Cisco Systems, NetActive and Westcon have joined forces to encourage local mid-tier corporates to take advantage of the business benefits of virtual private network (VPN) technology. This will be achieved through an educational drive that aims to raise awareness and understanding of the VPN solution for both the channel and end-user.
Research conducted by Westcon has shown that 60% of mid-tier corporates rely on their reseller to assist in all technology buying decisions.
John Hindley, Cisco Systems business manager at Westcon says: "This is a step towards raising the level of strategic consultancy that resellers are able to offer their customers. As the channel begins to suffer the effects of the IT slow down we need to be able to provide resellers with additional revenue streams. This is an opportunity for resellers to move beyond box-dropping and offer their clients value-added services."
In addition to the channel initiative, the alliance will also be driving education to end-users. BMI-T research shows that the small and medium enterprise market plays a major role in the local economy, accounting for 35% of the GDP in 2000. This sector also made up 23% of the total IT spend in SA last year.
Jonas Bogoshi, director, commercial business at Cisco Systems sub-Saharan, says: "This research shows that the mid-tier market is an important contributor to the South African economy. Therefore, it is vital that every effort is made to assist these businesses to create sustainable business models and implement technology that drives efficiency and productivity. VPN technology has only recently become available to this market and users need to be educated about the technology before they will accept it."
"Companies are moving away from investing in and managing their own private networks," says Jonathan Hackner, marketing director at NetActive. "The trend is to partner with managed service providers such as NetActive, using a shared infrastructure. This offers the same benefits enjoyed in a private wide area network (WAN), but with significant cost savings. The educational drive will take the form of VPN Seminars, which will provide insight on how VPN technology will benefit companies, such as increases in productivity and a return on investment in excess of 20% over WANs."
For more information on the VPN Seminars, please e-mail vpnsolutions@na.co.za or visit www.netactive.co.za.
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Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. The South African office was started in late 1994, with a single office in Johannesburg and two members of staff. Growing significantly year-on-year, Cisco is now represented in all major South African centres by local offices and/or partner organisations.
The South African team offers support in sales, pre-sales, marketing and promotions as well as a pre-sales helpdesk. By breaking the team into these segments, it allows Cisco to focus on the unique requirements of each target market, so that it can ensure that it is providing its individual customers with products and services that meet their needs.
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