When Nextgen faced legal action over its brand name
When Nextgen faced legal action over its brand name
Everything worked out okay
Credit:  Kwa Nguyen
When Nextgen Distribution was just starting out, CEO and co-founder John Walters received a cease and desist notice from telecommunications infrastructure provider Nextgen Networks. The problem? Nextgen Networks wasn’t keen on another technology player in the local market trading with the same brand name. “When we first set up Nextgen in 2011, we were about four months in and I got a letter from the CEO of Nextgen Networks. It was a legal letter saying ‘cease and desist, please change your name’. I thought, ‘woah, here we go’,” Walters told guests at the second annual Nextgen Leadership Forum in Sydney on 13 February. Rather than letting the issue escalate and get lawyers involved, Walters simply called up Nextgen Networks and explained what his then fledgling company, Nextgen Distribution, was all about and why it would present no commercial threat to the network wholesaler. “I decided that the best way around this, rather than having lawyers at 10 paces, was to ring up the CEO,” Walters said. “I got through the PA [personal assistant] and all the gatekeepers and spoke to him over the phone one-on-one. “I said, ‘this is what I’m doing, I’m not using your name, I have no intention of [competing]’. He [the Nextgen Networks] CEO said, ‘put that in writing, and you can carry on with your name’. And I said to him as I was finishing, 'you’ll end up being a customer of ours,'” Walters added. Clearly, everything worked out okay. Today, the owner of the Nextgen Networks brand is publicly-listed telco Vocus, which is one of Nextgen Distribution’s customers. Walters shared the anecdote amid a panel discussion during the Nextgen Leadership Forum examining leadership in adversity via the theme 'leading through adversity with diversity,' with panellists including NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons; former Governor-General and Chief of the Defence Force Peter Cosgrove; and Micro Focus A/NZ managing director Peter Fuller. The panel also included current Vocus CEO Kevin Russell, a fact not lost on Walters as he recounted his run-in with Nextgen Networks years before its 2016 acquisition by Vocus. “Kevin [Russell, through Vocus] now owns the title Nextgen Networks, and is now a customer of ours, so there you go,” Walters said. Walters’ Nextgen Networks episode lent itself well to one of the two core narratives of the Forum, leadership in adversity and diversity leadership. Talking about leadership in adversity, Russell reflected on his professional journey, discussing some of the things he learned about overcoming setbacks early in his career while working for Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-shing. “My background is a kind of turnaround specialist, a guy who generally finds problems and throws himself into it, and Vocus is a similar animal,” Russell said. “But I had the really good fortune of working for 16 years for a gentleman called Li Ka-shing, one of the richest men in Asia, based out of Hong Kong. “One of the things I learned about adversity [in those years] was around perspective...are things really as bad as you think they are? And among those lessons from Mr Li, back in 1995, I remember trying to sell a business for him for $200 million, which was the cost of the business and just trying to dump it. "We couldn’t dump it, and it was a disaster. And then five years later, that business became a business called Orange, which was sold for $10 billion. And [that was due to] just time and patience and grinding things out,” Russell said. To discuss the diversity theme were Oracle A/NZ managing director Valery Lanovenko, Bitdefender global sales and channels vice president Joe Sykora and Darktrace chief channel management officer Gary Szukalski, among others. Asked by panel moderator Jeffery Tobias Halter, president of YWomen, what sort of changes in gender diversity he had seen among his customer base and how he was dealing with those changes, Sykora was quick to point out that there has been change “across the board”. “In certain countries it’s a little bit different, but we had to adjust everything,” Sykora said. “We do a lot around digital, so that experience you have on the web, when you enter our website. We had to do a lot of change around that. We’ve also changed how we do events. Events like this [the Nextgen Leadership Forum]. “I’d say, in the past, it used to be more like, ‘okay, let’s go to a steakhouse, let’s get some cigars and scotch’. We don’t do that anymore. We have to do things differently. And those experiences are what drive margin. It’s not just a numbers game any more.

