Telarus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Telarus, Inc.
Type Private
Industry

Commercial telecommunications

Internet Service Provider
Founded June 12, 2002 (2002-06-12)
Headquarters Sandy, Utah, United States
Key people

Adam V. Edwards
(co-Founder, President and CEO)
Patrick K. Oborn
(co-Founder, VP of Marketing)
Lanny Gray
(VP of Business Development)
Robert Butler
(Vice President of Sales)

Andrew R. Morgan
(Vice President of Operations)
Products Data, voice, cloud services
Services National distributor (master agent) of commercial telecom products
Revenue $20.2 million
Operating income $4.1 million
Employees 40
Website www.telarus.com

Telarus, Inc. is an American sales agency that holds contracts with many commercial voice and data telecommunications providers. Telarus consolidates the sales volume of hundreds of independent sales agents. As a master agent, Telarus functions as the top layer in the two-tier distribution model that is prevalent in indirect sales of business voice and data services.[1] Members of the Telecom Association voted Telarus the best master agent in 2008,[2] 2009, and 2010,[3] because of its ability to write software that eliminates manual labor from the sales process.[4]

Telarus carries contracts with the following business telecom providers: AT&T,[5] ACC Business,[6] Airband,[7] AireSpring, Alpheus,[8] Broadview,[9] Cbeyond,[10] CenturyLink, Charter Business,[11] Comcast,[12][13] Earthlink Business, Level 3 Communications,[14] GTT,[15] Integra Telecom,[16] Masergy,[17] MegaPath,[18] Masergy, Netwolves, NewCloud Networks,[19] Nitel,[20] PowerNet Global, RealLinx, SuddenLink,[21] TelePacific, Telnes, TelX,[22] Time Warner Cable,[23] tw telecom,[24] West IP Communications, XO Communications,[25] Windstream,[26] and Zayo.

History

Telarus founders Patrick Oborn and Adam Edwards at the conclusion of Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2008

Telarus, Inc. was founded in June 2002[27] in Huntington Beach, California by Adam Edwards and Patrick Oborn. From the beginning, the focus of the company was to service commercial telecommunications clients faster, better, and more efficiently than anyone else. Not having any financial backing to speak of, Edwards and Oborn set out to build Telarus, Inc. on their own with only a belief in themselves and a hope that their savings accounts wouldn't run dry before operational income could pay the bills. To keep bills low, Edwards and Oborn initially operated out of a small apartment in hopes of one day moving into a "real" office.

Both Edwards and Oborn enjoy surfing, which they did regularly at Huntington Beach and San Clemente.[28] During their surf sessions they would discuss the nascent businesses needs and challenges of Telarus. They wanted to build a world-class master agency, but without outside financing or carriers referring new agents to them - combined with the entry-level commissions they were earning, they needed a new and unique approach. They decided to begin building the business simply, making sales on their own and re-investing the commissions they earned back into the company.[29]

Patrick Oborn generated leads using his web and search engine marketing skills on sites such as ShopforT1.com. Edwards followed up on each lead, contacted the T1 carrier for pricing, and complied each quote by hand, one at a time.[30]

Realization of a New Business Model

Initial Business Model of Telarus that enables web affiliates and telecom professionals to share the residual commissions when a lead that is generated from an affiliates' web site is successfully closed.

It didn't take long before Edwards and Oborn became bogged down with the slow and cumbersome process of gathering information for prospective customers. From his experience as the web master of Cognigen, Patrick Oborn recognized the potential of an automated sales process and he became convinced that he and Adam Edwards could do the same for commercial telecom pricing research.[31]

In 2003 Telarus put together an agent program that allowed agents of different skill sets to participate in the commercial sales process. Edwards and Oborn came up with the idea for "Lead Generator" agents who could specialize in Internet and offline marketing, "Product Specialists" who could focus on following up on the leads created by the Lead Generators, and GeoQuote, the world's first real-time T1 pricing software.[32]

