Linksys achieves 1000 resellers

Cisco’s Linksys division has hailed the success of its partner program after recruiting 1000 A/NZ resellers in only nine months.

The SME voice, wireless and networking vendor launched its first partner program in May last year and of the 1000 partners recruited 169 are Linksys voice certified.

Graeme Reardon, regional director for Australia and New Zealand at Linksys, told CRN the partners have been a mix of both voice and data resellers.

“We have been pretty focused on recruiting good quality partners. We have a dedicated set of business products which acts as a separate line with business grade features,” he said. “VARs have grown sick of selling retail products to businesses, only for the customer to see the same product in a retail outlet for cheaper.”

Reardon said the vendor has not put a limit on the number of partners it will recruit, however if resellers have signed up and not traded much, the vendor will contact the VAR and ask if they need any additional support.

“Being part of Cisco adds a level of reliability and lends a certain level of support [to Linksys],” added Reardon.

“We will be having some large launches as the year goes on and we will find and fill any channel gaps too.”