When Nextgen faced legal action over its brand name

Commvault drops Nextgen Networks, Lynx Technologies, ACA Pacific from its distributor lineup
By Brendon Foye on Jul 18, 2018 7:20AM
Commvault has ended three of its distribution agreements in Australia, leaving Dicker Data and Tech Data as its only two local disties as the backup and disaster recovery vendor reveals upcoming changes to its products and partner program. CRN understands Commvault's agreements with Nextgen Distribution and ACA Pacific were terminated in May, and that its agreement with Lynx Technologies also ended. Nextgen group CEO John Walters told CRN it was disappointing that the Australian distribution had come to an end, but that the wider group would continue to have a strong relationship with Commvault. Nextgen will remain Commvault's master distributor in New Zealand, and two of its subsidiaries, Bang PR and August Capital, also work with the vendor. ACA and Lynx were also contacted for comment. Commvault's new ANZ vice president Rob Malkin told CRN the reason for selecting just two distributors in Dicker Data and Tech Data was because of their mutual vendor relations with Commvault's own alliance partners. "Our alliances with Cisco, HP, AWS, Google and Alibaba and IBM, we're really looking at distributors with very close relationships with those same partners and alliances," Malkin said. "So instead of having a one-way conversation with our disties, we're now having very powerful three-way conversations where our disties are a significant part of those vendor's businesses. At the same time, we're able to provide a more complete solution when someone's doing a Cisco or HP quote, adding a Commvault data protection solution on that the market wasn't able to get before." Dicker Data was appointed as a distributor for Commvault's full portfolio just two months ago, meanwhile Tech Data has distributed the vendor's products since 2006 when it was still known as Avnet in Australia. Nextgen had been a Commvault distributor since 2014. The changes come as part of the Commvault Advanced initiative, a global program intended to simplify the business and improve profitability and revenue for the vendor. The program's implementation will take between 18 to 24 months, and started rolling out in Australia 12 months ago. Chief among the program's changes is a simplified product set which condenses Commvault's offerings into four different packages available to partners. These include:
Commvault Complete Backup and Recovery, the vendor's traditional backup and recovery solutions
Commvault HyperScale Technology, which is an add-on for the previous solution to support on-presmises and cloud-like infrastructure. It's available as either an integrated appliance or as a software solution. Commvault Orchestrate, covering automated service delivery technology to provision, sync and validate data. Commvault said the solution allowed customers to extend the value of their data kept in secondary storage
Commvault Activate, for extracting and analysing data to help meet governance and compliance requirements. The new product set comes with a revamped partner program, which Commvault said included a "major redeployment" of resources across its sales, partner and field marketing organisations. The new program includes a partner success desk for global on-demand service, a partner demand centre which gives partners access to Commvault's marketing concierge team, an improved quote centre, a refreshed partner portal and expanded business development funds in its partner program. Along with product and program changes, the Australian business has seen two major leadership changes in the past few months. Channel director Kaaren Lewis left the vendor at the start of the month after the role was relocated to Singapore. Malkin, who joined Commvault in June to lead the local business, told CRN there would continue to be local channel representatives in Australia, partner leads based in Sydney and Melbourne.

Commvault drops three distributors

Vocus splits enterprise and wholesale units
By Allie Coyne on Jan 15, 2018 9:15AM
For stronger focus on Nextgen, ASC opportunities. Vocus has separated its enterprise and wholesale division into two units in an effort to reap more from its Australian wholesale business as well as its nascent international operations. The telco today revealed a new divisional operating structure containing four individual units: enterprise and government, wholesale and international, consumer, and its New Zealand business. Vocus said the new structure would allow for "sufficient senior executive focus on the opportunities in each segment". CEO Geoff Horth said the 2016 acquisition of Nextgen Networks in particular held big potential for the company. The purchase has "opened up new markets and presented significant growth opportunities to the group across all business segments and channels", he said. "The opportunities available in Vocus' domestic wholesale business, combined with our investment in the Australia Singapore Cable , warrants the creation of a dedicated wholesale and international division and will ensure that we have the focus, products and service proposition to be the provider of choice to customers in this important market". The  Vocus-owned ASC  is due to be operational in mid-2018. The US$170 million cable will span 4600km, and will join the troubled SEA-ME-WE3 and similarly in-train Indigo cable  on that route. The divisional restructure announced today forms part of Vocus' ongoing "accelerated" transformation of its operations, intended to address a sprawling technology environment that resulted from a slew of acquisitions.

