Avaya Taps Access Distribution To Woo Data VARs
The move comes two days after Avaya unveiled management changes that included the naming of Louis D'Ambrosio as its new president and CEO.
With the agreement, Access becomes Avaya's third North American distribution partner, along with ScanSource's Catalyst Telecom division and Westcon Group's Voda One division.
Access works with more than 600 partners, most of which carry data experience from work with vendors such as Sun Microsystems. It's a partner pool that proves attractive to Avaya as it works to add data expertise to its voice-centric channel in support of its convergence business, said Ken Archer, vice president of North American channels at Avaya, Basking Ridge, N.J.
"What prompted us to look for a third value-added distribution partner is we believe there are a lot of data VARs interested in getting into voice with the advent of convergence," Archer said. "We believe these are partners we couldn't reach through our current Catalyst Telecom and Voda One relationships."
Avaya is the first IP telephony vendor to join Access' line card. It's an opportunity that the distributor has been eyeing for some time, said Scott Zahl, vice president of vendor relations at Access, Westminster, Colo.
"It's of interest to us because of the growth opportunity [in VoIP] but also as a point of convergence. We see several different communities coming to VoIP: telephony specialists and more traditional telco resellers. We believe the network expertise our partners extend is a good fit," Zahl said.
Recruiting efforts around the new partnership will begin in earnest at Access' New Frontiers Conference, its annual partner event, which runs Aug. 14-16 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Avaya will have a big presence at the event, including a hands-on network that solution providers will be able to use, Zahl said.
Avaya will closely monitor recruitment efforts to ensure that solution providers brought on through Access fill gaps in the vendor's channel coverage and don't saturate its geographic exposure, Archer said.
"We had discussions with Catalyst Telecom and Voda One, and they had concerns," Archer said. "But we have assured them that through careful planning, the contractual language and the intent of this partnership, we're looking to drive net new business through net new partners."
Executives from Catalyst Telecom and Voda One declined to comment. Avaya typically adds roughly 30 new partners per year across all of its distributors, Archer said. The bulk of the new partners added this year will likely come through Access, he said.
The commitment Access has shown in bringing on new security vendors and growing its security business convinced Avaya that the distributor would be able to build up VoIP expertise and transition data partners into the convergence space, Archer said.
Through the first half of the year, Access' security practice has increased 15 percent compared with the year-ago period, with key vendors including Check Point Software Technologies, McAfee, Symantec, CA and F5 Networks.
"Our intent over time is to build a unique practice area focused on our technology expertise and partner community [in both security and VoIP]," Zahl said. "VoIP is an investment area for us. We believe we can build the expertise."
Avaya has no plans to add additional distribution partners, Archer said.
Under Avaya's new leadership, the vendor will more heavily invest in its channel strategy, he added. "You're going to start to see the indirect channel factor more into Avaya's go-to-market strategy. You're going to see greater partner investment and more opportunities for partners that aren't currently working with Avaya to sign up and get authorized."
Solution providers said they hope D'Ambrosio will bring a fresh perspective to Avaya as it moves to grow and gain market share and help the company become more channel-friendly than it was under predecessor Don Peterson, who had to focus on shoring up Avaya's financials.
"Lou [D'Ambrosio] may be more motivating, more inspirational and get some excitement going. Don [Peterson] wasn't that kind of CEO," said Jeff Hiebert, president of ROI Networks, an Avaya partner in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. "I think [D'Ambrosio] may have a better understanding of the channel, but the proof will be in the pudding."
Access Distribution is the latest distributor to expand its portfolio recently. Synnex this week signed a deal with Symantec to distribute former Veritas storage solutions, and Avnet Partner Solutions added Citrix Systems to its line card. Last week, McAfee authorized Ingram Micro and Tech Data to carry its IntruShield Network Intrusion Protection and Foundstone Enterprise Vulnerability Management products, marking the first time they're available through broadline distribution.