3Com and Tech Data Partner to Attack Networked Telephony Phone Market in Canada
3Com and Tech Data anticipate great opportunities for the NBX® product line as Canadian networked telephony market adoption continues to grow
Mississauga, ON, October 7, 2002 — 3Com Canada has added Tech Data Canada to its growing list of networked telephony partners. 3Com and Tech Data will work to develop new markets for 3Com's NBX® networked telephony business technology across the enterprise, financial services and government sectors. This announcement comes at a time when adoption of networked telephony is experiencing new opportunities in the Canadian market.
"Networked telephony continues to be an growing business technology for 3Com," said Nick Tidd, managing director, 3Com Canada. "This partnership is exciting for our 3ComÒ NBX product line because of Tech Data's growing customer base, contacts, and expertise in specialized enterprise network infrastructure."
Tech Data and 3Com will target key networking, storage and server value-added resellers to position networked telephony as an emerging technology with growing business and sales opportunities in major Canadian markets.
"Despite a slow initial market adoption of IP Telephony, the IP PBX technology frontier is undoubtedly poised to grow explosively over the next few years, " noted Ronald Gruia, Enterprise Communication Program Leader for Frost & Sullivan. "Canadian enterprises increasingly consider IP PBX solutions as key enablers to achieve savings, revenue generation and business innovation - factors that will allow their businesses to gain a competitive edge. The migration from circuit to packet switched enterprise communications systems presents a vast opportunity for vendors, service providers, value-added resellers, system integrators and consultants across Canada."
According to Frost & Sullivan, in 2001, the number of IP Telephony PBX line shipments represented less than 10 percent of the total number of CPE lines shipped in Canada, a substantial increase over 2000. Hence, IP PBX desktops are expected to account for more than half of the total number of stations shipped in Canada by 2005.
"Our main goal is to educate and recruit resellers," says Ray Gonsalves, director of product marketing for Tech Data Canada. "Since this technology will compete with traditional voice technology, we will demonstrate the value, advantages, and prospects of networked telephony to resellers that have not traditionally played in the telephony space."
Tech Data began marketing activities for the NBX products in September 2002. The program includes a tiered training program for networking and storage sales specialists and general sales representatives, as well as for Tech Data's configuration center and technical support team. Tech Data will develop NBX sales tools including product configuration and comparison guides, customer profiles and a Tech Data online NBX resource center.
Tech Data Canada will handle 3Com's awarding winning, full featured and robust NBX product line, including the 3Com® SuperStack® 3 NBX® networked telephony solution and 3Com® NBX® 100 communications system.
About Tech Data Corporation
Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ/NMS: TECD), founded in 1974, is a leading worldwide provider of IT products, logistics management and other value-added services. Ranked 117th on the Fortune 500, the company and its subsidiaries serve more than 100,000 technology resellers in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. Tech Data's extensive service offering includes pre- and post-sale training and technical support, financing options and configuration services as well as a full range of award-winning electronic commerce solutions. The company generated sales of $17.2 billion for its most recent fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2002.
About 3Com Corporation
3Com is a tier-one provider of innovative, practical and high-value networking products for enterprise customers. 3Com is also a leader in Internet protocol (IP) service platforms and access infrastructure for the network service provider market. For further information, please visit ca.3com.com.
