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IT giant builds Avaya channel
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TDAZLAN HIRES INDUSTRY STALWART TO PUSH COMMS istributor
TDAzlan has hired industry veteran
Graham Bunting to head up its Avaya business unit. Bunting joined TDAzlan in August and has been charged with raising the profile of the IT giant. In the same month, TDAzlan, which was already an incumbent Nortel distributor, announced an extended contract to distribute the full range of Avaya unified communications and collaboration solutions. The distributor will provide channel development support for Avaya partners, aiming to broaden Avaya’s UK coverage through the recruitment of new partners, and will leverage Avaya’s Connect partner programme to help guide new partners into the enterprise and mid-market sectors.
The Avaya portfolio is familiar territory for Bunting who up until two years ago was UK SMB Sales Manager for the vendor. Prior to joining TDAzlan he was Head of Distribution at Opal, and now looks forward to a new challenge. “The challenge is that we’re relatively new in the voice market, but while it’s a big company, it feels agile.”
TDAzlan is the enterprise arm of US distribution giant Tech Data, a company that outranks Coca-Cola
Graham Bunting
“The challenge is how to make the messaging clear”
and Time Warner in the Fortune 500 and boasts a turnover just short of McDonald’s and Google. As well as Avaya, its current vendor line-up in the UK includes Cisco, HP, Tandberg and Lifesize. Bunting explained that the last few months have seen the amalgamation of several business units to develop a coherent strategy for unified communications. Now, he says, he’s ready to start selling TDAzlan as a partner.
“There are lots of channels for communications these days,” said Bunting. “The challenge is how to make the messaging clear. For us, it’s through differentiation and collaboration. We have a background in working with disparate vendors and making everything work together.”
The company has invested in pre and post sales support and offers
training for resellers to help understand the technical challenges of integrated solutions. Bunting says that the key is spotting opportunities for unified communications that are more nuanced than a simple rip and replace. “It’s not about voice and data any more, it’s about a positive approach and attitude,” he said. “It’s not always about upgrading either – it’s about what you can overlay on top of the infrastructure you already have.”
One area which Bunting believes hasn’t been fully exploited yet is home working. “Early last month was the first day back to school, and all we talked about was traffic and congestion,” noted Bunting. “The M25 was solid, there was a tube strike and twitter was full of people complaining about the traffic.”
Bunting explains that sceptical employers can be won around to home working because tools are available elsewhere in the portfolio for monitoring network activity. “We need to take the time to have these conversations with managers,” he said. “When their staff are in the office, do they sit and watch what they’re doing on the network all day? We need to help provide leadership and give resellers the tools to engage.”
The St Kilda connection
C
ommsworld has installed the first public telephone system on the
remote archipelago of St Kilda, 40 miles off the coast of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. Sales Director Mark Wright used the satellite broadband connection to send the first tweet from the largest island in the group, Hirtia, just days after the 80th anniversary of the evacuation of the last permanent residents.
St Kilda is a World Heritage Site owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Although virtually unreachable in winter months, it was nevertheless inhabited for 2,000 years. Today there are only people passing though – a small MOD base is staffed by up to a dozen people at any one time, and there are three National Trust wardens who live on Hirtia between April and September. Around 4,000 tourists a year visit St Kilda to see the unique geography and unusual wildlife.
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Commsworld has provided the National Trust outpost with an Avaya IP Office 500 system and satellite link to the mainland network, enabling full voice and Internet connectivity for the first time on the island. National Trust Manager for the Western Isles, Susan Baines, explained why it was important to connect the isolated islands. “It means that my staff can feel much better linked in to the rest of
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20 COMMS DEALER OCTOBER 2010 Mark Wright
Scotland and the National Trust,” she said. “We can communicate with them now in the same we can communicate with all our other wardens and stay in touch with the office.”
Previously, communications to the island had to go via the MOD base or scheduled helicopter flights. Mail could take up to ten days to arrive or leave. “We work very much in partnership with other people,” Baines added. “And it’s important we can get information up onto the website quickly. If, for example, there’s a group of dolphins or unusual wildlife in the vicinity, we can report it onto the website and talk to other groups about its significance. Before, we’d have to send a letter.”
Baines told Comms Dealer that it was also important for personal reasons. “Our staff are away from friends and family for a long time, and people are used to being in constant communication now,” she said. “It’s not like 30-40 years ago where you sent a postcard or a letter and that would be enough.” n
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