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.