Australian channel program for Nortel resellers

Networking specialist Nortel has released a three tiered channel program to support nPower local partners. It has been developed to support resellers that signed up with the Innovative Communications Alliance that was formed when Nortel and Microsoft joined forces last year in the field of Unified Communications.

Offering three different levels of support the program is aimed at Platinum, Gold and Silver partners who want to deliver Unified Communications solutions. Branding opportunities and marketing funds are available as well as free design and deployment services from Nortel and Microsoft.

"Unified Communications is a relatively new technology category so we can't expect our channel partners to launch themselves into selling the solutions without sufficient training or implementation experience," says Neville James, channels and marketing manager at Nortel A/NZ.

Nortel plans to take a more holistic approach to helping partners deploy multi-vendor Unified Communications solutions. On-the-job training will be provided to help resellers improve skills around integrating solutions. Once customer deployments are live, Nortel will provide support for the joint Nortel and Microsoft solution so partners need only deal with one point of contact.

"Eligible participants in the specialist program include current nPower partners with a Silver, Gold, Platinum or Global Solutions Partner nPower designation that have completed the authorisation requirements for the specialist category," added James. "To receive the specialist benefits and rewards, partners are required to demonstrate their continued commitment to the technology, and we've graded the benefits of the program to reward that commitment accordingly."