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AireSpring Lights Up Multi-Million Dollar Network Upgrade
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AireSpring Named Winner of Next-Gen Solution Provider Award for Exceptional Innovation 2018 AireSpring Again Recognized as Channel Maker 2018 at Channel Partners Evolution, Philadelphia
AireSpring CEO, Avi Lonstein, proudly accepted the Next-Gen Solution Provider Award for Innovation at Channel Partners Evolution 2018 in Philadelphia. Presented by Channel Partners, this prestigious award goes to select companies for their outstanding influence on the partner channel. Show winners are selected by Channel Partners Evolution attendees along with a panel of editors. AireSpring has recently been recognized for its Platinum and Global SD-WAN solutions, as well as Multi-Cloud Connect for secure connectivity to cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Salesforce. Widely known for being 100% channel-focused, AireSpring is dedicated to providing exceptional value to our channel partners, with innovative and practical tools like QuoteSpring™, the industry-leading on-line quoting tool for instant real-time quotes online. The AireSpring channel profile includes an expanding team of expert channel managers and solutions engineers, and some of the highest commissions and SPIFFs in the channel. One of a growing lineup of awards collected by AireSpring, the Channel Maker Next-Gen Solution Provider Award 2018 joins a list that includes the Internet Telephony SD-WAN Product of The Year Award 2018; the Telarus Partner Choice Top National Channel Manager Award for Charles Lomond [AireSpring National Director Channel Sales]; the 2018 Visionary Spotlight Award for Platinum SD-WAN, and many more. “We are thankful to be honored with this award which underscores the depth of AireSpring’s strategic commitment to the partner channel,” said AireSpring CEO, Avi Lonstein. “We place great value on our long-term relationships with the channel partner community, and look forward to working together as we expand our product offering and grow sales. We continue to refine and build on the AireSpring Advantage, which centers on our high touch, personalized service and support, and includes a wide range of Managed Services, including AireSpring's Global SD-WAN, Cloud and Edge Connectivity, and Unified Communications Services.” he added. |
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AireSpring and Verizon Exclusive Insider Briefing & Gourmet Luncheon at Channel Partners Evolution 2018 AireSpring and Special Guest, Verizon Partner Solutions co-sponsored a special luncheon for valued partners at this year's Channel Partners Evolution in Philadelphia. Joining AireSpring President and CRO Daniel Lonstein at Maggiano's Little Italy, Verizon Partner Solutions Division Vice President, Rick Medeiros, presented exciting news about the many benefits and advantages of the strategic partnership between AireSpring and Verizon Partner Solutions.
On top of the new opportunities to grow sales and a delicious lunch, a $500 Amazon gift card was awarded to Jeff Rast, Senior Account Manager at Telarus who won the AireSpring Luncheon Raffle! Please contact your AireSpring Channel Manager for more information about our latest award-winning solutions. |
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AireSpring Announces Reduced AT&T Pricing!
AireSpring is now offering special reduced AT&T Ethernet and T1 pricing. Take advantage of this new reduced pricing, effective October 15, 2018. The discount is applied for both In and Out-of-Region access pricing on these AireSpring products:
We have even more AT&T news--AireSpring has now added the following speeds to AT&T ABF (Broadband) product, in select metro markets:
Please check with QuoteSpring and your AireSpring channel manager for more details and additional pricing information. |
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We Are Thankful All Year Round AireSpring Shows Our Gratitude to Our Valued Partners
Reach out to your AireSpring Channel Manager today or call us at 888.389.2899. |
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Learn how AireSpring and Verizon Partner Solutions are offering expanded access to Verizon’s Intelligent Edge Network In this webinar, Verizon Partner Solutions Division VP, Rick Medeiros, will outline the expanded relationship between AireSpring and Verizon Partner Solutions. Explore the many new partner resources coming on board, as well as the ways Verizon is developing its forward-looking digital network while adding fiber presence in more markets. Plus, learn how the AireSpring and Verizon partnership will help you grow your business, with pricing support, focus on service delivery, product development support, and new automation tools. This exciting webinar will give you an inside view of the new initiatives produced by Verizon’s multi-billion dollar investment, including:
Plus, get up-to-speed on the big picture, including:
Be prepared for your customers’ future demands with full access to our combined capabilities, solutions and expanded support.
