Crane awards Spitfire's sales
VAR receives top Nortel status from distributor after star performance
Telecoms reseller Spitfire has been awarded top Nortel status from distributor Crane, for the Nortel Business Communications Manager (BCM) phone system range.
Spitfire won the accolade by selling more of Nortel’s BCM phone systems than any other Crane partner last year.
BCM is a converged voice and data product that offers telephony, unified messaging, multimedia call centre, interactive voice response, IP routing and data services such as firewall and wireless.
Tom Fellowes, sales director at Spitfire, said: “The Nortel product is well priced, has good applications, integrates well and we can sell broadband on top for a one-stop solution.”
Fellowes said that Spitfire has received good training and support from Crane, enabling the reseller to quickly expand its Nortel shipments.
“The Nortel product is doing well for us. Its IP-enabled phone system acts as a voice over IP gateway.”
Fellowes added that the lower price of the Nortel system has opened the door for smaller businesses, enabling Spitfire to tap into the SME market.
“We are aiming at the below 30 user market, with most trade from firms with less than 20 users. This has proved a profitable space for us,” he said.
Andrew Saunders, Nortel business unit managing director for Crane, said he was impressed with Spitfire’s progression after only working with Crane since last January.
“Spitfire is very focused on the low-end of the market and the release of the BCM 50 enabled stronger 2005 sales,” he said.
The BCM 50 version is a platform for converged voice and data communications with three to 20 stations, but can also to serve more than 40 stations if required.
“There is also an application server built into the BCM product and the reseller only needs an activation code to make the system operational.”
Saunders said that the BCM product offers a strong brand image from Nortel.
“We have seen our Nortel business grow 14-fold since the start of 2005 and there will be a further BCM update in 2006. Nortel boasts a strong continuous improvement programme with a good upgrade path,” he added.