Channel Globe-Trotters

Avaya actually took steps last week to make it easier for VARs and solution providers to handle multinational network deployments. Its German subsidiary has inked a deal with Global Telecom & Technology (GTT), a multinetwork operator with headquarters in McLean, Va., a presence in 50 countries, and offices in New York; London; Paris; Dusseldorf, Germany; and New Delhi, India.

The deal will allow Avaya's German sales channel to serve multinational accounts with an end-to-end communications network with a single invoice, but it also works the other way, said Chris Britton, executive vice president of GTT EMEA.

"The problems today lie in knitting everything together. You're getting an integrated network solution," he said.

That, in essence, is the problem Meridian IT is wrestling with. Being larger actually has made things more difficult, Trillhaase said, since Meridian often buys direct from its vendors and even the most conscientious U.S. channel manager often doesn't know their counterpart in different countries, so it's hard to get answers. (Trillhaase would rather not name the vendors involved.) The company sidestepped its lack of an in-country presence for some locations by creating a detailed deployment guide.

Trillhaase challenged vendors to step up to the plate and create multinational partner advisory councils to help debate these issues and create some standard policies.

"I don't care if my biggest competitors in the world are there. We are all making the same mistakes," she said.

Frank Garrelts, a former reseller executive who is the founding president of the ITCA, said this is the spirit behind the organization, which already represents dealers and resellers from 64 countries. One thing ITCA hopes to improve first is communications, by encouraging online collaborative communities that let solution providers share ideas and get questions answered—straight from the source.

"America is a country where you have the first contact to the vendors, to the main office of the vendors," Garrelts said.

Getting access to the source of the original ideas is also important for Umesh Wadhwa, president of eDirect, a seven-year-old, 19-employee solution provider from Warsaw, Poland, that originally had ties to an organization in the United Kingdom.

Wadhwa was an attendee of the inaugural XChange Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary, put on by CRN parent CMP Technology. An event focused on western Europe is planned for November in Barcelona, Spain.

"You have to be adaptive to new ideas," Wadhwa said, saying he will definitely attend future events and hopes for a more regular dialogue. "It doesn't matter if the idea comes from the United States or Sri Lanka."