VAR hits Diamond status with 'Cisco alternative' Extreme Networks
Spate of acquisitions means Extreme has become a Cisco alternative, claims Damovo exec
Damovo has become a top-level Diamond partner with Extreme Networks, adding fuel to the comms vendor's claims that it has become a real contender to Cisco following an M&A spree last year.
Chief commercial officer of Damovo, Burkhart Boettcher, told CRN's sister publication Channelnomics Europe that Extreme's spate of acquisitions last year, which included Avaya's networking business and Brocade's datacentre business, has made the vendor one of the UCC market's biggest players.
Damovo holds top-level badges with industry stalwarts Avaya, Cisco, Mitel and Microsoft, but Boettcher said Extreme is now also a recognised brand among customers.
"[Extreme] really got a boost with the very fact that Avaya divested its data business, then all of a sudden Extreme became much more important for us, and I would say we became much more important for Extreme as well," said Boettcher.
"With the acquisitions, they are all of a sudden a ‘name'. It is much less often that people say ‘Extreme, who?' and that is not unimportant.
"It is also their support structures; they are not huge. It is rather a mid-sized company approach, rather than a big company approach. Extreme is not a Cisco, and Cisco is great, but they have a very established organisation; very thoughtful processes, which can be an advantage, but sometimes you just want to do it differently and Extreme is just different in this. We did win some significant projects with their technology as well."
Damovo has worked with Extreme in the past, but only on a local level in Germany and Ireland. The partnership means Damovo can now work with Extreme on a global basis.
Boettcher said he has assigned a vendor alliance manager to work solely with Extreme, marking Damovo's level of commitment with the vendor.
Despite being a committed Cisco partner, Boettcher said that the new partnership with Extreme does not signal a shift in priorities for Damovo.
"We do not see them competing too much; if a project is a Cisco project, then it is a Cisco project. Extreme are open, it is their openness and their verticals where they really excel, such as healthcare, for example. And that is what distinguishes them from the others."
Another of Damovo's core partners, Avaya, has been through a tumultuous 12 months, which have seen the firm enter and leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy, culminating this month in a listing on the NYSE.
At the time the Chapter 11 filing was announced, Damovo CEO Glen Williams threw his support behind Avaya, claiming the vendor will emerge a stronger company.
Boettcher was optimistic about Avaya's future now the firm has exited bankruptcy proceedings.
"I see more focus from Avaya, and I feel a good spirit when I talk to the Avaya guys. They are all motivated and want to get things done and they are happy they're over the whole Chapter 11 thing, because that did not help at all. So I feel a lot of positivity when I talk to them, but now they need to deliver," he said.
You may also like
/sponsored/4039897/industry-voice-constant-life-change-last-months
Security
Industry Voice: "The only constant in life is change*", and no more so than in the last 18 months
We've seen a monumental change in how we buy, work, and communicate, and more change is afoot…
/sponsored/4035557/partner-content-voice-mobility-set-critical-services-resellers
Security
Partner Content: Voice, data and mobility set to become critical services for IT resellers
Exclusive research conducted by CRN in association with Gamma, shows how the pandemic has increased the appetite for Unified Communications