February 2017 | Business View Magazine

70 71 build and configure SDN-enabled boxes or racks. Think: computer servers, storage servers, network switches, all configured and combined into a rack and shipped to site for installation and enabling the SDN and networks of the fu- ture.” Both Glass and Schultz believe that the KGP Companies stand alone in the marketplace. “What we do in our several business units is unique,” says Glass. “Com- panies with a very strong brand in logistics, coupled with a very strong brand in services are truly unique in telecommunications. I don’t know of a company that has the ability to impact the network lifecycle as broadly or efficiently as KGP Companies. Include our 40 years of telecom experience, and intellect, and an obsession with continued technology expertise; our legacy is validation of our ability to excel in the industry.”Schultz agrees: “If you look at the two components of our company- it’s scale and capa- bility.You may find a distributor with scale similar to ours, but they won’t have the ser- vices component; or you may find a services company similar to ours, but they won’t have the distribution component–not at the national level; not at the scale that we’re at. There may be some small, regional compa- KGP Companies nies, but if you’re talking Tier One and Tier Two Telcos - there’s nobody that does what we do.” With its 40-year history behind it, and some business relationships that go back that far, Glass says that KGP still gets a lot of its clients via word-of-mouth. “We’re known for our quality, and that’s how we get passed along,” he main- tains. The company also participates in industry trade shows, and has lately been increasing its online presence as well.“We’ve made a push to become more active in social media in staying nuanced and relevant,”he adds.“However,we are careful not to distract from strong face-to-face customer relationships,which is paramount with our founders and a big part of our legacy.” As a company that focuses on network trans- formation, Glass points out that staying ahead of the curve is a constant challenge. “I’m not sure what the Internet of Things will mean to the network,” he admits. “In five years, I expect we’ll be talking about a whole different world of connected devices and figuring out how the network will manage the traffic. Software is leading this transformation of network applica- tions and additional connected things; however this is predicated upon how robust the network is that carries the data.”What is certain, he stresses, is that the legacy copper networks will not be able to support the 50 billion or more devices that the world will soon have. Preferred vendor n Westell www.westell.com