Westcon, a division of Westcon AME, has announced the introduction of the Converged Office Bundle, catering for the growing SME market. As the leading distributor of converged communications solutions, Westcon has partnered with Nortel, to offer the bundle which is affordable for customers and easy for resellers to implement.
According to Tim van Niekerk, Nortel Product Manager at Westcon AME, the perception of convergence from the perspective of most small to medium businesses has rested on the premise that the technology belongs to big business only.
Wayne Venter, Nortel Enterprise Solutions Manager for South Africa agrees, adding that to date, convergence has been all talk and no action for the SME. "However, through our strategic alliance with Westcon, we`re finally making available a complete solution that is designed from the ground up with the SME in mind. That means affordable pricing, a full range of converged network solutions and a rapid deployment window," says Venter.
While the benefits of converged networks have been hyped exhaustively, the barriers to entry for the SME have been considerable. Complex integration has made the provision of such solutions difficult for solution providers, and challenging for the SME user to understand, manage or use.
"Costs of such solutions have to date remained high, with both equipment and the skills necessary for the integration of legacy environments with the converged products coming at a premium. Furthermore, choices have been largely limited to `rip and replace`, or nothing at all. The Converged Office Bundle introduces a product set that can be quickly installed by mid level staff; it also offers the option of either a fully converged network, or a migration path which allows the easy integration of existing computer and telephony equipment," continues van Niekerk.
Westcon AME`s efforts to deliver a fully converged solution to the SME market is backed by Nortel which is offering resellers subsidised training through partner Technology Training Solutions - contributing to the lower total acquisition cost of the Converged Office Bundle. "Effectively we are empowering the channel to approach pre-, post- and aftersales support on a converged solution," says van Niekerk.
Pricing for the solution can start as low as R40 000 and if you spend R75 000 or more, it can be financed. The Converged Office Bundle introduces the benefits of reliable Voice over IP telephony, unified messaging, MS Office/Outlook application integration, Virtual Private Networking, interactive voice response systems, CRM, fax and multimedia capabilities.
"In environments where high levels of customer service are desirable, convergence means a lot more that simply lowering the operational expenditure of telephony costs through lower maintenance and administration overheads and inexpensive calls. Unified messaging and VPN, for example, contribute to greater productivity, while functions such as Caller Identification increase the potential to provide better service. These benefits are within the reach of the SME, realistically allowing business owners to take advantage of the benefits they have been reading about for years now," van Niekerk concludes.
Westcon
Westcon is a division of Westcon AME.
As the leading distributor of converged communications solutions, Westcon focuses on tailoring voice, security, mobility, storage and power solutions. By forging partnerships with the leading international vendors, Westcon is able to deliver tailored solutions to its partners. It provides best of breed networking technology products from leading vendors such as 3Com, Nortel, Fortinet, Sun, Nokia, Eicon, APC, IMC, Vasco and Checkpoint. Westcon AME is part of the Datatec Group. More information is available at: www.westcon.co.za
Nortel
Nortel is a recognised leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world`s most critical information. Serving both service provider and enterprise customers, Nortel delivers innovative technology solutions encompassing end-to-end broadband, Voice over IP, multimedia services and applications, and wireless broadband designed to help people solve the world`s greatest challenges. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com.
For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
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