By dividing up the sales process into 1) Marketing and 2) Follow-up/Consulting, along with software that allowed this process to take place - Telarus was able to create a system which could sift through hundreds of new leads a day without burdening agents with the task of researching and generating proposals for clients. Lead Generators attract new visitors to their sites using the GeoQuote real-time quote tool, and the Product Specialists receive the lead on the back end, after the prospect has seen pricing. Oftentimes customers will remove themselves from the system after learning that a T1 line is $250 – $700/month, a price many businesses can't afford to pay. This saves countless hours of productivity and allows Product Specialists, all who are paid solely on a commission basis, to focus their time on customers who qualify and are ready to purchase service.[33]

Move to Utah

The Centennial Plaza Tower, location of the company's operations

After three years of operations in California, Telarus moved to Draper, Utah in 2004. Once there, new employees were hired to help maintain the technology that powers GeoQuote and the agent back offices, as well as agent sales support personnel that assist Product Specialists in their day to day sales activities.[34] With these new employees, Telarus has been able to proactively find and recruit many top Master Agents, individual consultants, systems integrators, and VARs into the company.[35][36]

On May 20, 2011, Telarus changed relocated its headquarters to Centennial Plaza Tower in Sandy, Utah.[37]

Revenue

In 2012 Telarus agents turned in over $4,000,000 in new carrier contracts ($80.45M in total contract value) and is on track to sell over $4,800,000 in FY 2013.

GeoQuote Real-time Pricing Software

Oborn and Edwards realized soon after getting into commercial telecom sales that, to achieve scale, automation of price quoting was required. In 2002, Oborn, who studied electrical and computer engineering at Brigham Young University,[38] designed the initial concept for GeoQuote[39] - a software that allows a user to access multiple carrier price options with a single search. In 2003 Oborn partnered with Aaron Lieberman to write the code that could compute pricing based upon loop distance (the distance from the customer's central office to the carrier point of presence) or through direct access to a carrier pricing API interface.[40]

shopfort1.com screenshot
Sample output of a T1 price quote as shown on ShopforT1.com
The prototype of GeoQuote was completed in August 2003.[41] The software was embedded in Telarus' public-facing real-time price research tool called ShopforT1.com.[42] The names of the carriers are removed in the public-facing version of GeoQuote to protect the sales agent from losing the sale by virtue of the customer calling the carrier direct.

In November of that same year, Telarus, Inc. filed for a United States provisional patent to protect the idea and coding architecture behind the GeoQuote concept. On September 30, 2004 Telarus filed the non-provisional patent application, which was accepted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 24, 2009. GeoQuote is now protected by US Patent Number(s) 7,496,184[43] and 7,916,844[44]

As of March 30, 2011, GeoQuote can provide pricing of the following telcom products: cable high-speed internet, business DSL, data T1, bonded T1, data DS3, wireless 3G, local voice / PRI, integrated voice/data, integrated SIP, long distance T1/DS3, and Ethernet over copper.[45] Fiber maps have been subsequently added to allow Telarus agents to see the path the fiber takes in an effort to locate the availability of Ethernet broadband services for their clients.[46]

Public License of GeoQuote

On March 14, 2010, Telarus, Inc. launched a new web site for the public use of its GeoQuote software: www.CarrierQuoteShop.com.[47] The site is powered by GeoQuote and financially backed by telecommunication carriers: XO Communications, ACC Business (a division of AT&T), AireSpring,[48] Nitel,[49] MegaPath, One Communications (recently acquired by Earthlink Business), TelePacific, and Windstream.[50] The site requires registration and users can only see pricing for carriers that have approved access.

Hardware

GeoQuote and the balance of Telarus' redundant network runs in Adobe Cold Fusion using a Microsoft Enterprise SQL server core from Telx data centers.[51]

Media and Awards

Telecom Association Award
Oborn and Edwards receive the 2012 top master agent award from Dan Baldwin, president of the Telecom Association
Oborn and Edwards receive the 2012 top master agent award from Jason Dishon, AVP of Indirect Sales for Windstream Communications.

