, brokers, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and dealers that provide network-based communications and computing services, associated CPE and applications as well as managed and professional services.

PHONE+ includes a monthly print publication, electronic newsletters, Webinars, eBooks, buyer’s guides and more. It can be found on the Web at www.phoneplusmag.com and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/phoneplus.

PHONE+ is the official media of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo (www.channelpartnersconference.com).

About Channel Partners Conference & Expo
The Channel Partners Conference & Expo (www.channelpartnersconference.com) is the communications industry’s only event exclusively for indirect sales organizations – agents, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and consultants – focused on transforming their businesses to become converged solutions providers. Produced by PHONE+ (www.phoneplusmag.com), the event is produced twice annually in the spring and fall and features future-proofing advice from thought-leading speakers and how-to courses on best practices, technology and strategy. Topics range from hot technologies and new opportunities to partnering, diversification, sales tips and skills building.

Join us on LinkedIn at Channel Partners Network.

About Virgo Publishing
Virgo Publishing LLC  (Virgo) is an integrated B2B information services business delivering trade shows and conferences, print and e-media, and online education to key growth markets. Virgo Publishing’s Telecom Division publishes PHONE+, VON/xchange and Billing & OSS World magazines and is the producer of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and the Billing & OSS World Conference & Expo. For information, visit www.vpico.com.