Minx turns to Thus for Cisco IP telephony lift
VAR claims that its customers wanted an alternative to BT
Cisco-focused reseller Minx has inked a strategic alliance with network operator Thus that will enable it to provide bandwidth to support Cisco IP telephony deployments.
Les Cooper, sales director at Minx, said: “Customers were asking for an alternative to BT. We looked long and hard and Thus came out on top.
“It has its own infrastructure that is Cisco-based, runs the length and breadth of the UK and offers a good quality of service.”
Minx recently unveiled an ambitious three-year plan designed to transform it into one of Cisco’s top three UK resellers by 2009.
The Hertfordshire-based reseller will now pool all its efforts into selling Cisco’s unified communications (UC) solutions into mid-market accounts in the south of the country.
“Our strategy before was to sell anything to customers anywhere,” Cooper explained. “But we’re now more geared to focus on UC and will have more technical people coming in who are UC specialists.”
Minx has targeted £60m turnover by 2009, up more than five-fold on the £11.1m it harvested last year. Cooper claimed that only BT and Affiniti generate more Cisco revenue in the UK.
Keith Humphreys, managing consultant at research firm EuroLAN, praised the move.
“Service providers such as BT will be the biggest challengers to networking VARs such as Minx,” he said. “Signing with Thus is a sensible move for Minx as it enables it to offer a complete managed service on the line, equipment and service.
“I think Minx is in the right market space to reach its £60m target. The only possible blot on the horizon is what could happen with Microsoft in UC.”