MTN Network Solutions, the network services arm of the MTN and Johncom Groups, has been certified as a Cisco Silver Partner.
"This is an important milestone for MTN NS," says Mike Brierley, the CEO. "Our team has worked long and hard at building our technical skills, certifications and internal processes in order to comply with the Silver Partnership conditions. We have also attained two specialisations in the areas of VPN security and WLAN. The Cisco audit went very well and we were commended on our excellent skills and core network deployment.
"This certification allows us to have direct access to Cisco to replace faulty equipment and to access Cisco engineers. This enables us to respond very rapidly to problems and provide full end-to-end support to our clients.
"In addition, it gives us direct access to Cisco information that keeps our staff at the leading-edge of Cisco developments and technology, to which we are committed. The skills and knowledge underpin our ability to provide excellent technical and innovative solutions for our clients."
This is an excellent achievement for a small company, where 30% of the total staff are certified and makes MTN NS one of the best-qualified teams in the industry and, with the possible exception of Telkom, makes MTN NS the only tier one ISP which is Cisco certified in its own right.
In addition, in keeping with its empowerment status, over 50% of the certified staff is BEE, and two are female.
MTN NS will, however, remain focused on its core business of network service (VPNs) and Internet access provision, and does not plan to develop a hardware sales strategy. We do, however, provide edge routers to all our clients and will supply other basic equipment such as LAN switches, VOIP interfaces and WiFi equipment to our existing client base.
The company has already set a strategy to go for Gold Partnership, and we expect to attain this level within two years.
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