The VienerX Newsletter

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In the latest edition of Above C-Level, Wayne and Shane sit down with VienerX COO Mason to discuss the “cake analogy”, how VienerX’s Enterprise Technology Management (ETM) solutions put all the pieces together to create technology solutions are more than the sum of their parts.

Shane and Wayne explain the analogy, while Mason describes how it works in the field to maximize every dollar spent. It is a conversation that you do not want to miss.

What Is the Technology Channel?

Every modern business depends on a global marketplace it has likely never heard of.

Every laptop, cloud login, security alert, software license, and connected device inside your company passes through what the industry calls “the technology channel.” It is not a product and it is not a company. It is the economic and operational system that determines how technology is bought, sold, delivered, supported, and evolved around the world.

Over the last thirty years, this channel has grown quietly and relentlessly. Today, it underpins nearly everything that blinks, beeps, or connects. Yet for most businesses, it remains completely invisible.

If you work in technology, you hear the phrase “the channel” constantly. Entire publications, including Channel Futures, exist to cover it. If you do not work in technology, you interact with the channel every day without knowing it exists.

Where the Channel Came From

The technology channel originated in telecom. For decades, carriers sold voice lines, data circuits, and related hardware almost entirely through intermediaries rather than directly to businesses. That model worked. It scaled efficiently, leveraged local trust, and reduced the burden on vendors to manage countless customer relationships.

As IT, cloud computing, and managed services emerged, the same model was adopted. The distribution structure carried over, along with the language. Over time, the channel expanded far beyond telecom and became the backbone of how modern technology reaches businesses.

Today, the channel spans telecom, IT, cloud services, cybersecurity, hardware, infrastructure, and software. The vocabulary is shared, even though the cultures differ. Telecom remains largely agent and commission driven. The IT side of the channel has evolved toward service delivery, operational responsibility, and business outcomes.

What the Channel Actually Is

At its core, the channel is the marketplace between technology vendors and the businesses that rely on their products. Companies such as Microsoft, Verizon, Lenovo, and thousands of others design their pricing, licensing, and partner programs around intermediaries rather than selling direct.

Those intermediaries include technology advisors, managed service providers, security providers, systems integrators, resellers, distributors, and consultants. Vendors rely on them to advise customers, implement solutions, provide ongoing support, and maintain long term relationships.

From the outside, this can appear straightforward. From the inside, it is complex.

Take something as basic as choosing an internet provider. A business may see only a handful of options at a given address. Inside the channel, there may be hundreds of potential offerings sourced through different carriers, aggregators, distributors, and resellers, each with different pricing models, incentives, service terms, and support structures.

The channel is not just about access. It is about navigation.

Who Operates Inside the Channel

There is no single definition of who “is” the channel, but by any reasonable estimate, it represents millions of professionals worldwide. In the United States alone, there are more than 40,000 managed service providers operating inside this ecosystem.

Participants include managed service providers, managed security providers, technology advisors, value-added resellers, systems integrators, distributors, and data brokers. In many cases, vendors choose not to sell direct at all. Instead, they rely on trusted partners to be their presence in the market.

The channel also plays a critical upstream role. Vendors routinely solicit feedback from partners who interact with customers every day. That feedback influences product features, pricing structures, licensing models, and support strategies long before customers ever see them.

Why Most Businesses Never See It

Despite its size and importance, the channel largely operates behind the scenes. End users see products and services, not the ecosystem that delivers them. Yet managed services alone represent a global market approaching half a trillion dollars annually.

The technology channel has become one of the largest economic engines in modern business, even though most companies are only dimly aware of its existence.

In our next issue, we will look at what actually matters inside the channel. Not the products, but the roles companies play, how responsibility is assigned, and why those distinctions determine long-term success or failure for end users.

When millions of fans watch an NFL game, they see the players, the plays, and the drama on the field. What they do not see is the technology operation working behind the scenes to make every snap, stat, replay, and sideline tablet function in real time. 

 
At VienerX, that kind of high-pressure, no-fail environment is not theoretical. One of our own team members, Arthur Smith, spends NFL game days inside the stadium, supporting the live technology systems that power league statistics, broadcast feeds, and in-game coaching tools. We sat down with Arthur for a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to keep an NFL game running from a technology standpoint, and how those lessons directly translate to the work we do every day for our clients. 

