EnGenius Creates Hands-On Partner Training To Get Familiar With Its New Outdoor Networking Products

The long-range wireless specialist EnGenius Technologies unveiled new outdoor and long-range wireless access points, an expansion of its video surveillance solutions. The company also is upgrading its channel partner program to include hands-on training never offered before.

EnGenius has created an Empowered Certified Operator and System Engineer hands-on training course to allow partners to become experts in the field, according to Vicki Biyeu, channel marketing manager at EnGenius.

"I know a lot of the people who are doing the training," said Jeff Keenan, president of Keenan Systems, an East Hampton, Conn.-based solution provider and longtime EnGenius partner. "It's a great way to impart some knowledge on the new partners, maybe even bringing in some people who weren't specifically dedicated to Wi-Fi previously and getting them up to speed and show them how to sell these Wi-Fi solutions."

[Related: Polycom: New Partner Program Is Less Complex, More Transparent]

The vendor launched an online training program last year that was "wildly" popular, said Biyeu, so the formation of the hands-on training was the next step to help educate partners on their Neutron Series Wireless Management platform. Keenan said the Neutron Series is popular with his customers and has helped grow his company, thanks to high margins for dealers.

"We like our VARs to be more familiar with our product in terms of how easy it is to install and how easy it is to support," said Herman Chang, director of product line management at EnGenius. "In return, it creates the stickiness to our product line ... we are educating our partner in a way that actually decreases our support calls and maximizes our benefits to our dealers and installers."

Mike Anderson, business development manager at Streakwave Wireless, a San Jose, Calif.-based EnGenius partner, said EnGenius has a well-rounded set of partner offerings and "keeps pushing the envelope with new products to compete with the best of them."

Anderson's EnGenius business has grown over the past six months and expects to see that growth continue due to the new products unveiled on Monday.

Engenius is expanding its Electron ENS family of all-purpose, high-performance wireless access points with two new long-range weatherized 802.11ac access point/client bridges: ENS1750 and ENS1200.

"802.11ac is really taking off this year," said Anderson. "Wi-Fi, in general, there's quite a demand. The expectation really everywhere you go is, 'Where's my WiFi?' We're starting to see more planning very early on in terms of building complexes or public areas -- they're planning out the Wi-Fi instead of it being an afterthought."

The ENS products are designed for high-density environments, such as hotels, schools and office buildings, according to Chang, and users can monitor them remotely.

"That’s going to be a really great product for us," said Keenan. "I see these 802.11ac products providing very good performance that can be used outdoors and indoors because it's a very low-impact design. Previously, outdoor access points were really large and stuck out, you would notice it right away. These can blend into the environment and provide great performance. They're so compact, they can even be used indoors ... [I'm] pretty excited about that."

NEXT: Partners: New Video Surveillance Camera A Boost

Both Anderson and Keenan said the video surveillance camera space is strong, which is why they are excited about EnGenius' new EDS5110 1-MP Day/Night IoT Bullet IP Surveillance Camera. The new camera combines with EnStation Long-Range Wireless Outdoor access points that can deliver stable connectivity over distances to up to 5 miles, according to a release by EnGenius.

EnGenius said the solution gives users a reliable, flexible, easy-to-deploy video surveillance solution for harsh environments that can offer up to two simultaneous video streams to reduce the numbers of cameras needed to be installed, ideal for environments such as school campuses, hotels and resorts.

"The camera business is very, very strong and surveillance is continuing to grow," said Anderson. "It's good to see the new products coming in -- it’s a dynamic market place."

Anderson, who said he's been in the channel marketplace for 30 years, said vendors like EnGenius need to continuously come out with new and updated products in order for channel partners to be able to give more solutions to customers.

"You end up having more options when people are explaining the particular solution that they're looking for, or a problem they're trying to solve. It gives us a number of new tools to plug into the equation," said Anderson.

PUBLISHED FEB. 23, 2015