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THE INCOMPAS SHOW |
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TELARUS INNOVATION CONFERENCE Canton, OH November 13, 2018 |
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TCG CHANNEL SOURCE |
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TELARUS INNOVATION CONFERENCE |
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IT EXPO |
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Welcome to the latest edition in our series of profiles, shining the spotlight on AireSpring’s amazing partners. This month, we’re speaking with Tom Strobehn, Owner of Fastech Solutions. Hello Tom, thank you for agreeing to speak with us today. To begin, please tell us a little about yourself and your professional background. I have been working in IT and computer-related fields since 1997, more actively on the hardware side while learning the software. I worked for Panasonic as manager of Logistics and IT. We introduced the new models to the buyers at Walmart and Fry’s Electronics. They sent me over to Japan to learn their products, which was great. When Panasonic closed in 2008, they offered to pay for schooling. That was in the heart of the recession, so I took them up on that offer and got several degrees. After I finished school, there weren’t too many options out there, so I started my business out of my garage, just taking care of networks, originally as an MSP. While working at Panasonic and then attending school, I was more interested in racing motorcycles than anything else - I just wanted to ride. My wife pointed out that we could be doing a lot better if I were to work more than play, and not long after we were expecting our first child. I realized it was time to give up motorcycles, and I don't miss them at all. At around the same time, a friend came along looking for a job, but I didn’t have anything for him. I called a contact at a national telecom company asking if he had any openings for my friend. He said they could use my license for contracting out, but could not hire my friend. As a result, I brought him into my one-man company and we were officially launched in 2011. My original friend is still with me. We talk about it and looking back, we are amazed at where we started and how far we have come.
sent me my first big referral, a client that is with us to this day. We don’t advertise and we have no sales reps. All our business comes from word-of-mouth and referral, and we have a presence in markets across the country. I don’t believe in the cookie cutter approach. Markets come and go and they slow up. If you don’t change and stay dynamic you’ll disappear. I’ve always tried to stay on the cutting edge of what’s coming out and keep ahead of it, so my employees will always have food on the table. The employees are everything for us at this company. I believe that if you take care of them, you never have to worry about the clients. We’re all human and we make mistakes, but if your people love their job, they’re going to take care of the clients and they won’t leave. We don’t have turnover here, it’s extremely rare that someone leaves. We also don’t lose clients. Since 2011 we have only lost one client. It makes you feel really good about what you do. We offer a broad spectrum of services and our customers range from a single department store up to surgery centers, and automotive shops to grain co-ops, including the second largest grain co-op in the country, doing well over a billion dollars a year in grain. Actually, the biggest limitation to the company is me. I wear so many hats that I am the limiting factor to growth, so my next year’s goal is to replace myself in multiple areas. We are so broad, we do everything from data to phone and hosted. We build, design and baby-sit networks, we have a 24-hour help desk solution that we monitor 24/7. I am a risk-taker, so I’m willing to throw a million balls up in the air and hope one of them lands. If you don’t try something you've dreamed of, then you may live the rest of your life regretting it. I like to live my life with no regrets. How long have you been working with AireSpring? The first client I brought to AireSpring was that large grain co-op in Kansas, and that was a little over a year ago. I’ve known AireSpring people for a few years, in fact we golfed at AireSpring's Top Golf event right next to Daniel [Daniel Lonstein, AireSpring President and CRO] at Channel Partners in Las Vegas. What do you like about working with AireSpring?
