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Distributor Westcon
Group’s dedicated Cisco division Comstor will now be offering Cisco’s full
TelePresence portfolio to solution providers looking to incorporate more video
and communications solutions into their product offerings.

Included are
products Cisco recently acquired with the acquisition of Tandberg, and the new
offerings will help solution providers develop new revenue streams, Bill
Corbin, executive vice president of global vendor relations, told Channel
Insider.

“It’s a big
deal to the partner base because it really does help them look at adjacencies
where the traditional Cisco partner is focused on networking,” Corbin said. “This
is significant — bringing video to the partner base – [because it is] also allowing
the partners to exhaust and explore new paths to revenue and new paths to
profitability.”

Cisco TelePresence lets users have live, face-to-face communications
systems in different offices and cities around the world, combining video and networking capabilities.

“Our TelePresence portfolio is specifically designed to put
people at the center of collaboration, changing the very nature of how they
work. Cisco is at the core of this change, as our rich collaboration
suite empowers workers like never before – allowing them to become more
productive by using video and face-to-face collaboration,” said Scott
Brown, vice president of worldwide distribution at Cisco, in a statement.

The addition of Cisco’s TelePresence products to the Comstor
product line also helps to bring Tandberg’s partners into the Cisco fold.

Comstor will offer its partners training and support around
the new TelePresence solutions, Corbin said.

“The biggest opportunity is now to explore and exploit the
revenues and businesses around video. That comes with the challenges that the partner
base is going to have to figure out how to get certified. We’ll invest with
them and Cisco will invest along with them,” Corbin said.

“It is an advanced technology. Its’ not like selling a
switch or a router. It is a video solution.”