Downmarket Penetration Key To Avaya-Synnex Agreement

"Every quarter, the demand gets greater," Soderlund told CRN. "The challenge is not about demand, it's about coverage. And, adding Synnex will help us reach that part of the market with very little conflict and overlap."

Although Avaya has actually reduced its network of distributors in recent years, Soderlund said that the addition of Synnex provides unique advantages that will help his company to accelerate sales.

[Related: Synnex Beats Q4 Estimates With Higher Margin Services ]

"We looked at our current channel ecosystem and discovered that there's a very small overlap of partners," he said. "So we gain access to a variety of partners who are HP-centric and largely focused on servers and storage. Going into the voice world will be new for them. These partners are now going to be able to move into the VoIP side of the house and have support from Synnex in training and enablement. This is very complementary."

Meanwhile, the opportunity to extend into voice, video and data represents a solid opportunity for Synnex, according to Reyna Thompson, vice president of Synnex's Integrated Communications Group.

"It's not just about sourcing product," Thompson said. "There are a number of resellers who understand the network but don't necessarily have the expertise and specializations for the communications side of the business. They need to work with a distributor who can help them to stand up in this area."

To that end, a variety of presales, postsales, and demand-creation programs are being developed by Synnex to support the new technologies.

"As you go down market, combining voice, video and data is still a moving target," said Soderlund. "Much of the market is currently untouched. Avaya feels that we can grow into this space while at the same time providing an opportunity for Synnex to help their partners to expand."

PUBLISHED FEB. 8, 2013