The convergence of telecommunications and IT has prompted IT systems and communications distributor Comztek to establish a dedicated telecoms division.
According to Uwe Brandkamp, sales director at Comztek, the specialist nature of telecoms played a key role in Comztek`s decision to create a dedicated division to support telecommunications.
"We endeavour to ensure that our channel partners are positioned to take advantage of emerging technology and benefit from a sustainable revenue stream. There are certain telecommunications technologies such as voice over IP (VOIP) that we view as sufficiently mature for our channel to successfully offer their customers a strong value proposition," he says.
Brandkamp says Comztek`s strategy will address the market in three ways: firstly, through existing LAN and WAN resellers who have been asked to supply voice products to their customers; secondly, to the historic PBX vendors who recognise the shift to IP telephony; and thirdly, by creating awareness in the market at end-user level to generate more demand for converged IT/voice solutions.
The Comztek telecoms division will be headed by Chris Rodgers who has more than 24 years IT experience, specifically in the networking, wireless and voice technology areas, as well as in the software, infrastructure, CRM and unified messaging sectors.
"Vendors such as 3Com, Nortel and Cisco - with whom we have built up relationships over many years - have excellent telecoms solutions and we intend to help our customers extract the maximum value and functionality from these offerings," Rodgers comments.
He says that one of the key technologies on which the telecoms division will initially focus is VOIP.
"Some of the issues that have hampered the widespread adoption of VOIP have been dealt with in the past year. Technical concerns around security and interoperability, and the ever-pressing issue of price versus value, have been resolved.
"VOIP technology now offers as much stability and functionality as traditional telecoms solutions - and in some areas, considerably more. This makes the technology more marketable and we will promote its wide adoption through our channel partners," he adds.
Apart from VOIP, the telecoms division will also promote other specialist technologies such as free-space optics (FSO) - essentially a link using infrared - as well as bandwidth management and optimisation products.
Brandkamp says Comztek expects a favourable response from resellers to its initiative.
"Many of our channel partners have almost exclusive arrangements with some of their customers, and the ability to offer telecoms solutions can only serve to strengthen their position with those customers.
"We will offer our resellers the same service they have come to expect from Comztek in the IT arena. This includes technical support and back-up stock availability. We recognise that we will have to support the channel closely, with both pre- and post-sales, and we are defining the processes for this. Our vendor partners are also keen to assist us and we will be partnering with them too, wherever practical," he concludes.
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