in a hurry to get off the call, and your people were so aggressive, I was really impressed. They let the carrier know in no uncertain terms that they needed to stay on the call until this situation was fixed, and that our team would let them know when they were done. The way I look at things, you take care of a client as if it is your own company, and your team did exactly that. I treat customers the way I would want to be treated, regardless of size. AireSpring does the same thing, which convinced me that this was a company I wanted to do business with. I have been gradually bringing more deals to AireSpring all the time and they have gone very well. Everyone I’ve dealt with at AireSpring has just been phenomenal. Another thing I like about AireSpring is the personalities. Everyone I’ve ever met—and I’ve gone up to your executive Channel Partner suites the last few years—is very friendly, because they are real. Last year I even got a chance to sit down with Avi [Avi Lonstein, AireSpring CEO]. He talked with me as if I were a billion-dollar customer. That’s the feeling I get from everyone in the company. I really appreciate that, it’s not that way with many companies. Avi treated me as if I were one of your very biggest customers, which is why I send business your way. I recommend AireSpring to every agent I know. The company is truly one of a kind. It’s great to see that there are other people who have the same view of running a business that I have. What would you say is the secret to being a successful agent? Being real is what works for me, it’s not a secret. You get what you see—I’m a terrible poker player, I’m too transparent. It’s all about relationship management, which calls for reliability and doing what we say we’re going to do, no matter what. That’s our secret sauce. When I was up for our local city council, in the screening interview I was asked how I handle making tough decisions. I laughed a little and explained that being in business for myself, I have to make tough decisions all the time. On the rare occasion when we make a mistake, we own up to it and take care of it. That’s why customers stick with us, and why we’ve only lost one customer in all our years in business. I live up to my word with a customer, whether I lose money that month or I make money, and AireSpring demonstrates the same philosophy. Also, as I said previously, take care of your client as if it is your own company. Treat customers the way you want to be treated, regardless of their size. As your customers grow so will your business. What is the “next big thing” you think agents should be aware of in 2018 and into 2019? Automation will be huge, and in the next year or two you’ll see a lot more of it, with a lot of attention to built-in security safeguards. Protection services of any type will be big. As far as telecommunications in general, I think automation is where change is happening. I was invited to participate on our local college board [Clark College] to help them develop another four-year degree in security and protection safeguards in the online space. Automation will help customers, but it may hurt the MSPs. The lower-end tiers of help desks will be less in demand because newer software will take care of that function. What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of telecom? The driving factor is my family and my lovely wife, Courtney. We have two sons, Austyn and Brisyn, who are five and four years old. Fastech has operations all over the U.S. which has required a lot of travel. However, this year I have made an effort to travel less and be home more. Our outside activities revolve around the boys. They love soccer, karate and swimming, and both have done the karate belt ceremonies. You never know what’s ahead, so being a realist I wanted them to know how and when to protect themselves and when not to. We try to spend as much time as possible with our boys and enjoying family activities together.
