OTC Launches New Channel Program

"We have focused so much on the OEM market that it's very mature for us," said Mario Castellanos, vice president of sales and business development at OTC. "We need to find other channels to get our products out in the market, and this is really the best way."

The company declined to name its OEM customers.

OTC, a 10-year-old Fremont, Calif.-based vendor that manufactures indoor and outdoor wireless networking and wireless video products, is looking to boost its reseller base to 300 partners from about 50 by the end of the second quarter, Castellanos said.

The two-tiered OTC Reseller Partner Program is divided into Authorized and Certified partner opportunities that include discounted demo kits and pricing, lead referrals and training, depending upon the partner's level of commitment.

Once OTC establishes a larger reseller base in the United States, the company plans to shift management of the program to a handful of distributor partners across the country, he said.

Jerry Shih, chief executive officer of Amax Engineering, an OTC reseller partner based in Fremont, which also has six distribution centers in North America, said OTC has solid products.

"One area [where] OTC is ahead of their competitors is security features such as dynamic key encryption," Shih said. "Our challenge right now is the name recognition of the products, so we are glad to see them launching this new program."

OTC introduced a wireless version of its WiJET projector/monitor adapter on Jan. 8 during the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Preliminarily priced at $799, the WiJET is an 802.11b/g-compliant device that connects to a remote display to wirelessly enable data presentation applications such as Microsoft's PowerPoint, Castellanos said.

The WiJET supports 64-bit WEP encryption and 128-bit enhanced encryption and is available in three models: one for PCs with Windows operating systems; one for Apple Macintosh computers; and one that allows multiple projectors to display the same image from one Windows-based PC.