In keeping with Data#3 chief executive officer John Grant’s vision to align the company as close as possible with the world’s most successful vendors, the reseller has applied for and been granted Gold partner status with networking powerhouse, Cisco Systems.
Grant told ARN in February that the company had worked hard on its relationship with software giant Microsoft, and would apply this same rationale to its vendor relationships anywhere.
If the company was a market leader, and if it was channel-focused, he said, Data#3 wanted to be on board.
The new arrangement with Cisco gives the reseller significantly improved pricing terms when buying direct from the vendor. Data#3 becomes one of 12 Gold-certified Cisco partners in Australia.
Cisco has been actively encouraging its channel partners to move beyond being shifters of switches and routers and to begin marketing the vendor’s “advanced technology” mantra.
Data#3 claims the new accreditation gives credence to its skills in specialist advanced technology areas such as VPN security, wireless networks and network management.
The company said it was also currently looking into gaining specific Cisco accreditation around IP Communications such as Voice over IP).
"This is a milestone event for Data#3,” Grant said. “We expect that Cisco's Gold Partner certification will have a very positive impact on Data#3's business given that many governments and large corporations require this certification as part of their Request for Proposal. Indeed, this certification was a contributing factor in Data#3 being recently awarded a significant public sector contract. We are now on a level playing field with Cisco Gold Certified Australian and multi-national resellers for the provision of specialist network solutions and that presents enormous opportunities for us on a national level."
