Getronics launches converged communications arm

Service provider Getronics has launched a converged communications division to help it ride an advancing wave of IT and telecommunications convergence.

Rob McCabe, converged communications manager at Getronics, said the service provider had begun building the new division in February and formally launched it last week.

"We have had some quick and good wins," he said. "There is absolute market demand."

He said the mid-market was clamouring for converged communications. The new division has already won 13 customers -- in three-months -- and was targeting 20 by the end of the year.

McCabe pointed out that Getronics' partner Cisco had grown its share from one percent of the communications technology market in 2000 to 15.3 percent this year.

"I think that's from Frost & Sullivan figures in March," he said. "It's huge growth [for Cisco]."

Meanwhile, acquisitions and mergers had created opportunities for Getronics as consolidation occurred in businesses serving 200 to 2000 seat organisations, McCabe said.

"The [proposed] acquisition of Alphawest by Optus opens up an opportunity for us. We're focusing on the mid-tier," he said.

Logicalis' acquisition by IBM and Kaz' by Telstra were other examples, McCabe added.

Getronics' converged communications division had 25 senior consultants, located across its Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra offices. The team would be coordinated using monthly and quarterly sessions, McCabe said.

"We also hope to increase and build the revenue to become 13 percent of Getronics' overall revenue and have a three-year plan to build that to 35 percent of revenue by the end of the financial year 2007," he said.

Paul Timmons, chief executive at Getronics, said at last week's launch of the new division that IP telephony systems for the enterprise had started outselling traditional PBX systems in 2004, according to Frost & Sullivan.

"Boundaries [were] blurring between IT and telecommunications services – fuelling a new raft of acquisitions, changing our market," he said.