BOSCom seeks telephony resellers

Israel-based Better Online Solutions (BOSCom) has been hawking its wares to prospective resellers in Sydney and Melbourne with a view to growing its global VoIP-related sales.

Jenny Lane, director of Victoria-based distributor CMS Better Online Solutions (CMS BOS), said BOS was in the final stages of setting up a formal partner program here and sought resellers across Australia.

"We're building our reseller channel, and BOSCom is out here to assist us to do that," she said.

CMS BOS sought to sign eight to 10 resellers each in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, five or six each in Perth and Adelaide, and two or three in Hobart. The distributor already had eight to 10 on its books for BOSCom, Lane said.

"We'll put them in the different levels -- Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum -- according to their technical expertise. They will actually be our sales legs, so to speak, and we will be the services and support arm," Lane said. "We're targeting 30 or 40 [resellers] in total."

Shalom Amsalem, vice president of international sales at BOS, said he and BOSCom product managers had been meeting resellers and prospective partners in Sydney and Melbourne this week.

The company was setting up technical accreditation and sales training for its resellers and other partners, he said.

"Two years ago, we started with our VoIP products in Australia. I think, this year, we have become more and more proactive in the Australian market," he said.

BOSCom was setting up a global partner program that would, however, be tweaked to suit local conditions in different countries, including Australia, Amsalem said.

"But we're still dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's," Lane added.

CMS BOS distributes SMB-focused VoIP offerings, such as BOSCom's BOSaNOVA VoIP gateways and Quasar Cellular Gateway products. It also partners US-based Nlynx Technologies.

Amsalem said BOSCom had emulation systems, a new VoIP and cellular gateways it hoped would appeal to Australian resellers targeting SMBs.

BOSCom's offerings included PSTN, PBX and IP products, including a gateway that helped channel voice traffic via traditional PABX to the internet. It sat between the PABX and IP network, he said.

Scandinavia -- comprising Norway, Sweden and Denmark -- was one of BOSCom's strongest markets globally. In 2004, the company did something like US$1.1 million in sales there and expected to boost that to US$7 million this year, Amsalem said.

BOSCom had also done well in the UK, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Russia and France. In Asia-Pacific, it had started in Thailand and South Korea as well as in Australia, Amsalem said.

Earlier this year, Melbourne service provider ComputerGate Australia has signed a heads-of-agreement with CMS BOS to sell VoIP products and services.

The companies joined forces, moving into shared premises in outer Melbourne suburb Mt Waverley and working together on sales and support.