Vocus splits enterprise and wholesale units

Vocus spins out wholesale businesses
By Brendon Foye on Jan 15, 2018 10:16AM
Vocus has split its wholesale and enterprise division into two separate business units to capitalise on the opportunities stemming from the Nextgen Networks acquisition in 2016. The split divides Vocus into four separate operating segments: enterprise and government, wholesale and international, consumer and New Zealand. The company said the new operating structure would allow for "sufficient senior executive focus on the opportunities within these segments". Vocus acquired fibre network provider Nextgen for $861 million in October 2016, along with its 17,000 km national fibre network. The acquisition also included the Australian Singapore Cable (ASC), a 4600 km submarine cable that connects Australia to Singapore with 100 GB/s internet. The cable is expected to be completed in mid-2018. Vocus group chief executive Geoff Horth said that Nextgen and the Australian Singapore Cable acquisition presented significant opportunities across all business segments. "The opportunities available in Vocus’ domestic wholesale business, combined with our investment in the Australia Singapore Cable, warrants the creation of a dedicated Wholesale and International division and will ensure that we have the focus, products and service proposition to be the provider of choice to customers in this important market," Horth said. The new wholesale and international division will be led by current enterprise and wholesale chief Michael Simmons, while the enterprise and government segment will be led by consumer chief Scott Carter. Taking over Carter's previous position is new hire Sandra de Castro, who joins as chief executive – consumer. Prior to joining Vocus, de Castro was general manager of sales and marketing for AGL Energy and also worked as chief marketing officer for National Australia Bank in a digital transformation role. “We are very pleased to welcome Sandra to the Vocus team," said Horth. "Sandra’s credentials and success in innovation and digital transformation brings invaluable experience to our executive team, and will help to drive the next phase of growth and customer centricity in our consumer division.”

