3Com hits growth switch
Vendor hopes launch of its VCX softswitch will boost UK sales by 30 per cent
3Com is looking to grow its business in the UK by 30 per cent over the next year, according to Pax Andersson, vice-president of European sales.
Andersson has been acting UK head since the departure of Rob Coyne earlier this month, the fourth change in 3Com's top UK job in three-and-a-half years.
The vendor is hoping to achieve a boost in sales with the long-awaited release of its VCX7700 softswitch to resellers on Thursday.
Andersson told CRN: "My guess is that we will have no more than five partners on VCX in the UK because it is a highly specialised product and you need dedicated people."
This might mean taking on some new partners, he added.
3Com may operate a scheme here similar to the one it uses in the US, where VARs are paid finders' fees and 3Com performs the installation and integration.
VCX was launched in the US at the beginning of this year. 3Com told CRN then that the technology needed to be converted to work with European telephony systems. The underlying platform was also swapped from Solaris to Linux.
The company announced plans to offer an appliance version of the platform to medium and large businesses a month ago.
Steve Blood, research vice-president for enterprise communications at analyst Gartner, said: "How many changes have they had to make to get VCX into Europe? It's always the same for North American vendors: they have to add Class 5 and SS7 support to their products to get them over here.
"But 3Com changes its strategy a lot. I haven't seen it win major contracts with VCX in the North American market."
However, Mike Valiant, international market development manager at 3Com, hit back. "We are in discussions with service providers in the European Union, but not in the UK. We have taken orders for VCX and we are ramping up our organisation to handle a sophisticated product," he said.