Eighteen months after acquiring Ericsson's Enterprise Communications division, Aastra is completing the unification of its product lines by launching a new partner program and UK-based training academy for the channel.

The new look and feel will make it easier for resellers to diversify into new markets, says UK and Ireland General Manager, Michael Calvert, and will be used as a key selling point to attract new partners. "Obviously, a partner program is important for any manufacturer," explains Calvert.

"But for us it's part of the culmination of the successful integration of the Ericsson Enterprise Communications division. The real driver behind having one unified program is to offer the same levels of rewards and requirements for all our resellers whether they're coming from our traditional Aastra SME product or what was the Ericsson portfolio."

The highlights of the new program are a single look and feel for all Aastra product lines, backed up by pre- and post-sales support and a newly established training academy. The slogan for the initiative is ‘Commitment deserves reward', but Calvert is keen to point out that doesn't mean it's designed to provide those spend the most to get into the highest tiers win the best support. "We believe that a partner who commits to us should be rewarded for their investment," he explains. "We recognise that partners at the smaller end of the program, the Certified or Select levels, require a different level of support to resellers at the large end. Smaller resellers may not have dedicated marketing functions, for example, and therefore access to marketing tools is more relevant to them, while a larger organisation will require a different kind of support. We've tried to tailor the program so that it's not a case of ‘as you progress you get more support', but rather more appropriate support."

Enabling all partners to access all parts of the product portfolio is a key step forward too. As well as easing the transition for resellers looking to move into the Enterprise market from SME communications - or vice versa - Calvert says that it fits with Aastra's philosophy of encouraging mix-and-match solutions dependent on a customer's needs. "What the market has come to realise is that unified communications means something completely different in a hospital environment compared to, say, a hospitality environment or an office," he added. "It's all about how these tools can be customised and used around a particular application and there's really not a one size fits all. This is where the ability to mix-and-match call managers, applications, admin' tools etc gives our partners the ability to design a solution around a client, and allows the channel to add value and retain that customer."

To achieve this, Calvert acknowledges that it's not enough simply to guarantee interoperability between Aastra and Ericsson kit. "We believe in open standards, and our vision for the future is that there are four different modules within any telephone system - Call managers, telephones and handsets, voice intensive applications and administrations - which should conform to open standards, like SIP, allowing customers to pick and choose different modules to make up the perfect solution," he said.