Datatec subsidiaries Logical and Westcon walked off with a total of five top honours at networking giant Cisco`s worldwide partner summit held in the US city of Las Vegas.
Logical, the integration and IT services subsidiary, was the star performer for Datatec, with four awards. Logical US was named as Cisco`s direct value-added reseller of the year, Logical Australia was awarded the title of Asia-Pacific partner of the year for 2002, while Softnet Logical - the Argentina-based division - was named top customer satisfaction partner for South America and best partner for new technologies in Argentina.
Dubai-based OnLine Distribution, part of Westcon Africa Middle East, was named as Cisco`s distributor of the year for the Eastern EMEA Region. Cisco`s vice-president for Eastern EMEA, Reza Mahdavi, praised OnLine Distribution`s preparedness to deploy teams of people in isolated and war-torn countries.
The Cisco awards were presented by John Chambers, the company`s president and chief executive officer.
Logical, already a Cisco Gold Certified Partner, ranks high on Cisco`s independent customer satisfaction survey with a 4.71 ranking on a scale of one to five.
Cisco made the award in recognition of Logical`s ongoing commitment to Cisco`s industry leading network infrastructure, AVVID technology and converged technology product lines. AVVID technology stands for Architecture of Voice, Video and Integrated Data and is a central element of Cisco`s convergence applications.
Datatec chief executive Jens Montanana says the awards indicate that the group is enjoying some success in its strategic focus on operational excellence in spite of the challenging conditions in the IT sector.
"Clearly, Logical has excellent skills available to customers in each of its global operations. Especially pleasing is that these awards recognise the optimum service, support and expertise that Logical consistently applies to Cisco engagements.
"While economic conditions loom large over any company in the IT sector, Logical`s teams around the world remain focused and intent on delivering the best possible value and return on investment to their customers," says Montanana.
Logical is known for its expertise in converged technologies, particularly IP telephony and wireless applications and infrastructure. This expertise is built on years of experience with core Cisco solutions in routing and switching. Logical has developed several custom-designed XML applications for IP telephony technology to further increase the return on investment that customers can realise with the implementation of this technology.
Dr Jeff Reed, chief marketing and technology officer at Logical, US says the company remains committed to delivering quality Cisco-based networking and converged technology solutions.
"We aim to be a business partner to our clients and we work closely with them to develop a plan to increase productivity and solve business issues. We use technology to accomplish results," says Reed.
Logical Australia was praised by Cisco for its growth in revenue, its conclusive achievements in the IP telephony space (30% of the Australian market) and its clever use of third-party application organisations.
Logical Australia has implemented IP telephony in very challenging environments, including the Antarctic. Unilever, Sanofi-Synthelabo, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Australian Antarctic Division, are among the innovative organisations that have commissioned Logical Australia to implement their IP telephony solutions.
"Having been a Cisco Gold Partner for many years, and consistently delivering cutting-edge technology solutions for business issues, makes Logical a key partner to many enterprise companies, financial institutions, healthcare providers, government organisations and more," says Rodney Aspin, General Manager, Logical Managed Services. "Our goal is to build business relationships one at a time based on trust, mutual respect and measurable results."
Carlos Lorenzo, head of the Argentina-based operation, says a prime example of Softnet Logical achievement in 2002 was implementation of an IP telephony solution at Dow Chemical. Softnet Logical provided Dow Chemical with one of Argentina`s first, and to date its largest, multi-service networks running voice over IP (VOIP).
The system allows current data and voice technologies to be converged onto a single infrastructure, greatly reducing overall operating costs through a reduction in maintenance, cabling infrastructure and call charges. "Not only is Dow Chemical benefiting from a dramatic reduction in overall operating costs, but the inherent flexibility of the multi-service solution allows the company to rapidly adapt its IT environment to changing market conditions," says Lorenzo.
For more about Datatec and Logical, click on the links below: Datatec: http://www.datatec.co.za Logical: http://www.logical.com
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Datatec is an international networking and IT services group with operations in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. The group generates more than 95% of its revenue in hard currency outside SA.
The group provides active management support in the strategic direction and operation of its subsidiaries and has three principal lines of business:
Westcon, a global channel provider of advanced networking, security, data and voice communications and convergence products, based in the US and the largest distributor worldwide of equipment in this sector, with operations in many countries;
Logical, an international professional services and IT network integration group headquartered in London and with operations in more than 10 countries; and Mason, a leading European telecommunications and IT convergence consultancy providing business solutions to public and private sector organisations worldwide.
The group also has similarly focused operations in SA. These are Westcon AME, Affinity Logic and RangeGate.
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