Telarus, Inc. has enjoyed many awards and recognition for its accomplishments in the telecommunications industry. Some of them include:

Year Organization Award
2013 Earthlink Top Channel Sales Agency[52]
2013 Windstream Communications Top Channel Sales Agency[53]
2013 CRN Magazine Top Channel Chief[54]
2012 Telecom Association Top Master Agent[55]
2012 CRN Magazine Top Channel Chief[56]
2011 AboveNet Fastest Growing Agent[57]
2011 Comcast Business First Channel Partner[58]
2010 tw telecom Top Master Agent
2010 Level 3 Communications Top Direct Agent (West)[59]
2010 Telecom Association Top Master Agent[60]
2010 Windstream (NYSE: WIN) Top Agent[61]
2010 MegaPath Top Agent[62]
2010 Telnes Top Agent
2010 PHONE+ Magazine Top Channel Manager - Michael Gottwalt[63]
2010 PHONE+ Magazine Top 50 Channel Program[64]
2007 Covad Top Agent[65][66]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Chugg, Justin. [http://www.linkedin.com/company/telarus-inc. "Telarus Corporate Profile"]. Telarus, Inc. Overview. LinkedIn. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
  2. ↑ Wind, Marco (12 March 2008). "TA Members Choice Award for Master Agency goes to Telarus". Telecom News. Retrieved 12 March 2008. 
  3. ↑ Saxby, Michael (26 February 2009). "Telecom Association Names ‘Members Choice’ Winners". PHONE+. Retrieved 26 February 2009. 
  4. ↑ Baldwin, Dan (6 December 2010). "Telarus Voted "Best Master Agency" by Telecom Association Members". TA News. Retrieved 6 December 2010. 
  5. ↑ Simon, Pam (1 August 2007). "Telarus Adds Pam Simon to Agent Support". Vision2Mobile. Retrieved 1 August 2007. 
  6. ↑ Edwards, Adam. "Telarus Receives Platinum Awards from ACC Business". Telecom Industry Awards. PR Leap. Retrieved 17 April 2006. 
  7. ↑ Katsulos, Tony. "Telarus Adds Airband to Carrier Portfolio". Press Release Archive. Airband, Inc. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
  8. ↑ Levine, Layne (1 April 2012). "Telarus Adds Alpheus to Carrier Portfolio". Telecom Carrier Updates. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  9. ↑ Jones, Tony (22 September 2010). "Telarus Signs with Broadview Networks". Channel Partners Online. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
  10. ↑ Henderson, Khali (9 December 2011). "Telarus Signs New Deal with Cbeyond". Channel Partners. Retrieved 9 December 2011. 
  11. ↑ Coufal, Don. "Charter Business Enters Into Master Agent Agreement with Telarus". Telecom Industry Updates. Retrieved 14 August 2012. 
  12. ↑ Henderson, Khali (14 March 2011). "Comcast Launches Agent Program". Channel Partners. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
  13. ↑ Holverson, Austin (14 March 2012). "Comcast Business Class". Telecom Channel Updates. Retrieved 14 March 2012. 
  14. ↑ Pyrek, Kelly (28 February 2010). "Telarus Honors 2009’s Top Agents, Carriers". PHONE+ Magazine. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  15. ↑ Pyrek, Kelly (21 September 2010). "Telarus Signs GTT". PHONE+ Magazine. Retrieved 21 September 2010. 
  16. ↑ Henderson, Khali. "Telarus Signs With Integra Telecom". Channel Partners Online. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 
  17. ↑ Holverson, Austin (27 November 2012). "Masergy Adds Telarus to its Global Partner Program". Channel News Updates. Retrieved 30 November 2012. 
  18. ↑ Narain, Divya (5 March 2010). "MegaPath Announces Winners of Inaugural 2009 Partner Awards". TMCnet. Retrieved 5 March 2010. 
  19. ↑ Holverson, Austin (6 June 2012). "NewCloud Networks Signs with Telarus". Telecom Channel Updates. Retrieved 12 June 2012. 
