Channel UC lands distie deal with Ribbon Communications

Sydney-based Channel UC has partnered with US-based unified communications vendor Ribbon Communications to distribute its cloud-based voice system Ribbon Connect in Australia and New Zealand.

Ribbon Connect was launched in ANZ last year and connects new, existing or legacy phone lines, numbers and calling plans to Microsoft Teams. The company targets resellers and MSPs focussed on the SMB and mid-market sectors.

The distribution agreement means that Channel UC will provide Microsoft Teams Direct Routing and other appliance and software-based session border controllers (SBCs).

The solution will also streamline the installation process of Teams Direct Routing and eliminate the need to manage on-premise session border controller hardware.

Channel UC managing director Brad Milne said, “Ribbon Connect is an easy, efficient route to market for partners looking to quickly activate Microsoft Teams SIP trunks to Microsoft phone system licensing or extend Direct Routing to include connectivity to existing PBX infrastructure.

“Including it in our Microsoft Teams product portfolio of software solutions enables us to strengthen our partner communities’ offering while reducing their overheads. This is especially important today when finding skilled staff to manage complex environments is challenging.”

Ribbon Communications channels director Asia Pacific Manny Christophidis said that Channel UC’s “expertise in providing partners with simple and easy-to-deploy solutions that are helping organisations of all sizes to get the most out of their Microsoft Teams environments is a tremendous asset to the Channel community.”

Earlier this year in May, Ribbon Communications launched its Sydney-based, Australian headquarters as part of its expansion to South East Asia and ANZ.

Channel UC officially launched in 2020 as a business unit of MIA Distribution but separated as its own entity in October this year, following the distributor’s acquisition by Bluechip Infotech in August.