ED unifies communication

Local distributor Express Data will invest supporting the channel to pursue a unified communication collaboration strategy for partners selling Cisco, Microsoft and IBM.

With the launch of a number of solutions and strategic partnerships in this area from industry heavy-weights Cisco, Microsoft and IBM, Express Data has identified the need to strengthen its engagement with these vendors by investing in a Unified Communications & Collaboration Manager to actively promote the vision of UCC.

Levi Sutherland unified communications and collaboration manager at ED said the collaboration will see Express Data unveil a range of tools, programs and initiatives to support resellers that want to develop their UCC strategy.

“Already in Express Data’s vendor line up, are no fewer than four vendors that offer UCC solutions all of which are represented in Gartner’s ‘Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications’ as leaders in their fied,” he said.

The distributor can offer UCC solutions from market leaders such as Cisco, Microsoft and IBM and more recently Teleware, who provides innovative Call Control functionality complementing our current vendors UCC solutions said Sutherland.

For the channel, Cisco’s recent strategic partnerships with Microsoft, IBM and Teleware mean three things; first, the unified communications market is about to get a lot more exciting, as the world's most influential IT companies bring the full weight of their marketing might to bear in order to popularise the technology; second, the various strategic partnerships between vendors will promote joint collaboration on UCC technologies and software development activities to insure maximum interoperability and integration across vendor platforms. And finally, UCC will provide channel partners with the opportunity to develop their UCC strategy, to evaluate their current vendor partnerships and see where Microsoft, Cisco and IBM could, or have to play a part.

With PBX moving to IP Tel, voice-mail and email coming together, electronic diaries, video, voice and audio conferencing, instant messaging and SMS all essential for today’s businesses, tomorrow’s businesses will need a unified communications strategy to tie it together, said Sutherland.

“The business case is clear; you get significant productivity improvement, business process acceleration, a much better way to measure it all, and in reality, it will become a competitive necessity. For our resellers, the chance to be a part of this, in terms of innovative design, installation and on-going support is really exciting," he said.

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