Resellers get equipped for wireless growth

EquIP ups partnerships on back of strong sales

Distributor EquIP Technologies is increasing the number of its wireless reseller partners as sales of multifunctional wireless networking products grow.

Following strong sales of the Bluesocket Wireless Gateway, the company is targeting resellers with a focus on wireless technology and security.

"In [one] recent week we sold eight Wireless Gateways and the interest in this product is picking up," said Neil Ledger, co-founder at EquIP.

"We are now actively seeking more resellers to sell the Bluesocket product."

Martin Cassidy, vice president of marketing at Bluesocket, said that customers have more confidence in wireless technology as products are designed to meet specific needs. "We are tuning the wireless environment to the customer's needs," he said.

"The barrier to the success of wireless technology was the problem of providing security and still ensuring access for the appropriate people."

The Bluesocket product features wireless authorisation as well as bandwidth management technology.

Cassidy said the underlying standards for wireless - such as 802.11b - allow interoperability between vendors. "This is giving confidence to customers, and resellers are beginning to push wireless products into solutions."

He added that demand is in verticals such as education, health and consulting with finance becoming the new emerging market.

Andrew Percival, managing director at distributor Mayflex, said that since signing up with Bluesocket he had seen the biggest demand in the education sector. He said the mix of security and wireless had sparked this growth.

"Education establishments are using a lot of wireless technology because they like to share equipment across [campuses], and they need security to ensure that only authorised users have access to certain information," he said.

Percival added that Mayflex is still looking for resellers and that there is a good opportunity for both wireless and security resellers with multifunctional products.

"We see a good opportunity for specialist security and wireless resellers to add margin," he said.