  20. ↑ Basa, Tim (23 July 2010). "Tim Basa of Nitel Endorses Telarus". YouTube. Retrieved 23 July 2010. 
  21. ↑ Bennion, Ryan. "Suddenlink Partners with Telarus to Offer Its Suite of Cable and Ethernet Services to the Channel". Cable Channel News. Retrieved 20 August 2013. 
  22. ↑ Barry, Michelle (12 July 2010). "Telx Signs Colocation Customer Telarus as Master Agent". infoTECH News. Retrieved 12 July 2010. 
  23. ↑ Kaprelian, Berge (21 January 2011). "Telarus, TW Cable Business Class Reach Agreement". Channel Vision. Retrieved 21 January 2011. 
  24. ↑ Yanez, Tomas (5 March 2012). "tw telecom Completes API Integration With Telarus' GeoQuote". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 5 March 2012. 
  25. ↑ XO, Communications. "Choice & Select Partners". Choice & Select Partners List. XO Marketing Department. Retrieved 5 January 2007. 
  26. ↑ Henderson, Khali (6 November 2009). "Windstream Plans to Build on Nuvox Channel". Channel Partners Magazine. Retrieved 6 November 2009. 
  27. ↑ Bullock, Jeffery W. "Delaware Division of Corporations Database". Corporations Database. Delaware Secretary of State. Retrieved 12 June 2002. 
  28. ↑ Oborn, Patrick. "Personal Surfing Photos". Surfing Photo Album. patrickoborn.com. Retrieved 18 October 2008. 
  29. ↑ Harrison, Erin E. (2 September 2009). "Telarus and AireSpring: Guiding Telecom Agents Through Carrier, Service Provider Options". Internet Telephony Magazine. Retrieved 2 September 2009. 
  30. ↑ Peterson, Chris (15 July 2010). "Innovation Calling". Management Today. Retrieved 15 July 2010. 
  31. ↑ Wind, Marco. "GeoScan Tool Released By Telarus". Telecom News Archives. Telecom News. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
  32. ↑ Buckley, Sean (27 May 2008). "Telarus builds first multi-carrier fiber route mapping tool". Fierce Telecom. Retrieved 27 May 2008. 
  33. ↑ Morgan, Andrew. "About Telarus". Corporate History. telarus.com. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
  34. ↑ Green, Jim C (24 November 2009). "What do Telecommunications and SEO Have in Common?". Article Bliss. Retrieved 24 November 2009. 
  35. ↑ Lemm, Michael (30 November 2009). "Telarus And XO Communications Event In Salt Lake City". BroadBand Nation. Retrieved 30 November 2009. 
  36. ↑ Davis, Ron. "D&D Tech Partners joins forces with Telarus, Inc.". Press Release. D&D Tech Partners. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  37. ↑ Morgan, Andrew. "Telarus Completes Move to New Office". Telecom Channel Updates. Retrieved 13 December 2011. 
  38. ↑ Comer, Donald T. 13449&punumber=4875&k2dockey=617026@ieeecnfs&query=%28a+new+digital+to+analog+converter+resistor+string+architecture%29+%3Cin%3E+metadata&pos=0 "A new digital to analog converter resistor string architecture". Tenth Annual IEEE International ASIC Conference and Exhibit. IEEE. Retrieved 7 September 1997. 
  39. ↑ Sievers, Cara (27 August 2009). "Telarus Discusses Implications of GeoQuote Patent". Channel Partners. Retrieved 27 August 2009. 
  40. ↑ Oborn, Patrick. "Telarus Releases the First Real Time Carrier Quote Tool". Press Release. Telarus, Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2003. 
  41. ↑ Berge, Kaprelian (3 June 2010). "Telarus receives patent on GeoQuote". Channel Vision Magazine. Retrieved 3 June 2010. 
  42. ↑ Oborn, Patrick. "ShopforT1.com Completes Patent Application of GeoQuote". Telecom News Updates. Retrieved 10 November 2003. 
