Imago has signed its first new vendor in the videoconferencing (VC) space since it took on Polycom eight years ago.
The video communications distributor has signed an agreement with San Diego-based telepresence vendor Telanetix.
Ian Vickerage, managing director of Imago, told CRN: “Historically telepresence systems have not been compatible with VC systems, but Telanetix use a software codex rather than a hardware codex so its range of products is compatible with the main VC brands.
“Its pricing is also much lower than other telepresence systems ­ they are a quarter of the price of
Cisco and Polycom’s telepresence offerings ­ which makes it attractive and easier for resellers to sell.”
Imago, appointed as Telanetix’s European distributor, will aim the range at the middle to high end of the market and will officially launch the products in February.
Rick Ono, Telanetix president, said: “We selected Imago because its knowledge of the entire VC space is fantastic and it showed a good grasp of customer requirements. It has already come up with ways in which we can tweak the products to make them more suitable for the UK market.”
“We allow resellers to take our technology and apply it to suit customers’ needs so there is a big element of custom-build,” added Ono.
Andrew Paul Smith, senior associate at analyst Shen Milsom & Wilke, told CRN: “I have not heard of Telanetix, but if its telepresence systems are compatible with ordinary VC systems this has to be good news for the industry and customer applications. It has been a real problem making the two types of systems talk to each other; now we have a solution allowing partial site upgrade and backwards compatibility.”
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