Cisco Systems Canada has inked its second distributor in as many months in an attempt to strengthen its unified communications and VoIP position in the SMB. The Westcon Group Inc. follows the signing of D&H Distributing Canada late last year.
Cisco already has a partnership with Westcon’s U.S. affiliate Comstor, a networking and convergence specialty distributor.
According to Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, Westcon’s vice-president for Canada and North American director of SMB, Westcon/Comstor is a $3 billion global player in distribution and the third largest Cisco distributor in the U.S.
“We consider this opportunity to be North American in nature and I have access to the entire team in the U.S. for technical support and marketing. It’s excellent leverage for us,” she said.
For Cisco, Westcon brings the networking giant the ability to be global and a specialty regional player at the same time.
Rick Graham, area vice-president, distribution and channel operations for Cisco Canada, said after Cisco realigned its theatre organization and Canada became part of the U.S. that it was important to align the partners, especially with border operations.
“In our minds, they are a distributor that is a hybrid. They are global and broadline and they have a strong specialty play in advanced technologies with security and unified communication,” Graham said.
Another factor Graham mentioned was Westcon’s channel programs, such as One Voice and One Defence.
Graham said that both of these programs focus on advanced technologies and are good for Canadian interconnect partners.
Adding another distributor such as Westcon will create new business opportunities for the channel partners since there are more than one million SMBs in Canada. “This will be a strong market for Cisco for decades to come,” Graham said.
As a hybrid distributor, Westcon focuses on the technical aspects of solution selling in areas such as convergence, mobility and security, Smurthwaite-Murphy said.
“Our go to market strategy is to pick a line card, take Cisco as an example, and add a UPS or other unique application or collaboration tool and voice applications. It makes for a nice solution for the partner and our growth with come on the build out of these solutions,” she added.
Cisco and Westcon will work together on a recruitment drive. Westcon is still working out its goal for recruitment, while Cisco has set a target of 200 selected entry-level partners.
Smurthwaite-Murphy added that there are still a lot of customers in Canada using TDM in the SMB. “It’s a broad market from retail to the medical community. They may be IP enabled, but they are not leveraging all of the IP applications available to them.”
Graham said that there is a tremendous awareness for VoIP and unified communications in Canada, but a lot of customers are buying it as a dial tone replacement and have not yet had the opportunity to attach an application to it. “This is a business differentiator. That is where the education (that Westcon offers the channel) is helpful and it is a really good fit,” he said.