VAR Group 1NService Bringing Vendors Into The Fold

Rob Savette, president of the Bellevue, Wash.-based organization, said 1NService has set its sights on vendors in an attempt to open additional business opportunities for solution provider members and get these members better deals on technology for them to resell.

"Many of these vendors are selling products that require implementation, monitoring and assessment," Savette said. "We help vendors by increasing their sales base, and they help our members by introducing new products to sell."

Originally established to help resellers network and share best practices, today 1NService is a consortium of 18 resellers that has sparked cross-selling resulting in aggregate revenue of more than $250 million. In many of these deals, 1NService also uses its collective buying power with vendors to receive volume discounts and rank higher up the partner chain.

Given its reseller emphasis, granting membership to vendors is a relatively new concept for 1NService. The organization, which holds monthly conference calls and quarterly meetings, inked its first two vendor partnerships earlier this year with SureTel and EADS Telecom North America.

The WatchGuard deal makes WatchGuard's Firebox X line of integrated security appliances available for all current 1NService members. The deal is completely independent of the Seattle-based vendor's existing reseller channel, and all 1NService members qualify for the same programs and margins as WatchGuard channel partners.

Savette said that depending on sales volumes, 1NService members also may qualify for additional discounts. Still, despite this possibility, Dale Bastian, vice president of worldwide sales at WatchGuard, said he does not expect the new arrangement to create any additional competition between 1NService resellers and pre-existing WatchGuard solution providers.

"We expect that this partnership will help us continue to grow our business in North America," said Bastian. "Through 1NService's extensive range of complementary offerings, it also allows us to expand the services available to Firebox X customers."

Generally, 1NService resellers agreed, adding that competition among solution providers in a particular niche is a fact of life. On the flip side, many 1NService converts said that membership benefits, including insights and access to deal-sharing, far outweigh these types of hypothetical drawbacks.

Tom Gobeille, president and CEO of Network Computing Architects, Bellevue, helped found the organization in 1998. Since then, 1NService has been an integral part of the way he formulates his business strategy, Gobeille said.

"Aside from the best-practice sharing, which can't be minimized, there's the sharing of information, market trends, and identifying where the best emerging technologies will be," Gobeille said. "That vision, that value, can only come from folks who are sharing their experiences and working together toward a common goal."

Gobeille added that incorporating vendors into the 1NService fold should provide even greater perspective on the industry and how solution providers can score the most profit.

Savette declined to give a time table as to when 1NService would add the next vendor but did say that three of the next five vendors to join will be in the security space.