VAR Solarcom Offers Telecom, Other Services To Peers

A solution provider has a message to smaller VARs looking to beef up their offerings,and their margins ,without expensive investments in services: partner with us.

Solarcom Partner Services, the newest business entity under Solarcom Holdings, based here, is recruiting solution providers in the hardware, network and telecom to sell its professional services.

SolarcomPS is leveraging the IT integration and service capabilities of its sister organizations within Solarcom Holdings, said Steve Moody, vice president and general manager of SolarcomPS.

These include Solarcom, a Sun solution provider and a provider of internetworking, enterprise systems, storage and financial services; Atlantix Global Systems, an after-market equipment broker; and Comlanta, a provider of business recovery and hosting services.

"We assembled a suite of services and extended them to the channel to allow (solution providers) to fill in the gaps of what they provide," Moody said.

Moody said a hardware reseller could expect 30 percent gross margins on SolarcomPS' professional services. In addition, the company offers 12 percent to 15 percent commissions on monthly billings related to telecom services and 20-plus percent commissions on monthly payments for managed security and database services.

Erny Bonistall, president and chairman of Global Solutions, a Norcross, Ga.-based telecom services provider and consultant, said he just signed with SolarcomPS and was impressed by the way SolarcomPS links to his company's offerings.

While Global Solutions focuses on helping clients handle telecom problems such as moving offices, managing call centers and understanding billings and contracts, there are other services it could offer customers, Bonistall said.

"Solarcom actually came to us, asked us questions, and understood our needs," he said. "They really brought us in as partners."

Moreover, after the last meeting with Solarcom, Global Solutions walked out with a half-dozen potential client leads with telecom billing problems, Bonistall said. Global Solutions talks to a lot of service providers looking for partnership opportunities, but most are looking only for leads to increase their business, said Bonistall.

One of the toughest parts of trying to partner with other solution providers is the fear that someone is out to steal customers, said Ted Glahn, president of Solarcom.

"We want to prove we can be a great partner, and our partners can make more money, and we won't steal customers," Glahn said.

Partnering with SolarcomPS is not like bringing in a vendor to do services, Glahn said. "If you call in an Sun rep, he's interested in selling Sun," he said. "Maybe the solution needs a Cisco part, but the Sun rep may not care."

Glahn also said unlike larger service firms, SolarcomPS is focused on midrange enterprises in the $50 million to $1.2 billion range rather than on Fortune 500 companies.

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