Channel Plans Key At XChange

NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display, for example, will unveil its new Display Solutions Select program, which offers incentives for solution providers that sell displays as part of larger solutions within specific vertical markets.

T.J. Trojan, president of NEC-Mitsubishi, Itasca, Ill., said the company created this program to reward solution partners that build demand by marrying display technology with peripheral features, such as custom-mounted, POS advertisements. NEC-Mitsubishi will sign alliances with third-party companies that make products such as arm mounts, or those that manage advertising content.

"It assures that we're going to get the business instead of somebody else if our display works better with products from third-party companies," Trojan said. "And the VAR gets the benefit of all the integration."

In addition to providing deeper discounts to VARs participating in the program, NEC-Mitsubishi will roll out a deal registration program that will help protect VARs' margins when they find themselves in competitive bid situations.

On the MSP front, LPI Level Platforms, SilverBack Technologies and N-able Technologies will each use XChange as a backdrop to roll out new channel offerings.

Level Platforms, Ottawa, Ontario, plans to introduce version 4.0 of its Managed Workplace, MSP-enabling software, said CEO Peter Sandiford. Version 4.0 adds an array of new security monitoring features to Managed Workplace and allows for Windows security audits, he said. SilverBack Technologies, Billerica, Mass., will launch its new BusinessBuilder Program, a custom, step-by-step development course for VARs looking to add managed, remote network monitoring services to their roster, said Jim Hare, vice president of worldwide sales.

N-able Technologies, Ottawa, will preview three new modules for its N-central monitoring software, which are expected to be available by May, said President and CEO Mark Scott. One of the three, the On Demand Service Manager module, will link other applications to N-central, making the monitoring software more of a full management platform, he said.

Bunty Lalchandani, president of Micro-World, a VAR in Torrance, Calif., said a managed network monitoring offering makes service calls more lucrative. "When servicing our managed customers, we are already halfway there in knowing what's going on," he said.

Also this week, custom-system builder B3 Computers, Gwinn, Mich., announced a partnership with Sun Microsystems to deliver Sun Java Desktop Systems, which feature the StarOffice 7 Suite.