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Extending Partner Value-Add
Rossman said developers are excited about the idea of added exposure for selling their applications. More than two-thirds of commercial ISVs, he said, employ fewer than 30 people, and so-called "micro-ISVs" -- developer shops of one or a handful of people -- don't have the resources to market their wares through highly visible sales channels.
"We've had no trouble attracting ISVs, and this allows us to provide applications beyond what we would do at Avaya," Rossman said. "They don't have to establish any relationships with the partners or customers, and for us, it creates stickiness for platforms like Aura."
Software has been a particular recent focus for Avaya, which in the past year has sought to broaden its programs for both ISVs and more traditional VARs interested in app dev revenue.
Avaya's Agile Communication Environment (ACE), for example, allows developers to embed communications into business applications -- an experimental technology when Avaya acquired it with Nortel's former enterprise unit in 2009 but one for which Avaya has drummed up plenty of interest.
Rossman said he expects to see continued interest in app development on the part of corporate customers, and by solution providers themselves, a few of whom have acquired fellow Avaya partners to gain app development expertise. Unified communications powerhouse Transcend United, for example, became a DevConnect partner with its recent acquisition of assets from Relational Technology Solutions.
"We've seen several partners acquire DevConnect companies," Rossman noted, also referencing the 2007 acquisition of American Communication Technologies by top Avaya partner Cross Telecom, now part of Arrow S3. "And we've seen others, like [Eagan, Minn.-based] NACR, develop system integration businesses. It's a great way to extend partner value-add, and software development is high-margin. A lot of our savvy partners are moving in that direction."
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