Tom, thank you for taking time to talk with us today. |
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At AireSpring, we know that it is our dedication to customer service that sets us apart, and customer service begins with great employees. Here is your chance to get to know another key member of the AireSpring team. This month we are talking with Shane Speakman, Vice President of Channel Strategy. Hello Shane. To begin, please tell us about your professional background and how long you've been in the telecom industry. I got my start in telecom as a sales leader for a CLEC, Veracity Networks in Utah, focused primarily on direct sales. I then moved to Comcast where I led three sales teams and three sales managers in the mountain region. We became Comcast's number one region in the country. Most of my success, although it was in direct sales, was due to the relationships within the indirect channel, so I got to utilize and understand the value and scalability of indirect partners, and decided to move more directly into that space. While at Comcast, I was the national partner channel manager, supporting Telarus nationwide with a team of people. This experience helped me strengthen my relationships, not only with Telarus but also with other partners around the country. I next served as national partner sales manager for XO Communications, which eventually led to working for Integra, where we did really well and had a lot of fun. We were purchased by Zayo, and that ultimately changed the culture, opening the door for me to accept an opportunity at AireSpring. I knew they were well-respected and was really excited to have that chance to help grow and expand the AireSpring footprint. I’m a telecom guy by nature, I enjoy it because of the partner community and the relationships within it. The technology is fascinating and I really enjoy learning how it works, especially knowing that it will facilitate a lot of the future growth for our society. Mostly though, it’s the deep personal relationships I get to form with a lot of the partners. I consider many of them my friends and family. The difference between the indirect and direct communities is that the direct environment has so much churn that it prohibits these kinds of long-term relationships, because it’s often in transition. In the indirect community, they’re so committed to their craft and to building their own business brand that they lean on vendors for a support model to help them grow. Through that process they form bonds that last because they are in business together and taking care of the customer, which ultimately creates success. I think that throughout the history of the channel there have been various stages. As the channel is changing you have to have a more strategic approach to be authentic. Vendors who are in conflict with direct teams, or who have promotions that aren’t true to their own value, end up hurting the company brands. One of the things that attracted me to AireSpring was the unique approach they took to serving the public. It was important to me to come to an organization that is dedicated to the channel. If you look at the history of AireSpring, you see that they have always been 100% channel focused, from the SPIFF payouts, to being the first to offer evergreen commissions from the beginning, to the long tenure of the channel managers, who have really deep history here. You get a sense that they are committed to long-term success. Tell us about your role at AireSpring and how long you’ve been with the company. I have been with AireSpring just under a year, and it has been a unique opportunity to work with the executive team on developing and executing on strategy, to go to market with existing and prospective partners. Being out on the road, understanding first-hand what the partners need and knowing the value they see in us, helps me work with Ron [Ron McNab, Senior VP Channel Sales] and Daniel [Daniel Lonstein, President and CRO], putting together the best program for success. It also helps that I can draw on the relationships I have developed over time in the partner community to help guide me and the team through the process. Relationships are a key aid in fulfilling another key task, which is expanding the sales team, identifying other channel managers and different master agents we should be working with. A major component of what I do is recruiting for AireSpring to build out the channel. We interviewed four or five people yesterday alone, and we’re searching on a national level. I travel 85% of the time and I’m committed to our growth. I think of us as a 17 year-old startup, and we’re at a tipping point, opening the flood gates to facilitate growth and success that will take the company to a whole new level. Our executive team is committed to growing and providing support within the company where needed. When we get feedback from any of our partners about deficiencies, they are quick to get support to where it is needed, such as building the team and pushing funding toward the channel. What do you enjoy most about working with AireSpring? The most important thing is seeing a strategy from concept to execution and being in the field, in the trenches with our partners and with Ron, working on our partner issues and addressing how to grow. Next, we’ll be tackling an aggressive growth strategy on the sales team. We’re adding five more channel managers to our team, and that’s a significant investment. As we put these people in place, you’ll see a greater regional focus, with individual contributors managing a stronger geographic area. Each channel partner will have deeper roots, a bigger stake, and more responsibility for their area. The owners’ direct involvement in everything is a benefit too. The level of commitment by employees is fantastic, as demonstrated by the long tenure of so many of our channel managers, with people like Charlie Lomond [AireSpring National Channel Director], who has been here for 16 years, and Mike Nesci [AireSpring National Channel Manager] who has 14 year's of service. It underscores the level of commitment that AireSpring has put into the channel. What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of the office?
It’s hard for my wife that I travel so much with this many young children but she is very supportive, and she’s a fantastic mother. Shane, thank you for sharing your story with us! |
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AireSpring is an award-winning provider of Managed Connectivity and Cloud Communications solutions providing fully managed and connected end-to-end, next-generation solutions for multi-location enterprise customers, including:
AireSpring's services are delivered over its revolutionary nationwide MPLS Mesh Network, providing customers a fully integrated, end-to-end solution from a single vendor.    |
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