Ingram Micro Australia to distribute Nortel UC products

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 19 April 2009 08:25

Business IT - Technology

Nortel has appointed Ingram Micro to distribute  Nortel unified communications (UC) solutions to its network of IT resellers in Australia.

According to Nortel "This distribution agreement will see Ingram Micro playing a significant role in distributing Nortel's recently announced Software Communication System (SCS), which replicates all the functionality of a unified communications PBX on a standard server using out-of-the-box software."

Nortel has given no indication as to whether it intends to continue existing distribution systems and iTWire was unable to obtain comment at press time. Nortel's web site lists its UC distributors for Australia as Anixter Australia and Aria Communications.  Ingram Micro is already listed for SMB, mobility, metro ethernet, telephony and security products along with  Anixter, Aria and Westcon Group.

Ingram Micro will also stock Nortel's range of solutions designed to integrate with Microsoft and IBM's UC platforms, including its Business Communications Manager (BCM) IP PBXs for small-to-medium enterprise and Nortel's range of data networking products that form the foundation for any UC deployment.

According to David Lenz, general manager, Enterprise Technology Group, Ingram Micro Australia: "Nortel's strategic relationships with Microsoft and IBM will give our resellers a significant go-to-market lead when it comes to specifying UC solutions that can take early advantage of the features and functionality of these platforms."

Neville James, Nortel's channel director, South Asia, said: "We will be working alongside Ingram Micro to support the reseller channel through in-depth technical support and training, and help resellers to take advantage of the growing unified communications market."

Nortel says it is working closely with Ingram Micro in the lead-up to the official launch of the relationship this month and is holding training sessions over the next few weeks to increase Ingram Micro staff's skills with Nortel products, and both companies have promised to "commit focused resources to the partnership."

Specifically to promote the new Software Communication System Nortel is staging a roadshow for customers and prospective customers. It will visit Perth on 23 April, Sydney 28 April and Melbourne 30 April.