Five Questions With Mike Zonotto, Skyline Computer

A decade ago, Skyline Computer (No. 465 on the 2004 VARBusiness 500) was just another Cisco reseller. But the Campbell, Calif., company's engineering skills were so good that Cisco tapped Skyline as a training partner. Skyline COO Mike Zanotto talksabout its successful Cisco training practice, which helped Skyline grow to $23 million in sales for 2003.

How did you evolve from Cisco reselling to Cisco training?

We started back in the 1980s, and we were just pushing networking gear. Later on, we partnered with Cisco, and we sent our one engineer on staff to a training course, and it went very well. So someone from Cisco called us and said, "Hey, you guys could teach these classes." Today, we've got about 25 full-time instructors on staff, and we're one of Cisco's biggest training partners.

How difficult is it to train people on all of Cisco's products and technologies?

It's very difficult. Cisco has its core certification business, and that's a whole set of courses to keep up with. Then there's the specializations within all the product lines. We have to be choosy. For example, we partner with another firm to outsource most of the wireless training.

Of all the areas you teach, what's the hottest technology right now?

Voice over IP is the hottest. With VoIP and the convergence trend, we've done a lot of seminars and classes bringing the voice people together with the data people.

When it comes to budget items, though, isn't training and education somewhat expendable?

When we first got into training, people would tell us to be careful because when the economy goes bad, education can be the first cost to go. But there has been a 180-degree turn on education lately, and Cisco has been a driver in that trend. They've put more of an emphasis on skills and education.

You still do a lot of network integration and reselling. Is it a little scary to teach some of your competitors?

Well, two years ago, if you asked me who our biggest integration and reselling competitor was, I would have said SBC. But today, SBC is probably one of our biggest training partners. There was a two- or three-year period where we competed head-to-head with the big telco carriers, and we were making no money as a result. But today, we're working with a lot of the carriers, like SBC, and that's helping us get down into the SMB market.