The offer to new customers for both Microsoft Teams and Surface Hub 2 is also intended to get some Pexip channel partners from the AV side of the house to work more closely with Microsoft.
Calabrio’s CEO talks with ChannelBuzz about what partners can expect to see from the newly enlarged company, which he says now has the largest channel business in the space.
Steelcase makes Steelcase Roam, a mobile cart and wall mounting system designed specifically for the Microsoft Surface Hub 2, and has launched a new program and new IT distribution relationships to help Microsoft partners sell it.
With the restructuring of Sennheiser into two separate business for the start of 2020 on schedule, the part of the company focused on unified communications has already implemented internal and channel sales changes.
The follow-up to last year’s original ThinkSmart Hub 500, which was for Skype for Business, continues Lenovo’s strategy of building out their Smart Office portfolio, and in the teams space in particular.
The SMB space was a hard sell for partners with virtualized Powered by IP Office, but the company thinks this next-gen rebranded play that runs on the Google cloud will be a popular partner offering.
netTALK, which has been in the consumer phone market for years, enters the commercial market, and is looking for both Master Agents and VARs to sell it.
The new Evolve 65e adds features like a Hear-Through feature and a Jabra Sound+ management capability.
The enhancements include ease-of-use things like flipping the media player from horizontal to vertical, so that it, and the text to speech and associated analytics, run top to bottom instead of side to side, like everything else in mobility.
The extension of Martello’s relationship with Mitel around Mitel Performance Analytics to include assets acquired from ShoreTel both strengthens that partnership and positions Martello well for aggressive growth on other fronts.
Poly is designed to provide a new joint identity for the Plantronics-Polycom combination. In addition to new pipeline product announced at Enterprise Connect this week, the company also emphasized new and expanded strategic partnerships which have more joint offerings on the way.
U.K.-based StarLeaf, which sells entirely through channel partners, has some in the U.S. and Canada, but is not well known in North America overall, and is hoping that this new device increases their exposure here.
The new 8×8 PartnerXchange Platform replaces a clunky predecessor, and makes it easier for partners to do business with 8×8. It’s part of 8×8 channel chief John DeLozier’s strategy to drive the company’s channel business more effectively.
VisibilityOne provides a cloud-based videoconferencing service, designed to support multi-vendor environments, and be very simple to install and use. It is slated for general release in early summer, and will be sold through UCC-focused partners.
This is the last big improvement to the Comm100 customer experience platform before a next-gen version is introduced in about four months.
Avaya is a relatively new player in the public safety space, but is intent on disrupting it, and to this end has unveiled a next-gen 911 solution.
Avaya has announced a new branding initiative in which their solution offerings will be renamed more logically and by function. That’s only one part of where Avaya is going this year on the marketing front, however, with a more aggressive campaign than they have implemented before.
Avaya’s cloud strategy in the past could never be described as crisp, but major changes were announced at Engage to change that, with new OneCloud branding and ReadyNow enterprise bundles to bring solutions to market quickly.
Avaya unveiled a key rebranding message at Engage, and while it is essentially a marketing exercise, it will see huge changes that the company believes will position it much better heading forward.
Avaya’s Canadian country manager Dave Robertson provides an update on Avaya’s business and channel in Canada, including why they are confident that legacy Nortel customers will modernize with them and not with competitors.
