My expectations of a manufacturer and product aren't too different from my competitors' and customers'. Our gain for several years has been offering and installing ADTRAN solutions for our SMB customers. So this week it's been a real treat seeing ADTRAN, touring their facilities and speaking with and hearing from their folks from the top down. It was even better when I got the ears of some engineers and watched them think as we discussed some customer needs and nuances in different industries. They are a fascinating group with talents that I know, by their company culture and management style, will help propel ADTRAN further, sooner than later and ahead of many others.ADTRAN invited a score of media folks to their Huntsville campus and it was interesting to hear the question directed at ADTRAN's CEO. "During a down economy when everyone else is cutting back, you folks are bringing media members in for a huge event, did you think this out?" Tom Stanton, CEO of ADTRAN answered yes and it was more important for ADTRAN to tell its story.
Stanton shares the same vision of every self respecting Interconnect/VAR when he said, "if the phone rings, we treat it as if it's our problem and the worst thing you can do is ask the customer for their credit card number. We don't do that." SMBs demand service, and so do their providers. This one quality of many is reason enough why we implement their products. I've posted several other reasons that ADTRAN is successful in the blog ADTRAN's All-in-One "Office In a Box. ADTRAN is also a "green solution" that we have been deploying (Convergence in the Closet). ADTRAN's green and sustainability efforts are found here.
Tom Perry runs IT at the Port of Huntsville and said to me about ADTRAN's equipment: "It just works." Jeremy Carrigan of Citizens National Bank spoke about replacing Cisco gear with ADTRAN's in a matter of hours and how happy his bosses were over the savings. Jim Tyrell of Verizon spoke about the long term and ongoing relationship with ADTRAN. Other customers and partners of ADTRAN spoke and the common themes were: ADTRAN's gear works very well, it's very cost effective and everyone feels like a partner of ADTRAN's. I've written in the past of partners and the dynamics that go into these relationships and ADTRAN doesn't come up short in this area.
I've been down here since Monday and I think I'm not out of the ballpark when I say that folks here have been impressed with the ADTRAN story. The company is profitable, nets a decent annual profit of 20-25%, in the past two years they have released 62 new products and have brought on 508 new partners just this year alone. ADTRAN walks the walk and their talk is very in line with what they presented. The event as presented: "Get Real With ADTRAN." Real people, real networks, real value. I'll be reporting back on new information in the weeks ahead, but
