The agreement boosts Avnet’s unified communications (UC) portfolio, enabling its business partners to maximise the rapidly growing business opportunity fuelled by the demand for innovative visual communications and improved collaboration. The move also follows recent announcements by Avnet to extend its relationships with Motorola and Avaya to increase sales of its UC solutions. The distributor says the agreement with LifeSize, an integrated video partner for Microsoft and a video end-point partner of choice for Avaya, blends seamlessly with Avnet’s strategy to strengthen its end-to-end UC proposition and secure new markets for the technology. It is intended that the strategic engagement will be expanded in the coming months.
Adrian Studd, unified communications business manager at Avnet Technology Solutions UK, commented, “Unified communications represents a huge revenue opportunity which just can’t be ignored. Business partners can no longer afford to be niche players. They need to expand and deliver an integrated range of multimedia solutions that create real business value through improved collaboration.” Studd continued, “To help them achieve this, Avnet reviewed the marketplace and opened negotiations with LifeSize, having been impressed with the company’s forward-thinking approach and innovative technology. By partnering with Avnet and LifeSize our business partners will be able to leverage the fully trained and dedicated sales, technical and marketing resources within the Avnet UC team. Combining this support with significant market interest in visual communications and collaboration, it will be possible for partners to create new opportunities and revenue streams.”
Avnet has made a significant investment in all areas of the LifeSize portfolio and will install the technology in the Avnet demonstration facilities in both Warrington and Bracknell to enable business partners to demonstrate LifeSize equipment to customers and accelerate investment decisions. Mobile demonstrations of LifeSize equipment will also be available to business partners either in their own locations or their customers’ environments.
LifeSize offers true high-definition video collaboration. The company is committed to relentless innovation and continues to extend the highest quality video conferencing capabilities to anyone, anywhere. LifeSize is already taking advantage of the explosive growth in cloud computing by offering video technology that will enable organisations to host their video in a secure yet virtual environment, regardless of the technology being used at the other end of the conversation.
Georges Millet, Europe, Middle East and Africa, channels and alliance director at LifeSize added, “The partnership with Avnet is an important step in our business strategy and will help us to take full advantage of the growth in the video communications industry. Avnet puts partners at the heart of its business, helping them to build top notch converged solutions that deliver tangible business value. In the last year, video communications have truly hit the mainstream, both at home and work, and we believe our innovative, interoperable technology will further enhance Avnet’s already strong pedigree in unified communications. Together with Avnet’s global presence and superb track record in distribution, we can offer a powerful proposition to business partners wishing to stay ahead of the curve and deliver real competitive advantage in the high-growth unified communications market.”