As part of its continued commitment to our indirect channel programs, AT&T is rolling out new products and services within AT&T Partner Solutions to support the growth of 5G, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone.
We are also re-aligning the AT&T Alliance ChannelTM and ACC Business sales teams to enhance support for the different business models of our solution providers.
“We continue to put solution providers at the center of our indirect channel strategy,” said Stacey Marx, senior vice president and channel chief, AT&T Partner Solutions. “Whether we are one of the first channel programs to launch next generation solutions like 5G or we are investing in new sales and support tools, we are committed to helping enable our solution providers to take advantage of that next element of innovation and growth for their business.”
5G will ultimately be transformational for businesses. We are laying the groundwork so that solution providers can start taking advantage of 5G, following our key strategic pillars of mobile 5G, fixed wireless and edge compute.
- Mobile 5G – Solution providers can now start offering Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphones on the AT&T 5G+ (mmWave) network. Our 5G+ service is available today in parts of 21 cities, with plans to reach parts of at least 30 cities by early 2020. The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G is available to both AT&T Partner Exchange® and AT&T Alliance Channel solution providers. In addition, we are aligned with AT&T Business to offer 5G capable smartphones that can access our 5G low band (sub-6) network we will start deploying this year and that we plan to have nationwide in the first half of 2020. Business customers will need a 5G-enabled rate plan to access 5G service.
- Edge Computing –Businesses have been implementing AT&T Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC) solutions in their initial pilot deployments as well as some commercial production and we are now starting down that path with solution providers. AT&T MEC (Multi-access Edge Compute) allows customers to split off designated cellular data traffic from the AT&T software defined network for faster on-premises edge processing and greater privacy and control.
- Fixed Wireless Solution providers can already offer AT&T Wireless Broadband which is a stepping stone to our future fixed 5G solutions. This current fixed wireless offering, which works over AT&T 4G LTE and 5G Evolution, is a cost-effective network alternative for business-critical applications that can be deployed quickly for new and remote locations. And with AT&T Business Fast Track bundled in the solution today, businesses can rank their application data in order of importance, to help keep their critical business data flowing smoothly.
AT&T Alliance Channel and ACC Business
The AT&T Alliance Channel is going through a transformation. We know that not every solution provider has the same business model. That is why we are re-aligning our sales teams to provide dedicated support for our master and traditional solution providers. In addition, we are integrating the ACC Business sales and support teams within the Alliance Channel to utilize the strengths of both programs.
We continue to invest in sales and support tools for our Alliance Channel program. Now, we are simplifying and streamlining parts of the order entry process for our master solution providers to save them time. We’ve also launched a new Alliance Channel partner marketing tool that enhances program members ability to promote AT&T products and solutions using advertising, email and social media campaigns.
AT&T Partner Exchange
AT&T Partner Exchange is giving its solution providers more ways to earn business. We recently launched a new set of ecosystem partner programs for our IoT, AT&T Cybersecurity, and mobility product offerings. The programs allow solution providers to team up with other businesses within Partner Exchange to resell or refer new business. The partnerships also help to bridge the gap for solution providers who may not have a mature practice in these product areas but do have customers that need these solutions.
“The ecosystem partnership has allowed us to expand into new product lines without having to use up a lot of resources. And we have been able to meet customer demand in ways we couldn’t before,” said John Agathon, senior partner, Atron Solutions, LLC. “It is a valuable addition to our business. The ability to offer a plan with no overages has been the closer for customers who wish to control costs and not have runaway usage charges.”
Earlier this year we launched Fiber Fast, which speeds up the installation of AT&T Dedicated Internet to as little as 5 to 20 days. Now we have automated the process, allowing solution providers to qualify and quote an address for Fiber Fast in near real-time within the AT&T Partner Exchange portal or via our API platform. AT&T continues to be the largest U.S.-based provider of fiber for business services. Nationwide, more than 8 million business customer locations are on or within 1,000 feet of our fiber, and we connect more than 2.5 million U.S. business customer locations with fiber today.
Source: https://about.att.com/story/2019/5g_channel_programs.html