AirTight Networks Launches New Channel Program to Disrupt Traditional Ways of Doing Business in Wi-Fi Market

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AirTight Networks, a global provider of secure cloud-managed Wi-Fi, announced a new program – EZ Street – to help resellers transition from selling boxes and licenses to delivering MSP-class cloud Wi-Fi, security, big data analytics and customer engagement with zero effort and no upfront costs. The program is an outgrowth of AirTight's own evolution from a Wi-Fi and wireless security vendor to an 'uber-MSP,' offering a unique full-opex selling model and business services to its customers.

"We launched the EZ Street program to help resellers break into a new high-growth market, achieve shorter sales cycles, and move upstream to high-margin, business-critical services," said Anita Pandey, vice president of marketing and business development at AirTight Networks. "The Wi-Fi industry is at an inflection point – not just due to new technologies, such as 802.11ac, but because customers are demanding new flexible purchasing options and concrete ROI from their network investments."

Turning cloud Wi-Fi into "EZ as a Service"

Under the EZ Street umbrella, AirTight provides a rich set of unique services and applications, including its new Mojo Studio suite/cloud services portal. Mojo Studio includes AirTight's WLAN and wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) management console, tools for managing multiple customers, a guest manager app with built-in Wi-Fi analytics, 'preflighted' access point templates to eliminate the headaches and drudgery of equipment configuration, and BrandBuilder™, a splash page designer for developing custom end user experiences, among others.

"Innovative cloud managed Wi-Fi solutions can enable IT to leverage the enterprise network for brand building, revenue generation and other business applications, especially in retail, hospitality and distributed enterprise deployments," said Rohit Mehra, vice president of network infrastructure at IDC. "Offering easy provisioning and secure operations, while enabling location based services and customer engagement tools, solutions such as AirTight's cloud-managed Wi-Fi platform will appeal to channel partners who want to strengthen and grow their managed network services portfolio."

High-value services and programs unlock new budgets

EZ Street's application enablement unlocks new revenue sources previously inaccessible to resellers, such as marketing budgets. For example, with the rise of big data and social, customer digital interactions have become increasingly important for business growth. As such, digital marketing and customer engagement are now fundamental drivers of IT purchases.

"More and more, we're seeing the influence of the CMO on IT priorities," said Greg Griffiths, vice president of retail solutions at EarthLink. "This is accelerating the adoption of Wi-Fi, since in addition to enhancing employee and store operational efficiency, it also supports marketing's need to connect with the mobile consumer. With AirTight, we can offer solutions to our customers that bring together marketing, store operations and IT and transform Wi-Fi initiatives from cost centers into revenue drivers."

Take the EZ Street, not the Hard Road

The transition puts pressure on traditional channel models of box selling, accompanied by network design, installation and break-fix services. Managed services offer recurring revenues, but require huge upfront investments in people and infrastructure. What if resellers had access to MSP-class packages, but without the investment associated with the infrastructure as a service model? What if they could deliver offerings directly impacting their customers' ability to generate revenue through business analytics, customer loyalty programs, and advanced security monitoring?

"The EZ Street program allows us to develop and layer value-added services on top of Wi-Fi and WIPS equipment sales," said Michael Guckeen, vice president of strategic accounts at Comm-Works. "Customers today are weary of purchasing "maintenance"; they view it as a money drain. The innovative ways AirTight allows us to package these services for the customer – around compliance, social, and analytics – make the objections much easier to handle. In addition, our customers are demanding different purchasing models and are looking for ways to shift to opex models. AirTight's full opex model gives us the flexibility to offer them choices."

For more information on the EZ Street program, please visit: www.airtightnetworks.com/EZstreet.

About AirTight Networks

AirTight Networks is the global leader in secure cloud Wi-Fi solutions. The company's award-winning family of products and cloud services combines a true carrier-class multitenant cloud architecture with breakthroughs in Wi-Fi location, user analytics, social engagement, manageability, ease of deployment, and cost effectiveness, as well as AirTight's longtime top-rated WIPS technology. AirTight's global customer base includes leading enterprises in the government, financial, technology/telecom, manufacturing, health care, retail, and hospitality sectors. For more information, please visit us at: www.airtightnetworks.com, or follow us @AirTight.

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SOURCE AirTight Networks