Channel Debate: Do Aggregators Change the Value Prop of Connectivity?
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Channel Partners Conference & Expo is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC
This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Sign up to get notified when registration opens to get a special deal on your #CPExpo Pass! >> Subscribe to Updates >>
Craig: “All right. Hey again, everyone. Channel Futures editorial director Craig Galbraith here looking ahead once again to the Channel Partners Conference and Expo and MSP Summit March 11th through the 14th at the Venetian Las Vegas.”
“Got a chance to talk to a lot of great people and got one of them today. It's Mike Fasulo. Mike is co -founder of PhotonFi, a sponsor and exhibitor at this year's Channel Partners. Mike, how are you doing?
Mike: “I'm doing well, Craig. How about you?”
Craig: “I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for Photon Fi's support of our event. We appreciate it. So let's get into it. With people who aren't that familiar with the company, I know you guys are fairly new. Why did you co -found the company?”
Mike” So I spent a lot of years in electronics and technology and technology really gets me excited. I retired two and a half years ago or so. And as we were talking earlier, there's only so much golf one can play during retirement.”
“So I got a call from a buddy of mine, an old colleague about this new technology that he was working on. And it was so exciting that I decided to come out of retirement. And that technology is how we founded PhotonFi.”
“So PhotonFi, it's a wireless LAN product and service company. And our products and services leapfrog the conventional techniques. And that's whether it's Wi Fi, or even wired internet. It's interference proof, it's interference free, our solutions reduce customer calls, downtimes total cost of ownership.”
“And it's based on the basic principles of light. So it's invisible light. And this revolutionary technology brings not only a stable environment, but a totally secure environment. I'm actually saying it's hack proof.”
“So it'll bring the reliability and productivity that customers expect. But in today's world of Wi-Fi, unfortunately, they don't always get.”
Craig: “Yeah, exciting that you're going to bring this new technology to channel partners. Thank you for that. So I've been, you know, looking at your website a little bit and learning a little bit about life and I wondered if you could sort of talk about the growth potential.”
Mike: “Absolutely can. And regarding the website, remember, we're a startup. So it's, we're calling it ‘web 1.5’, not not the final product, but it's awesome. You can get a lot of good information there, but it's work in progress.”
“So bear with us as we grow. So talking about growth, we're focused on two very specific segments, and fits perfectly in Channel Partners. But the segments are enterprise, which if you look at the enterprise network market, it's about a three and a half trillion dollar market.”
“If you look at just Wi Fi, it's about 1 .1 trillion dollar market. So we think our TAM, or addressable market, on the enterprise side is about 16 billion. The other end of the spectrum we're looking at or the or the other compliment segment is eSports, one of the fastest growing segments in industry.”
“And eSports is about an $80 billion market. And we think we've got about a $300 billion market, we think we've got a TAM of about an $80 billion opportunity. So you can see there's just two really big markets that we're focused on with great opportunity.”
“In our specific case of PhotonFi with the right partners, we believe we can get to 100 million in four years.”
Craig: “Yeah, so let's talk about that. Mike, what types of partners are you looking for at our show?”
Mike: “So your show is just ideal for our products and services. We're looking for MSPs, we're looking for system integrators, agents, really influencers. So the folks that actually have a relationship with the end user, of course we'll sell directly if somebody wants us to, but my preference is to go through the integrator MSP and the partners of the companies we're trying to get to and have them be our influencers and have them be our promoters. And frankly, there's big earnings in there for them as well.”
Craig: “That diversity is fantastic. Like you said, a perfect fit for channel partners in the MSP summit. So, Mike, let's talk a little bit about the events. Last question before I let you go, is sort of an overarching message for any prospective partners who stop by your booth.”
Mike: “Sure, this is a real opportunity. It's real, and ready, and shipping today. It's an easy setup. It's kind of plug and play. Come over to our booth. We're going to be at booth 1447. And we’re going to give live demonstrations. We’re actually going to be able to show you the stability of our Wi-Fi products as compared to the Wi-Fi which will actually be at the convention center. They’re going to wire them and how ours will outperform it.”
“But the message for the partners is, it’s a ripe opportunity. It’s ready now. As I said, the products are ready. It’s a win-win-win. Customers need it, they know they need it - especially with all the cybersecurity issues happening in different places, AI is only going to perpetuate that. But the stability as well. It’s a win for the end users, it’s a win for our partners and it’s a win for us. It’s early in the game, we can all make some good money and satisfy customers and we’re a good group of people to work with. So we’re looking forward to meeting as many partners as we can. We invite you all over to the booth - ‘seeing is believing’ is what I always like to say. And we’re really excited to be a partner with Channel Partners.”
Craig: “I think you’re speaking the partner’s language there, Mike. Thanks for your time today on Channel Futures TV, and we appreciate PhotonFi’s sponsorship of Channel Partners.”