Damovo commits to Nortel

Deal could pressure systems integrator's partnership with Cisco, warn insiders

Damovo and Nortel have finally signed a formal three-year global reseller agreement, following negotiations last month.

The deal, which some industry observers said could put pressure on Damovo's relationship with Cisco, covers Nortel's entire enterprise portfolio worldwide, including voice, data and converged equipment.

"We have been successful with Nortel in central and eastern Europe, but we have plans to expand this globally," said Ian Marshall, global partner and alliance executive at Damovo.

Marshall denied speculation that Damovo finds Cisco too demanding, and said the move merely reflects a strategy of vendor independence.

"This is not a reaction to any situation with existing partners. We are looking to grow our business, and Nortel will enable us to offer customers more choice," Marshall said.

The systems integrator, which spun out of Ericsson in 2001, works with vendors such as Cisco, Ericsson, Extreme Networks and Mitel.

Adrian Marsh, director of EMEA channel at Nortel, said central and eastern Europe is a high-growth area, adding that Damovo's size and coverage will enable it to offer large customers a good option for networking products and services.

"Global organisations are looking for channels that can work with them over a wide variety of products and regions," he said.

Damovo will be given the chance to buy direct from Nortel, but Marsh said distributors are often the preferred source. "Partners that have the option to buy direct usually still buy from distributors," he said.