Solar eclipses all other ShoreTel partners

Fast-growing comms reseller first to bag ShoreTel Platinum status on this side of the pond

Solar Communications has become the first EMEA reseller to bag Platinum status with ShoreTel after shifting more tin for the comms vendor than anyone else outside the US.

Solar saw sales quintuple to £10m between 2005 and 2012 and last year merged with Mancunian ShoreTel and Mitel partner Armstrong Communications in a move that handed it national coverage.

ShoreTel says Solar was the largest purchaser of its products outside the US in 2013, adding that the VAR boasts a net promoter score is 75 per cent.

This prompted ShoreTel to crown the VAR as its first-ever Platinum partner in EMEA, elevating it above the throng of Gold, Silver and Authorised partners sitting in its Champion partner programme on this side of the pond.

According to ShoreTel, Solar's ShoreTel revenues swelled by 20 per cent last year, meaning the VAR is marginally outgrowing the vendor itself.

In its fiscal second quarter ending 31 December, ShoreTel saw revenues pogo 13 per cent to $84.5m year on year, as a net loss last year of $2.6m was reversed to a profit this time around of $3.2m.

"We have strategically positioned the company for the growth opportunities in our industry and we remain focused on executing key initiatives including our enhanced channel partner programme, sales team integration and product launches," ShoreTel's new chief executive, Don Joos, said last week in the accompanying results statement.