BT and Cisco offer one-stop option

BT and Cisco have teamed up to offer resellers the opportunity to bundle network hardware with connectivity.

BT and Cisco have teamed up to offer resellers the opportunity to bundle network hardware with connectivity.

Mark Bunton, project marketing manager at BT, said: "This is an opportunity for connectivity and hardware to be bought from one source. We have been working with Cisco for four or five months and the first lot of marketing material has been sent to resellers this week. This particular run will go until March next year, but this is a long-term project."

Bunton said resellers will get the chance to sell Cisco hardware and BT's range of network services from one point. "Azlan will distribute the hardware and place orders with BT for network services," he said.

Clive Hailstone, general manager for Cisco at Computer 2000 (C2000), agreed that there is demand for this type of one-stop shop. "More resellers are looking at providing more services on top of products. C2000 will address this demand," he said.

But he warned that this type of agreement might mean resellers are forced to deal with a limited range of products at a time when flexibility is increasingly important.

Spencer Parker, a product manager at reseller Axial, said this type of deal will open up the network marketplace to less technical resellers. He said that good resellers would not be limited in product choice because they would be free to choose the best.

Andy Shepperd, general manager of networking at C2000, said that in the past, resellers were unable to be a one-stop shop because connectivity was not in their portfolio, but now more and more resellers are selling packaged connectivity services.