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Pathfinders: Blazing the Trail, Then and Now

AVANT is launching a new Platform for IT Decision Making called the AVANT Pathfinder. The name evokes the spirit of an elite military outfit of World War II.

During the second World War, small teams of specially trained paratroopers jumped into the pre-dawn darkness on D-Day, thirty minutes in advance of the biggest airborne attack at that point in history. Called the “Pathfinders,” these soldiers were tasked with finding and “lighting” the intended drop zones for the full force of two U.S. airborne divisions that would spearhead the liberation of France. Each Pathfinder team consisted of eight to twelve troopers who would set up radio beacons, smoke markers and other visual aids that would be used to improve the accuracy of the main jump. Each team was few in number, but they enabled an extremely powerful punch in the defense of liberty.

June 6th marked the 75th anniversary of this historic event. We thank the many who made the ultimate sacrifice that day and the Pathfinders that helped guide their way.

In the spirit of the Pathfinders, the team at AVANT has announced the launch of the AVANT Pathfinder, a powerful IT decision-making tool to guide enterprise customers in their IT transformation mission. The AVANT Pathfinder is the new name for the next release of the AVANT BattleApp.

The AVANT Pathfinder is an integrated platform built on Salesforce Communities, with multiple modules to facilitate IT decision-making. Features include 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 advisors 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. The Pathfinder features a machine learning search algorithm to help users find the right information quickly and easily.

New enhancements officially launching today include:
a Cloud Engineering Knowledge Base that offers more than 200 detailed technical notes on providers and technologies, written and curated by AVANT’s world-class cloud engineering team
Major enhancements to the datacenter search module enabling side by side comparisons and geographic overlays highlighting flood zones, earthquake risks, regional energy costs and location of nuclear facilities
Enhanced dynamic matrices covering CCaaS, Cloud, SD-WAN, security, UCaaS, and Veeam-powered IaaS to speed decision making
Expanded interactive Quick Assessments that will help Trusted Advisors take stock of their customers’ current state and identify new opportunities

Accessible on any device, AVANT Pathfinder is available exclusively to AVANT’s growing ecosystem of Trusted Advisors.

Just as the military Pathfinders led the charge toward an outcome that far exceeded what could be expected from a dozen humans, AVANT Pathfinder will help Trusted Advisors support their enterprise customers in their journey toward digital transformation by leveraging the latest in next generation cloud, colocation, security and telecommunications technologies that will lift your customers to higher levels of success. Trusted Advisors who use AVANT Pathfinder are tripling their sales numbers, a powerful indicator of the value derived by the Trusted Advisors as well as enterprise customers leveraging new solutions.

The pace of technology change is running at break-neck speed. With so many new solutions disrupting the IT landscape with unique innovations, the best path for an enterprise customer is often unclear. Trusted Advisors must have easy access to all the information they need to guide their customers towards the solution that best meets their needs. AVANT Pathfinder is a platform that solves this challenge and helps guide customers to faster and more informed decision making. We are transforming Trusted Advisors into Pathfinders of the IT battlefield!