Aryaka Channel Chief: Olen Scott Talks SD-WAN’s ‘Enormous Tailwind’

The former channel chief for EarthLink and Windstream recently joined Aryaka Networks to lead the vendor’s channel program. Aryaka announced his appointment as senior vice president of worldwide channels two weeks ago. The globally focused SD-WAN provider has tasked him with expanding and improving its existing partner program. “Olen will play a critical role in growing Aryaka’s global channel program, and we’re thrilled to have his extensive experience in the managed services and communications industries added to our robust leadership team,” chief revenue officer Karen Freitag said last month. Scott rose to prominence in the partner community as EarthLink’s channel chief. He later oversaw the company’s channel integration with Windstream. Scott spoke with Channel Partners about why he joined Aryaka and what he hopes to accomplish. We have edited the transcript for length and clarity. Channel Partners: What attracted you to Aryaka? Olen Scott: As you know, I come from the space and had a rather strong background in SD-WAN. In fact, when I ran EarthLink’s channel when SD-WAN was just getting hot, I was often on the same panels as Aryaka, and I loved their story. I loved their value proposition. There’s a middle-mile story. The fact that we own our own global network core is a huge differentiator.