Messaging and Collaboration - Channel Insider
Empowering the next generation Channel
 
Bull’s Eye Awards
Nominations Open for Channel Insider 2009 Bull’s Eye Awards
Nominations are now open for the Channel Insider 2009 Bull’s Eye Awards, which recognize excellence in customer service, technology prowess, business acumen, channel leadership, communications and community building, and innovation among vendors, solution providers, distributors and channel services companies.



Sponsored Links
  • SonicWALL breaks through network and email gridlock
  • Save up to 40% on calling costs with Avaya Aura™
  • HP PartnerONE | SolutionsINFINITE Visit us at hp.com/partners/us/go/4



  •  

    Recession-Proof Your Technology Lineup with Videoconferencing

    in Messaging and Collaboration


    Article Rating:starstarstarstarstar / 2
    Article Views: 2568

    Rate This Article:
    Add This Article To:
    Video conferencing technology can offer a nice hedge for IT solution providers looking for recession-proof products in a down economy. Customers like video conferencing because it can cut down on travel costs, says vendor Tandberg. Other video conferencing vendors include Cisco Systems, Polycom and LifeSize Communications.

    While sales of videoconferencing technology, like everything else, have been affected by the down economy in 2008, videoconferencing still remains a strong play for IT solution providers looking for recession-proof products and technologies to carry themselves and their customers through tough times.

    A case in point is videoconferencing vendor Tandberg, a 100 percent channel company based in New York and Oslo, Norway. Tandberg's sales took off in 2006, growing about 50 percent year over year, according to Paul Cantwell, vice president of channels at Tandberg.

    Resource Library:
    Sales have slowed in 2008, growing by only 24 percent over the last 12 months—although a 24 percent growth rate is one that most companies would covet in this year of economic uncertainty and declines.

    In its fiscal third quarter, Tandberg reported revenues of $210.3 million compared with $192.9 million for the same period a year ago.

    Click here for a list of telepresence solutions from channel vendors such as Cisco Systems, Polycom and LifeSize Communications.

    Cantwell attributes the growth rate to a greater acceptance of videoconferencing in the enterprise over the past few years.

    "One of the reasons is the cost of travel," Cantwell says. "And there's also the time and hassle associated with travel. Companies may have initially installed these systems to reduce travel costs, but what they are also finding is that once employees start using them, decisions are made faster. They can still have face-to-face interaction over video." And they can have an ad hoc meeting to make those decisions instead of scheduling a trip for two weeks later.

    And while high-end video teleconferencing—the high-definition, immersive experience also known as telepresence—makes up an important part of the market, there are less expensive solutions available too, such as conference room systems and desktop-enabled video teleconferencing.

    These days Tandberg is seeing a greater interest from customers in getting their video teleconferencing systems to interoperate with those of other companies or partners.

    And another area of interest for partners? Leasing, or financing the solution for end customers that may not have access to the capital for an outright purchase. Cantwell estimates that interest in leasing has jumped about 50 percent recently. Tandberg offers a captive finance arm to help partners put together a deal that works for their end customers.

    "We are seeing a tremendous amount of interest in leasing as an alternative option," says Cantwell.





    Discuss Recession-Proof Your Technology Lineup with Video Conferencing
     
    Good article, although I think that the product offered by Nefis, at...
    Simplistic at best. Video conferencing is not just another black box the IT...
    That's a good point, and maybe we can look along those lines in the future in terms...
    >>> Post your comment now!
     

     
     
    >>> More Messaging and Collaboration Articles          >>> More By Jessica Davis
     



     


    [ci] feeds
    XML
    Add Channel News, Product Reviews, Trends and Analysis to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo!


    HTML PLAIN TEXT

    Keep on top of news for VARs and Resellers with CI's Weekly Newsletter and Alerts.

     


    CHANNEL RESOURCE CENTER
     
     
    How to Unleash Application Performance with Solid-State Drives and Sun Servers
    Unleash the Beast! Learn from Sun and Intel experts how Sun servers equipped with Flash-enabled solid-state drives offer dramatic improvements to HPC, Web 2.0, and data center application performance Watch this video to learn more
    Watch Video
     
    Build A More Efficient Data Center
    Demands are growing but budgets are not. Solve your pressing IT issues using the resources you already have. Determine which technologies can help you drive efficiencies and how they are applied. Gain a quick ROI on new initiatives
    Find out how
    Easily Monitor Virtual, Physical, and Cloud based assets, applications and services from a unified Dashboard with up.time. Deep Monitoring across platforms and best-of-breed reporting. Over 700 enterprise customers in 32 countries.
    Read Article