  43. ↑ Tieu, Binh K. "System and method to determine and deliver quotes for distance-sensitive communication links from multiple service providers". USPTO Patent Database. Retrieved 24 February 2009. 
  44. ↑ Lieberman, Aaron Jay. "System and method to determine and deliver quotes for distance-sensitive communication links from multiple service providers". USPTO Patent Database. Retrieved 30 March 2011. 
  45. ↑ Regan, Todd. "Telarus First to Fully Implement AireSpring API for Real-Time Quotes". Press Release. AireSpring. Retrieved 12 May 2008. 
  46. ↑ T3i, Group LLC (20 May 2008). "Software Overlay Targets Ethernet Sales". TelecomWeb News Digest. Retrieved 20 May 2008. 
  47. ↑ Henderson, Khali (27 February 2010). "CarrierQuoteShop.com Offers Agents Free Multicarrier Quotes". PHONE+ Magazine. Retrieved 27 February 2010. 
  48. ↑ Carlisle, John (5 June 2008). "MasterStream Now Instantly Quotes AireSpring". PHONE+ Magazine. Retrieved 5 June 2008. 
  49. ↑ Berge, Kaprelian (26 January 2011). "Nitel partners with CarrierQuoteShop". Channel Vision Magazine. Retrieved 26 January 2011. 
  50. ↑ Teal, Kelly (1 February 2010). "Windstream Joins CarrierQuoteShop.com". Channel Partners. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  51. ↑ Barry, Michelle (13 July 2010). "Telx Signs Colocation Customer Telarus as Master Agent". Data Centre News. Retrieved 12 July 2010. 
  52. ↑ Smith, Sarah (29 April 2013). "Windstream Names Telarus its Top Partner of 2012". Channel Vision Magazine. Retrieved 29 April 2013. 
  53. ↑ Smith, Sarah (5 March 2013). "Windstream Names Telarus its Top Partner of 2012". CRN Magazine. Retrieved 5 March 2013. 
  54. ↑ Holverson, Austin (March 2013). "CRN Names Adam Edwards and Robert Butler Top 2013 Channel Chiefs". CRN Magazine. Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  55. ↑ Holverson, Austin (2 April 2013). "Telarus Wins 2012 Members Choice Award from the Telecom Association". Telecom Association News. Retrieved 2 April 2013. 
  56. ↑ Holverson, Austin (17 April 2012). "CRN Names Adam Edwards a Top 2012 Channel Chief". CRN Magazine. Retrieved 17 April 2012. 
  57. ↑ Brown, Michael (17 April 2012). "Telarus Recognized as Fastest Growing Partner of AboveNet". Telecom Channel Updates. Retrieved 17 April 2012. 
  58. ↑ Henderson, Khali (14 March 2011). "Comcast Launches Agent Program". Channel Partners. Retrieved 14 March 2011. 
  59. ↑ McElligott, Tim (24 March 2011). "Level 3 Names Top Partners for 2010". Channel Partners Online. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
  60. ↑ Baldwin, Dan (3 January 2011). "Telecom Association Voting Members Name Best TA Vendors in 26 Categories". Telecom Association. Retrieved 3 January 2011. 
  61. ↑ Stirling, Dan. "Dan Stirling Endorses Telarus". Telarus Carrier Testimonials. Telarus Videos. Retrieved 9 October 2010. 
  62. ↑ Teal, Kelly (18 April 2011). "Big-Name Agencies Dominate Megapath's Top 2010 Partners List". Channel Partners. Retrieved 15 April 2011. 
  63. ↑ Herderson, Khali (21 October 2010). "TELARUS’ MIKE GOTTWALT NAMED TOP 15 CHANNEL MANAGER 2010". PHONE+ Magazine. Retrieved 21 October 2010. 
  64. ↑ Henderson, Khali (20 September 2010). "PHONE+ NAMES TOP 50 CHANNEL PROGRAMS". PHONE+ Magazine. Retrieved 20 September 2010. 
  65. ↑ Covad, Communications. "Covad Master Agents". Covad Master Agent List. Covad Communications. Retrieved 15 January 2008. 
  66. ↑ Business, Wire. "Covad Names Telarus its Highest-Revenue Producing Agent at the Spring 2008 Channel Partners Conference & Expo". Covad News. ADVFN PLC. Retrieved 9 March 2008. 
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