Microsoft’s annual channel event – their Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) – kicks off in Toronto in a few days on July 8. Cisco is a gold sponsor at WPC this year and we will be showcasing our Cisco UCS Intel-based server and Nexus switch families to the expected 15,000 Microsoft System Integrators, distributors, LARs, and VARs in attendance.

Cisco, with UCS and Nexus, provides tremendous data center engagement opportunities for channel partners to drive revenue generation. Microsoft will continue to roll out new product revisions for Windows Server, System Center, and SQL Server over the next few months.

With a 73 percent Intel Server market share as measured by IDC, Microsoft Windows Server and associated workloads are present in most all commercial and enterprise accounts worldwide. Here are a few actions you can take to leverage Cisco UCS and Nexus engagement for your clients and customers:

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Tags: data center, distributors, FlexPod, LAR, Microsoft, nexus, SQL, System Center, UCS, VAR

We’ve seen many trends during the past year start to take hold in the market, with a significant number of value added resellers (VARs) implementing new technologies to better help and service customers. Notably, VARs are placing a strong focus around managed services offerings specific to network administration, virtualization and cloud computing.

As announced in December, Cisco’s OnPlus Service is a VAR-specific offering that helps minimize support costs and generate additional revenue while proactively managing customer network problems. With OnPlus, VARs can create or expand their managed service portfolio by providing remote visibility of a small business customer’s network, and the corresponding devices, regardless of location, through a scalable cloud-based service.

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Tags: OnPlus, small business, VAR

In today’s economic climate, a value-conscious shopper may look to wholesalers such as Costco to stock up on household goods. I frequently find myself at Costco versus specialty stores, because I know I can get the same high-quality olive oil at a fraction of the price.

And when you switch out the olive oil for network solutions, the concept remains the same.

Earlier this week, I shared a blog post about Nexus IS’ experience with wholesaler Neutral Tandem’s Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) proof-of-concept trial. We got to hear the VAR’s side of the story, but I knew you’d want to know more. So I checked in with Ian Neale, Neutral Tandem’s VP of Product Marketing, and asked him to give me an insider’s look at his company’s wholesale model.

What I really wanted to find out was what our partners could expect when working with them, and, more important, how they can help partners increase their revenue opportunities. Want to know what I learned? Read More »

Tags: Cisco, HCS, Hosted Collaboration Solution, Neutral Tandem, partner, VAR, wholesale

Would you buy a car from a dealership where none of the salesmen knew how to drive? Or order prime rib at a restaurant where the chef was a strict vegetarian? What about when it comes to your customer’s network? Are you willing to risk installing products that you don’t have firsthand experience with? I’m guessing the answer is “no.”

When making purchases, big or small, customers want to have confidence that the company they partner with has in-depth knowledge and can stand behind the products they sell. Consider Amy Smith, Director of Collaboration at Nexus IS and a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. She’s committed to live by her company’s marketing motto: “Know it, use it, sell it.”

This was the case when Nexus IS decided to add Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) — an offering that allows partners to provide a wide range of Cisco collaboration applications to their customers as a subscriber-based service—to its portfolio. Their first step was to go the wholesale route and participate in Neutral Tandem’s proof-of-concept trial. This was an easy decision, since Nexus IS always tests new products on its own network before installing them on a customer’s network. It’s all about fully understanding, embracing, and discovering best practices of a product before offering it for sale.

Think HCS would be a great addition to your list of offerings?
Learn about Nexus IS’ trial experience and why the timing is right for the HCS market. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution, HCS, Neutral Tandem, nexus IS, partner, VAR, wholesale

This certainly has been a monumental year for Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solutions (HCS), as many service providers such as Verizon and Orange Business Services, embraced the cloud and the potential services that can come with it. In the case of  their business customers, these service providers now offer them a slew of unified communications tools (such as video conferencing and mobility solutions ) through the cloud to allow  their employees to communicate and collaborate wherever they are and on whatever device.

Even our partners are seeing the value that collaboration via the cloud can offer its customers; as one of our channel partners, Neutral Tandem, announced yesterday. As an expert in operating and managing IP networks, Neutral Tandem introduced the first cloud-based collaboration service in the United States specifically developed to be resold by Cisco’s Value-Added Reseller (VAR) community and System Integrators (SIs). The service, based on Cisco’s HCS, will enable VARs/SIs to deliver a full suite of unified communications and collaboration applications.

I guess you can say that cloud collaboration is in full swing as it continues to gain traction steadily in the market. Read More »

Tags: channel partners, ciscochannels, cloud, cloud_computing, collaboration, collaboration summit, HCS, Hosted Collaboration Solution, hosted UC, hosted unified communications, Hybrid Cloud, Neutral Tandem, system integrator, unified communications, Unified Communications Manager, VAR