Nexon seeks high-speed VLAN hawkers

Cisco integrator Nexon Asia-Pacific is seeking integrators and ISPs to shift its private virtual LAN package via a new channel program.

Barry Assaf, director at Sydney-based Nexon, said the company was targeting small integrators operating in the LAN space and smaller ISPs seeking to offer business or premium grade IP networking to companies linking multiple sites.

“We have a very small team in terms of direct sales,” he said. “We want to enable access to technical resources that we have in place.”

The market was ripe for private IP offerings as companies were entering a time of major telecommunications refresh. And Nexon's package was more flexible than most, Assaf said.

“Essentially, it's a broadband service. It uses Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) infrastructure in the core and the layer two network link means you can add a layer three level or manage bandwidth,” he said.

The service supported diverse applications, including voice, video and business applications such as Citrix. Bandwidth could be guaranteed, and the actual technologies used in each deployment customised, Assaf said.

“And the endpoint uses a Cisco-type router, which provides the functionality for managing the quality of service for the applications,” he said.

Nexon already had at least one small integrator partner – with 10 to 15 staff – making an average $5000 commission a month from the service and other Nexon offerings. “It's a very active reseller,” Assaf said.

Resellers could use the service to bundle in extras such as helpdesk support or internet security, he said.

“There are a lot of organisations looking to migrate off low-speed or frame relay at the moment. Customers that are moving from 64kb/s to 512kb/s. That's a significant increase in bandwidth, but for a lot of them out there, paying for a Telstra-type frame relay service is hard,” Assaf said.

He pointed to verticals such as the mortgage broking industry. Many of those companies were looking to go high-speed with voice and data over multiple sites, he said.

“And we're also looking to help with the sales process, if resellers need that,” Assaf said.

Nexon offered tailored service level agreements and would manage the network for resellers, paying the partner a fixed monthly fee, he said.