CXtec Opens New $2M demo Facility To Showcase Vendors' Technologies

The new Technology Exploration and Conference (tec) Center took six months to design and build. It houses new and legacy equipment from CXtec's vendor partners, which include 3Com, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Nortel Networks. The facility, housed within CXtec's Syracuse, N.Y., headquarters, also includes two video-enabled conference rooms where customers can get an inside look at how new technology would work in their environments.

CXtec's goal for the new tec Center was to design a demo facility where it could test and show how new technology would impact customers' current IT environments, said Frank Kobuszewski, vice president of the technology solutions group at CXtec.

"The key is that it's multivendor and multigenerational, because customers have multiple generations of technology and are spattered with different vendors," he said. "The purpose is to help them migrate to new technologies at a pace that makes sense for them."

CXtec's technicians also will be able to use the facility to duplicate customers' network environments for troubleshooting when problems occur.

The Nov. 7 event attracted about 60 CXtec customers, who gathered to tour the facility and learn about the technologies highlighted within, including IP communications, security and networking. CXtec holds high-level badges from several vendors, including 3Com Gold, Cisco Silver and Nortel Premium Advantage certifications.

Cisco Area Vice President Geoff Fancher and Senior Director of Channels Marketing Luanne Tierney were on hand to celebrate the opening of CXtec's tec Center and tout the strength of Cisco's IP communications portfolio. Joe Burton, director of Cisco's unified communications business unit, also joined from San Jose, Calif., via videoconference to help demonstrate to CXtec customers the benefits of Cisco's video capabilities. "In the past two weeks, I would have had to fly 18,000 miles to be at all of the events I was able to be at virtually [by] using videoconferencing," Burton said.

CXtec's tec Center includes several racks of Cisco equipment, including its core and edge networking, wireless, VoIP and security wares. The center also has TippingPoint security technology from 3Com, ProCurve Networking by HP switches, traditional telephone equipment from Avaya and Nortel, and VoIP gear from 3Com and Nortel.