Windstream Wholesale powers up reseller-specific SD-WAN solution, expands reseller program

LAS VEGAS, April 11, 2017 -- Windstream (NASDAQ:WIN), a leading provider of advanced network communications, today announced at Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2017 in Las Vegas both the launch of its all-new Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution uniquely designed for the reseller community, as well as the revitalization of Windstream Wholesale’s reseller program.

This latest SD-WAN solution relieves the demanding pressures on today’s networks by providing agility, visibility and control, as well as performance and operational efficiencies. With its simple, comprehensive interface, resellers can optimize performance of end-user applications or value-added services – such as UCaaS, firewall or content filters – allowing delivery of a fully integrated service portfolio and improved customer experience, and ultimately offering increased reseller revenue opportunities.

“This significant addition of SD-WAN to the current available portfolio of Wholesale solutions – including MEF 2.0 Certified Carrier Ethernet, MPLS and Dedicated Internet Access and more – enables a full-scale, flexible and powerful technology that positions resellers as trusted advisers to their end users,” said Jeff Brown, director of product management and marketing for Windstream’s Wholesale business unit. “By leveraging the reach of the Internet, Windstream Wholesale’s SD-WAN solution combines end-user locations and services through an easy-to-use interface, eliminates the need for manual monitoring and allows our resellers to deliver a fully managed solution to their customers.”

Augmenting Windstream Wholesale’s broad solutions suite, delivered over its 147,000-mile fiber-optic long-haul network, the SD-WAN delivers a variety of benefits to reseller partners, including:

• Cost-efficient connectivity through augmenting MPLS with lower cost, higher bandwidth access and improving the quality of commodity broadband or cable, replacing MPLS entirely or through reduction of costs for aggregated high speed Internet access at the data center.
• Network simplicity, agility and easy solution deployment using a management tool that offers total visibility and control in a single interface, including zero touch configuration for new locations, services and end-user security policies, as well as centralized administration and activation options for remote branches.
• Application visibility and control with the ability to immediately view and prioritize application network traffic – from mission critical business apps to blocking or reducing impact of non-business applications. Our BusinessAware CloudNetwork™ enables dynamic traffic steering in real-time, offering the flexibility, agility, security and reliability to deliver superior application performance.
• Maximized and improved performance with Windstream’s Cloud Core Network Architecture, designed to improve cloud-based application performance with diverse, secure, low latency connections to cloud providers as well as Windstream-provided services. Easy control and analyzation of network conditions provides optimized performance from branch to branch, branch to data centers, and branch to cloud.
• Increased business productivity and enhanced customer experience via real-time analytics that provide immediate insights into network and application performance and allow proactive remediation or resolution of bandwidth or cloud access challenges.

“Today’s announcement signifies a transformational shift within the Windstream reseller ecosystem,” said Melissa Cook, vice president of the reseller program for Windstream Wholesale. “With the successful and viable reseller base inherited as a result of the recent EarthLink merger, Windstream Wholesale has strategically realigned resources – including leadership, marketing efforts, dedicated sales and support teams – completely refreshing the program and offering a highly engaged partnership experience to our valued reseller customers. I am delighted to build an even stronger partnership with our reseller community, and I’m equally excited about the SD-WAN solution and the critical competitive edge it offers our resellers, along with the opportunity to boost their revenues and broaden their own market reach.”

Click here for more on Windstream Wholesale or for more information on SD-WAN or the reseller program, please call 1.866.375.6040.

About Windstream

Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN), a FORTUNE 500 company, is a leading provider of advanced network communications and technology solutions for consumers, small businesses, enterprise organizations and carrier partners across the U.S. Windstream offers bundled services, including broadband, security solutions, voice and digital TV to consumers. The company also provides data, cloud solutions, unified communications and managed services to business and enterprise clients. The company supplies core transport solutions on a local and long-haul fiber-optic network spanning approximately 147,000 miles. Additional information is available at windstream.com. Please visit our newsroom at news.windstream.com or follow us on Twitter at @Windstream.

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