UK VAR wins convergence crown

Kingston inbusiness named Nortel's best EMEA convergence partner

UK reseller Kingston inbusiness has been named as Nortel's best convergence partner in EMEA at the telecommunications giant's PartnerForum 2003 in Barcelona.

Beating off resellers from across the region, the Nortel Gold Partner was recognised for its success in the convergence space since taking on board Nortel's enterprise product range almost two years ago.

Andy Wood, head of voice solutions at Kingston inbusiness, said Nortel's decision to open its portfolio to more partners than BT has had major benefits for the vendor and its channel.

"The Nortel range of enterprise voice products were available only through BT and we were only a support partner. We could maintain and support the products but not sell them," he said.

Now the company sells, installs and supports the Nortel range, which helps it to break into the massive Nortel installed base created by BT.

Kingston inbusiness is a voice specialist, but noting the growing interest in convergence, the firm added data skills through its acquisition of Cisco reseller Milgo Solutions two years ago.

Adrian Marsh, director of the EMEA channel at Nortel, said: "With convergence there are many new opportunities in existing as well as new customers.

We are very happy with how our resellers have performed in this market since we opened the portfolio.

"There were a lot of candidates across the region but Kingston inbusiness stood out because of its credibility, early investments and vision in the convergence space.

"It has also invested in training and achieved accreditations for sales and technical staff."

BT won Partner of the Year and was the top-selling convergence partner.

"Almost every sale today is a convergence sale and BT is still our biggest partner," said Marsh.