The exclusive distribution agreement will allow Micro-P to offer TeleWare hosted SIP services, SIP Trunking, contact centre, IVR, FMC and auto attendant products to over 7000 partners across the UK.
Phil Adams, Head of Communications for Micro-P, says that other distributors have been talking about UC for some time but none have come close to Micro-P in being able to offer a complete set of technology, applications, services and skill sets. “Only Micro-P can deliver the complete converged package that will allow channel partners to select all the elements that their customers require in order to put together the right unified communications solution that fits their need,” said Adams.
“From comms platforms to LAN/WAN infrastructures, PCs at the desktop and mobile devices, with the addition of TeleWare, we have the solutions that system integrators and partners need. It is our ability to truly deliver end-to-end technology that sets us apart from those that can only talk about UC solutions,” Adams adds.
The agreement is the first time TeleWare has partnered with a broadline distributor and Steve Haworth, CEO at TeleWare, believes that the market is mature enough to bring its offering to a wider channel. “As the technology has become simpler to deploy and more standards based, Unified Communications is no longer the domain of just specialist systems integrators,” said Haworth.
“We believe our new relationship with Micro-P is a powerful way to bring the PBX Hosted Services to more businesses in the UK. Our complementary skills will mean we are able to provide support for a larger number of resellers. The sales and marketing expertise and channel management skills of Micro-P are highly complementary to our own,” adds Haworth.
The agreement will be formally announced at the Convergence Summit South in October and, looking further ahead, TeleWare is already in discussions regarding the potential for distribution of its capabilities for mobile phone users.
Adams says, “In our experience many end users, for example contact centres, over-egg their requirements due to seasonal needs with the result that they over-specify the purchase of their communications infrastructures to the point where, for 80% of the year, they are only utilising 60% of their communications resources. With our new Hosted Services offering, we are working towards offering a level of flexibility which means the user can purchase and use what they need when they need it, in line with seasonal, market or operational needs, ensuring the return on investment opportunity is always maximised.”
The recent Frost & Sullivan report on the Hosted IP Telephony and UC Services Market, published earlier this year, estimates that the European market was worth €900m (£781.8m) in 2010 and will hit €4.6bn five years from now. The report also felt that the market needed a coherent distribution strategy to succeed which Adams believes Micro-P is well positioned to address with its expanded portfolio.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our channel partners,” said Adams, “Traditional voice resellers looking for cloud or hosted based models, as well as more data centric VARs versed in software-only recurring revenue models, will be able to supply this rapidly expanding market.”