Wireless LAN provider Colubris Networks, looking to branch out from its niche sector focus, has launched a channel program to help it break into the enterprise market.

The vendor, which has always used VARs, has been specializing in the hospitality and transportation sectors, supplying wireless networking for hotels and train companies, said Gary Mead, vice president of international sales at Colubris.  However, the company is now looking to delve further into enterprise markets such as retail, manufacturing and health care.  “We know that to break into these markets we need to use our channel partners," Mead said.

It is to this end that the vendor has launched the Colubris Advanced Channel Partner Program. The program has three partner tiers—Authorized, Select and Premiere—and Mead said entry-level criteria is based on volume of sales and commitment to the vendor through the number of Colubris-trained employees inside a VAR. 

Any VAR can join at the Authorized level, with no revenue targets or trained people, according to Mead.  “But we want the program to be very fluid and encourage VARs to move up the value chain,” he said.

“We are also looking to recruit partners and want about 100 worldwide,” he added. Mead said the company will use its distributors—chiefly Avnet and Wave in the United States—to help it with its recruitment drive.

The vendor is looking for VARs that are working in the retail, health care and manufacturing space that already have some knowledge of wireless networks, according to Mead.