Siemens-Synnex Deal Hoped to Lure UC VARs

Siemens Enterprise Communications has inked a distribution deal with Synnex Corp. that the gearmaker hopes will help in its strategy to improve its street cred with the UC channel.

The company’s North American channel chief, Michael Garland, wants Siemens to be top of mind along with UC market leaders Cisco, Microsoft and Avaya when VARs think about unified communications gear. This task is challenged by the fact that Siemens has been known as a direct sales company.

Garland, senior vice president of North American alliances and channels for Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, has said the company is willing to pay fatter margins to lure top UC VARs and is now counting on Synnex’s Integrated Communications Group to push its Linux-base OpenScape UC Server.

“Our agreement with SYNNEX underscores our dedication to the North American market and will significantly expand our ability to drive adoption of next-generation UC technologies,” said Garland in a press statement. “By making it easier and more profitable for our partners to distribute our solutions and giving them the support they need to succeed, we are also reinforcing our commitment to the channel. We understand that their success is our success.”

Synnex services more than 15,000 resellers in North America. Siemens has about 35 OpenScape UCS VARs and hopes to triple that number in the next few years.