EmergeCore Takes On Partners To Move All-In-One Solution

The fledgling company, based here, introduced its EC Reactor 2000 and 5000 earlier this year. The appliances combine the functionality of a router, switch and server into one box and come with a firewall, a VPN and Quality of Service applications, as well as e-mail, Web, file and print server applications.

The company touts EC Reactor as an all-in-one IT solution for the SMB market, but also as a solution for the enterprise branch market, said Var Reese, president and CEO of EmergeCore. Many large corporations with multiple small branches are perfect target customers for the product, Reese said, citing CPA and financial services firms, retail chains and insurance companies as examples.

Phil Lagestee, general manager of Gemini Associates, an Irvine, Calif.-based systems integrator and one of the first solution providers to sign on with EmergeCore, said the EmergeCore solution is also ideal for his federal government clients.

"Government agencies have a lot of remote environments," Lagestee said. "This will simplify things for them by giving them one box to manage at each of those sites, instead of three or four."

Lagestee said he expects the product to be an easy sell when the benefits are outlined for customers. Smaller companies looking to purchase and manage a switch, a router, a firewall and a VPN gateway will see the benefits right away, he said.

"For about the same price or less, they can have all of the features of three or four boxes in one piece of equipment," Lagestee said.

Companies also will save money because they won't have to keep IT staff trained in each piece of equipment, he said.

EmergeCore's Reese said that's a big part of the idea behind EC Reactor.

"A company can standardize on having this one box in its remote locations, and they don't have to keep highly trained staff in these locations," he said.

What's more, the EC Reactor products are remotely manageable through a browser-based interface. Currently, each box is accessible individually, but the company is developing a management platform that would allow a solution provider or corporate IT staff to manage multiple boxes, Reese said.

John Enslow, president of Amp5 Networks, a Salt Lake City-based solution provider, said his company has several demonstration units at customer sites already and interest is growing. Health-care institutions, which are concerned with meeting more stringent information security requirements, particularly appreciate the built-in security, Enslow said.

EmergeCore also is set to announce its first distribution agreement, with Gaithersburg, Md.-based specialty distributor Attronica. The distributor has a core base of about 300 VARs that have largely specialized in Lucent's wireless LAN products, now sold under the Avaya and Orinoco brands through the channel.

As the wireless LAN market begins to commoditize, Attronica is looking for new niches for its VARs, said Lezlie Booth, vice president and general manager at Attronica.

"This is something that's clearly unique that our VARs can be successful with," she said.

EmergeCore in early May launched its CorePartner channel partner program, said Dave Brown, vice president at EmergeCore. The tiered program establishes four levels of partners: Associate, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

All partners receive product discounts, access to the CorePartner extranet, competitive analyses, discounted demo units, and product information and training, he said.

Associate partners receive a 15 percent product discount for a minimum volume commitment of $20,000 per quarter in sales, Brown said. Silver partners commit to sales of $70,000 per quarter for a product discount of 20 percent, while Gold partners receive a 25 percent product discount for a volume commitment of $200,000 per quarter and Platinum partners receive a 30 percent discount for a $400,000 commitment per quarter, he said.