Executive Summary 

Arthur Smith supports the technology backbone that makes this possible, from live play-by-play statistics and replay systems to secure wired networks throughout the stadium and Wi-Fi systems powering sideline tablets. His role requires rapid troubleshooting, precise coordination with league and broadcast teams, and the ability to resolve issues in seconds, not minutes. 

Those same skills define how VienerX operates. Whether supporting a national sports league or a growing business, the principles are the same: disciplined preparation, reliable infrastructure, fast decision-making, and calm execution under pressure. This interview offers a rare inside look at the NFL’s technology operation and a clear example of the expertise behind the VienerX team. 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity (Arthur Smith with Jordan Viener) 

Q: Walk us through what a gameday looks like for you. 

A: My team will roll in about four hours before kickoff, I will usually show up three hours before. The first order of business is to start up communications between our stadium and the NFL offices in New York. It’s my job to make sure the plays statisticians are inputting are being fed live time to the league office.  

After that I set up what’s called the GISS booth where the statisticians work during the play. They track every play so when Josh Allen runs for five yards and is tackled by Myles Garrett, it pushes correctly to all the outlets you follow. It’s mostly already set up when I get in, but when I get there, I plug in all of their stations and make sure they are running correctly and everyone who needs to see it can. 

Then we run through communications from there to the TV network of the day. We’ll sometimes have a broadcast staffer in the booth with us to relay info back to the TV feed. If that’s the case, I’ll set up a station for them and make sure they can communicate back correctly. Next, I’ll check in with my guy who does the Wi-Fi set up on the field. He sets up the four wireless access points (two on each sideline) for the field. Then he tests the points from a bunch of different positions on the field to make sure the tablets the players review for in-game plays  are receiving information correctly.  

After that’s wrapped I go back to the network closet, make sure the devices are up and running. Just in case something goes wrong, I ensure everything is running and New York can see everything.  

Q: So most of the tech at the stadium runs through cabling, not Wi-Fi? 

A: Most of them are cable runs since that is more reliable. For the sideline though, it’s almost all Wi-Fi. If you look carefully, you’ll see some cabling that runs out of the tunnel to the sideline, but that’s it.  They don’t run to where the players hang out because they don’t want to risk anyone tripping and getting hurt. All the communication to the tablets are wi-fi, inside the stadium, basically all of it are network drops. 

Q: If you had to guess, how many feet of cabling run through the stadium on gameday? 

A: laughs A LOT. You gotta think about it, cause it’s not just the network drops we’re talking about. A lot of comms doesn’t just run off network; they run off hardwire. Man, it’s a lot, we got network running to all the different booths, all the different suites, if you get the chance to be a suite and look around and you will see network ports and maybe some access points. All the different TVs throughout the stadium, they’re patched into the network. If you want to know feet I can’t even guess, think about the TV trucks. That is all the way outside the venue, and they have network cable running to them, imagine that coming all the way back to where the production box is. There are definitely some terminations in between but I couldn’t imagine the exact measurement of distance. There is even more if you think about it, all the different Wi-Fi networks, their access points are networked in throughout the stadium. There is so much technology going on to make gameday happen.  

Q: What piece of tech are you watching the closest during the game? 

A: Honestly, probably the replay operator. There are lot of reviews during a game for the stat guys. Sometimes there is an issue with that where it can get choppy for a second or it’s not coded right. Every play is coded and they have a number system, so every play has a number that can be called up quickly. So someone might so “hey, cue play 192 up we gotta look at that again.” If 192 isn’t the right play something is wrong, which can avalanche into other problems. If you’re looking at the replay and the next play starts things can get out of hand quickly. Sometimes if the guys recording the plays get really frazzled, I’ll pitch in as another set of hands. 

Q: What lessons have you learned from working with this team that can be applied to the work we do at VienerX? 

A: Biggest thing I have to say is troubleshooting. It’s the same in both places, if there is a problem, how do you narrow it down and do it quickly cause the environment is so fast paced. I’m so used to the process of knocking stuff out quickly from my previous experience. “This is a problem, here is the solution, bang, done, next one.” There are millions of dollars on the line each play, we have to move quickly to get things resolved. You can’t sit there and think about it, you have to answer fast and be able to move on it to get things going again. That is the same mentality I take to VienerX, how can we solve problems quickly and correctly to get our clients back up and running. 

VienerX is excited for the release of Technology Thursdays. A reoccurring series starring our technicians that will give helpful tips, tricks, and info to help end users navigate the complex, ever-changing, and at time confusing world of technology. Learn from the people who help our clients on a day-to-day basis.

New episodes release biweekly on all VienerX platforms.