Avant Renames BattleApp, Beefs It Up with Data Center Comps, Network Analytics
AVANT SPECIAL FORCES SUMMIT — Avant Communications is renaming and repurposing the acclaimed BattleApp, which has helped thousands of partners deliver tech-based solutions to help solve customer challenges.
The next generation of the BattleApp, which allows users to compare data centers side by side, measures network latency between a data source and its destination, and even identifies earthquake zones among other things, will be renamed “Pathfinder.” (The new name is an homage to the specially trained paratroopers who jumped in the predawn hours of D-Day to help fellow servicemen find their target landing zones.)
Pathfinder will still help trusted advisers solve their customers’ pressing technology challenges by providing them with actionable data, business insights, tech buying trends and more. But the rename coincides with a new push by Avant to better arm customers with the insights they need to make better buying decisions.
According to the company, Pathfinder is “an integrated platform built on Salesforce Communities, with multiple modules to facilitate IT decision-making.”
Pathfinder features a catalog of more than 100 cloud services, 1,500 colocation centers and 60 carrier services; a data center locator; up-to-date information on fiber routes and lit buildings; interactive quick assessments through which customers and their “trusted advisers” can fully explore available technology options; and matrices that facilitate side-by-side comparisons of key solution areas, such as UCaaS, security, SD-WAN and cloud, according to the company.
Avant co-founder and president Drew Lydecker tells Channel Futures that his company pivoted five years ago to provide customers with BattleApp info when it recognized that its partners were already sharing BattleApp information with them. With Pathfinder, Avant is going one step further. It plans to provide customers with Gartner-like insights on a regular basis, sold as a service, exclusively by partners.
“We’re going to disrupt the research and analyst industry by providing more actionable and more relevant information on an ongoing basis,” says Lydecker.
Lydecker made his statements here in Chicago at the 10th Special Forces Summit underway this week. For more on the event and the Pathfinder announcement, check out the video below.