Unipalm signs Instant deal with FaceTime
Distributor plays IM vendor merry-go-round
It was all change in the instant messaging (IM) distribution sector last week, with vendor FaceTime ending its relationship with e92plus and signing Unipalm.
At the same time, Unipalm terminated its distribution agreement with IMlogic to become FaceTime's sole UK distributor.
Rob Nash, director for the e-business division at Unipalm, said: "We are still under a notice period with IMlogic. But FaceTime has a strong approach to working with the channel and is a key player in the IM space. We feel FaceTime has the edge in terms of technology and it has a different approach."
Steve Adams, UK sales manager at FaceTime, said: "We were very impressed by Unipalm's expertise in IM. It has a strong partner network with a lot of enterprise partners that will help to grow our business.
"E92plus has worked hard with us over the last two years in the early IM market. But we feel the market is growing significantly and we needed the right partner that could manage that growth for us," he added.
Mukesh Gupta, managing director of e92plus, told CRN: "The split was a mutual decision, but FaceTime wanted more business than we have done for them, as everybody does." Gupta said the market is still in its "early infancy with firms slow to adopt IM".
"We have a period of time to close off any outstanding business with FaceTime, but we are looking for other vendors to fulfil pipelines that we have for an IM product range," Gupta added.