Westcon Group Launches Mobility Program To Enable VARs

Westcon Group has launched a partner enablement program around mobility solutions that includes sales, professional services, business value/solution and execution pillars, according to the company.

The Tarrytown, N.Y.-based distributor's MobilityPoint program is structured similar to its current ConvergencePoint, SecurityPoint and CollaborationPoint programs, but for the first time Westcon has created a program with messaging aimed at end-users, not for vendors or VARs, said Chris Metaxas, vice president of business development at Westcon Group.

"Our messaging is all about end-user enablement. It's about how to impact the market around end users," Metaxas said. "We have documented capabilities to be the outsourced marketing arm for our VARs. We're there to be part of their business. Conversely, if a VAR doesn't us to reach out to end users, we can help them build a customer list from Hoover's or wherever."

Vendors in the program include Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, Hitachi Cable, Nokia, Meru Networks , Motorola, Nortel Networks and Trapeze Networks.

After joining Westcon Group, Metaxas said he looked at the market and thought the vendors were doing "heavy lifting" on mobility sales through the channel. The goal of MobilityPoint is to unburden the vendors of that role, Metaxas said. "They're doing all the work. That doesn't scale from a channel standpoint. A lot of channel partners don't have the right expertise at all to truly go drive end users to their customer base. It's all based around enablement. We define enablement as being able to help a VAR drive business value with appropriate services to extract the mobile opportunity."

Westcon has created four "pillars" for MobilityPoint: sales sales enablement, professional services enablement, business value/solution enablement and execution enablement.

"We will help the VAR drive business value appropriate for mobile implementations, in terms of ROI, operating expenses, savings, efficiencies. We're orienting VARs with solutions, collarteral and vs. the traditional role of 'Here's a great new widget with a new VPN feature that will save the world," Metaxas said.

As part of the program, Westcon has created customized solutions and collateral specifically designed for several types of VARs including networking resellers, security resellers, service providers, voice resellers and wireless resellers. The packaged solutions include: cellular gateways, 802.11n mobile performance networks, wireless mesh, mobilized business communicatiosn, controller-based wireless security, fixed mobile covnergence, locations based services and voice over WLAN (VoWLAN).

The program is designed both for solutions currently not selling mobility solutions and those with experience in that area, he said.

"Some may sell mobility, but it's just a kid that walks around with a sniffer doing a site survey," he said. "For a doctor's office, that's probably fine, but a couple of floors of a midmarket account? That doesn't cut it. Or doing a complex solution like voice-over infrastructure, or location-based services, or video or voice over wireless LAN. VARs may say they have expertise, but vendors do all the work because the expertise the VARs have aren't enough."