GijimaAst achieves Gold Certification from Cisco Systems

GijimaAst has achieved Gold Certification from Cisco Systems, entrenching itself as a proven and leading provider of large business network solutions to corporate South Africa.

After the merger in April 2005, between the AST Group and Gijima Technologies, GijimaAst has been rapidly building on its capacity in the networking arena. This was rewarded with GijimaAst being named Cisco Silver Partner of the Year 2005 and now Gold Certification from Cisco Systems. In addition, BMI-Technology rated GijimaAst as number one for network and desktop outsourcing in 2005.

"The Cisco Gold Certification also acknowledges us for our continued customer-centric focus in delivering best-of-breed technology solutions to our clients," explains Minderd Spoelstra of GijimaAst. "Through our understanding that the best networks are created through a combination of expertise, products and technologies, GijimaAst has forged a strong relationship with Cisco Systems to enable us to deliver world-class converged solutions to organisations."

The Cisco Channel Partner Programme provides GijimaAst with the resource framework to further develop an expertise to sell, plan, design, implement and operate Cisco networking solutions. To earn Gold Certification, GijimaAst had to meet or surpass the stringent personnel, training, customer satisfaction, specialisation and post-sales support requirements set forth by Cisco.

"The purpose of our Channel Partner Programme is to help channel partners succeed in the next market evolution of value-based business models," says Prabashni Pillay, Channel Manager, Cisco Systems South Africa. "With specialisations in VPN security and wireless LANs, GijimaAst has secured the training, skills and knowledge to play a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption of Cisco solutions."

The Cisco Channel Partner Programme offers its certified channel partners state-of-the-art technical and sales training. Gold Certified Partners are recognised and rewarded for employing some of the industry`s best-trained network technicians, who achieve and demonstrate the highest levels of expertise in planning, designing, implementing and supporting Cisco network solutions. These well-trained teams of network technicians are audited annually to make sure they consistently deliver industry-leading support and maintain the rigorous Cisco standards for network expertise and support capabilities.

As a Cisco Gold Certified Partner, GijimaAst enjoys several benefits, most notably, access to the latest Cisco customer satisfaction tool, Partner Access online (PAL). The PAL tool is based on the same technology Cisco uses to monitor and improve its own customer satisfaction. Other benefits include increased access to the Cisco technical support teams, as well as access to password-protected Web sites with real-time product and training information.

GijimaAst as Cisco Gold Certified Partner provides 8x5 technical service from one-hour response time for problem resolution and 24-hour onsite response. These rigorous support requirements highlight GijimaAst`s commitment to supporting its strategic business network.