Resellers have a vital role to play in the anticipated mass adoption of Unified Communications (UC) across the business spectrum, according to Simon Welch, UK Channel Development Director at Avnet.

Last month the integrating distributor reinforced its UC channel strategy with a seminar at its updated training and demonstration facility in Bracknell, emphasising the range of technologies (voice, video conferencing, email, voicemail and instant messaging) that can be incorporated in key business applications under an effective UC strategy.

Avnet's strategy recognises customer demand for a demonstrable return on investment at every stage of a UC implementation. "Resellers may not have all of the skills in place to implement a full UC solution, but let's face it, who has?" said Welch. "What they must do is ensure that the elements they are selling - be they telephony, video or messaging - are open and capable of being integrated with other UC components in the future.

"At the very least, they need to provide the customer with a roadmap, thus adding value and retaining account control. Partnering with other organisations that have complementary skills is an essential ingredient and Avnet is brokering trusted relationships in the channel constantly to facilitate this."

Avnet's vendor partners - Audicodes, IBM, Microsoft, Nortel, Samsung, ShoreTel and Tandberg - lined up behind the distributor at the conference to demonstrate how their products and technologies integrate with Avnet's standards-based UC architecture. Welch suggested that a roadmap provides the ideal way for customers to budget for incremental stages in UC implementation, until they achieve a full-blown infrastructure. And resellers must be able to understand how what they are selling will fit at every stage, even if they can't provide a complete solution today.

"Otherwise they will have some very angry customers in the medium term," he warned. "UC, like most new concepts and technologies, was talked about conceptually well before it could be delivered as a commercial reality. Now, however, it has become an essential business tool."

Welch said the only element of doubt when it comes to selling UC is interpreting what the concept actually means. UC resellers will increasingly be defined by having the right blend of complementary skills to provide a genuine solution. "Many organisations are selling telephony and calling it UC," he commented.

"Whereas distributing integrators like Avnet are deploying a full, media-rich UC experience including not only high definition voice but also high definition video, fully integrated with messaging systems which typically emanate from the traditional datacentre. Only organisations that have datacentre and video skills to complement the traditional telephony skills can truly call themselves UC solutions providers," added Welch.