Vocus spins out wholesale businesses

IBM and Nextgen Networks locked in legal battle over Census debacle
IBM and Nextgen Networks locked in legal battle over Census debacle
The vendor wants Nextgen to pay for its settlement with the Australian Government
Leon Spencer (ARN) 07 April, 2017 06:00
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IBM Australia has launched legal action in the NSW Supreme Court against Nextgen Networks and Vocus Communications over the companies’ respective roles in the troubled 2016 eCensus portal project . In a legal action filed with the NSW Supreme Court late last year, IBM Australia alleges that Nextgen Networks and Vocus Communications were negligent and in breach of contract in relation to their work associated with the 2016 eCensus portal. The court documents also reveal that IBM wants Nextgen Networks to pay for the settlement it reached with Australian Government over the Census troubles, alleging that Nextgen Networks is liable for the claim brought against IBM by the ABS. While the value of the settlement has not been disclosed, it is understood to be worth millions. IBM also wants Nextgen Networks, one of its suppliers for the eCensus project, to pay damages for its alleged breach of contract, and alleged negligence in relation to the Census project. For its part, Nextgen alleges that Telstra, another supplier to IBM for the Census project, should be held responsible for IBM’s losses relating to the Census incident. The legal action comes just as the dust from the fallout of the 2016 Census debacle seemed to start settling. The incident on which case hinges occurred in early August last year, when the 2016 Census online portal failed to withstand a series of distributed denial of service (DDoD) attacks that hit on Census night, 9 August 2016. Following the attacks, the website was shut down for 40 hours, stymying attempts by Australians to submit their 2016 Census information online. IBM, which had been contracted by the ABS to develop, implement, and host the eCensus platform for the 2016 Census, subsequently faced intense scrutiny by the public and the government alike, with representatives of the company fronting up to a Parliamentary inquiry into the incident last year. In October last year, IBM took aim at its upstream internet service providers (ISPs) for the Census project, including Nextgen Networks and Vocus Communications, over their roles in the incident. IBM had developed a DDoS mitigation strategy, dubbed “Island Australia”, which involved the implementation of a geo-blocking system aimed at preventing internet traffic from international sources overwhelming the site. “The geo-blocking arrangement involves blocking or diverting international traffic intended for the eCensus site before it reaches the site, while leaving the system free to continue to process domestic traffic,” IBM said in a submission to the government committee investigating the incident. Read more Civica launches smart cities grant funding program
In its submission, IBM said that with its “Island Australia” approach, it had anticipated and planned for the risk DDoS attacks to the site, but that the geo-blocking mechanisms it had arranged were to be implemented by its upstream internet and networking service providers, which included Nextgen, Vocus and Telstra. According to IBM, under its arrangement with the ISPs, if a DDoS attack on the eCensus site was attempted and was severe enough to warrant the implementation of the geo-blocking arrangement, IBM would direct Nextgen and Telstra to put “Island Australia” into place. It was subsequently revealed that the DDoS attack which ultimately overwhelmed the infrastructure put in place by IBM was routed through a Singapore-based router understood to have been under the management of Nextgen Networks and Vocus. It also emerged at the time that a failure in the configuration in one of two routers IBM was using to channel data traffic to the Census site from its two ISP partners ultimately led to a failed reboot after it was shut down following a data surge caused by the fourth DDoS attack, leaving the router inoperable for more than an hour. During the inquiry into the incident, Nextgen Networks claimed that it had supplied IBM with a “standard internet service, and met all of its service levels on that product” and that it had, in fact, offered IBM an alternative DDoS protection option that was initially turned down. “Although Nextgen strongly recommended to IBM to take up an internet DDoS protection option for the purposes of the 2016 census, it was declined by IBM,” the Nextgen networks said in its own submission to the inquiry. Read more Competition watchdog takes Apple to court over "error 53" claims
IBM later questioned its own dealings with Nextgen and Vocus , with IBM engineer, Michael Shallcross, suggesting that the company’s efforts to instruct the two ISPs in the implementation of its geo-blocking DDoS prevention plan in the lead up to Census day, had failed. “It’s apparent from the submissions brought by Nextgen and Vocus that perhaps the internal communications had not conveyed adequately the intent and instructions of and surrounding the implementation of Island Australia,” Shallcross told the senate committee investigating the incident. Now, IBM Australia is alleging that Nextgen Networks did not meet its contractual obligations under the agreements it had struck with IBM in relation to the DDoS prevention strategy for the Census project, thus allegedly breaching its contract with IBM. “Nextgen confirmed to IBM that Nextgen had the ability to execute the Island Australia protocol, and that its “upstream provider” (being Vocus) would be able to implement the Island Australia protocol,” the court documents stated. Page

IBM and Nextgen Networks locked in legal battle over Census debacle

IBM (NYSE: IBM) manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. The company was founded in 1911 and is based in Armonk, Newyork.

Now , IBM is alleging that Nextgen Networks did not meet its contractual obligations under the agreements it had struck with IBM in relation to the DDoS prevention strategy for the Census project , thus allegedly breaching its contract with IBM .

Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) connects businesses with partners and customers through a global platform of high performance data centers, containing dynamic ecosystems and the broadest choice of networks. Enterprises, cloud, digital content, and financial companies connect to network service providers and rely on Platform Equinix to grow their business, improve application performance and protect their vital digital assets. The company operates in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific and continually invests in expanding its platform to power customer growth.

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Nextgen Networks is a national telecommunications carrier that specializes in high performance, premium data services for the corporate, government and carrier markets.

Name	Stephe Wilks
Work History	Rothschild & Co, Optus, BT Group, and Gilbert + Tobin
Title	Chief Operating Officer
Status	Former

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