Sonus Introduces Sonus Partner Assure(TM) - A Global Channel Partner Program Designed to Expand Coverage of the Enterprise UC Market

Sonus Partner Assure Addresses the Growing Demand for Enterprise Session Border Controllers

Key Takeaways:

  • The Sonus Partner Assure channel program provides resellers of enterprise communications solutions with a turnkey way to sell channel-ready Sonus products and services
  • The Sonus go-to-market sales model to enterprises is designed to be solely fulfilled by certified Sonus resellers
  • Certified Sonus resellers have exclusive access to the award-winning Sonus SBC 5200 and the recently announced Sonus SBC 5100 Session Border Controllers (SBCs)

WESTFORD, Mass. – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Sonus Networks, Inc., (NASDAQ: SONS), a global leader in SIP communications, today introduced its global channel partner program, Sonus Partner Assure. Sonus Partner Assure is designed to provide resellers of enterprise communications solutions with a comprehensive, yet turnkey program to sell channel-ready Sonus products and services.

The offering wholly addresses the growing demand for Session Border Controllers (SBCs) that enable SIP trunking and SIP-based Unified Communications applications.

Sonus counts several Fortune 500 enterprises among its SBC customers, including the world's largest banks, airlines, retailers and healthcare providers. A recent Infonetics Research report shows the enterprise SBC market up 60% from 2010 to 2011 and expected to grow 26% year-over-year through 2016. Typical savings from SIP trunking, trunking consolidation and the move to VoIP can reduce traditional enterprise telecom bills by up to 75%. Sonus Partner Assure positions certified resellers to serve this growing market demand.

For resellers, key benefits of Sonus Partner Assure include:

  • Complete training for sales and technical personnel, intended to create strong technology and product competency, while efficiently utilizing partners' time and resources
  • Joint marketing consulting and support encompassing market planning, field engagement strategy, demand generation support and discretionary business development funds
  • No go-to-market conflict. The Sonus go-to-market model for sales to enterprises is designed to be solely fulfilled by certified resellers. To assist both channels and customers, Sonus has a direct touch enterprise sales team and a staff of channel account managers. The Sonus Services Organization is chartered with building out Partner Services capacity to support this effort
  • Easy-to-use business and transactional tools that make it simple to access product information, design customer solutions as well as place and manage orders

Enterprises that want to reduce communications costs while enabling additional features can be confident that a certified Sonus partner will address their needs in a capable and professional manner.

Key components of the Sonus portfolio available for resale include:

  • The Sonus SBC 5200, specifically designed for high-capacity Fortune 500 environments. An Internet Telephony magazine "Product of the Year" recipient, the Sonus SBC 5200 supports 64,000 sessions on a single server; more than twice the capacity of the similar product from the leading SBC competitor.
  • The recently introduced Sonus SBC 5100 is purpose-built to leverage SIP-based networks as enterprises look to simplify their infrastructure and deploy video and Unified Communications features. The Sonus SBC 5100 possesses the advanced features that have made Sonus the fastest growing SBC brand among service providers and packages them in a form that propels enterprise networks to perform efficiently so businesses can communicate smarter, faster and more collaboratively.

Enterprises seeking a certified Sonus channel partner and resellers interested in applying to the Sonus Partner Assure program can visit sonus.net/partners for more information.

Quotes

"Sonus solutions are well established in the service provider segment and as SIP adoption grows among enterprises they too need increasing levels of scale and capability," said Diane Myers, Principal Analyst with Infonetics Research, Inc. "The announcement of Sonus Partner Assure provides resellers with the resources they need to address customer demand for SBCs and ensures enterprises can gain expanded access to the Sonus portfolio with confidence."

"Building Sonus Partner Assure and ensuring that we have the right portfolio, processes and tools in place to be an effective business partner for resellers was a 12 month process," said Todd A. Abbott, Sonus Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing and Business Development. "By starting from scratch we built a channel program that is simple, practical and predictably profitable for resellers, while ensuring that enterprises have access to the very best in services and capabilities as they move their networks to leverage the benefits of SIP."

"Sonus Partner Assure is designed to enable enterprise resellers to truly take advantage of the fast adoption of SIP trunking and SIP based applications for video and Unified Communications," said Joe McLaughlin, Sonus Vice President of Channels. "Today's announcement provides a solid path for enterprises to seek session border controller solutions with confidence from a certified Sonus channel partner."

Other Facts

Tags/Keywords

Sonus, SONS, Sonus Partner Assure, channel, reseller, VAR, session border controller, SBC, session initiation protocol, SIP, SIP trunking services, IPsec, media transcoding, ipv6 interworking, Sonus SBC 5100, Sonus SBC 5200, Sonus SBC 9000, Unified Communications, UC, Cloud VoIP communications, Session Management, employee productivity, enterprise communications.

About Sonus Networks

Sonus helps the world's leading communications service providers and enterprises embrace the next generation of SIP-based solutions including VoIP, video and Unified Communications through secure, reliable and scalable IP networks. With customers around the globe and 15 years of experience transforming networks to IP, Sonus has enabled service providers and enterprises to capture and retain users and generate significant ROI. Sonus products include session border controllers, policy/routing servers, subscriber feature servers and media and signaling gateways. Sonus products are supported by a global services team with experience in design, deployment and maintenance of some of the world's largest and most complex IP networks. For more information, visit www.sonus.net or call 1-855-GO-SONUS.

Important Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding future events that involve risks and uncertainties.

Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may relate to, among others, expected growth rates, future business prospects and market conditions. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These include, but are not limited to: the timing of the Company's recognition of revenues; the ability to recruit and retain key personnel; difficulties supporting our new strategic focus on channel sales; difficulties expanding the Company's customer base; difficulties leveraging market opportunities; difficulties providing solutions that meet the needs of customers; market acceptance of the Company's products and services; rapid technological and market change; the ability to protect intellectual property rights; the ability to maintain partner, reseller, distribution and vendor support and supply relationships; higher risks in international operations and markets; the ability to hire and retain employees; the impact of increased competition; currency fluctuations; litigation; changes in the market prices of the Company's common stock; actions taken by significant stockholders; failure or circumvention of the Company's controls and procedures and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission by the Company, including in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors", and Part II, Item 7 and Item 7A "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations", and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in Part I, Items 2 and 3 "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk", and Part II, Item 1A, "Risk Factors", in the Company's quarterly reports filed thereafter.

Any forward-looking statements represent Sonus' views only as of the date on which such statement is made, and should not be relied upon as representing Sonus' views as of any subsequent date. While Sonus may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point, Sonus specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law.

Sonus is a registered trademark of Sonus Networks, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50299861&lang=en

For Sonus Networks:
Kerry Brackett, +1 978-614-8784
kbrackett@sonusnet.com
or
Lois Paul & Partners
Anastasia Efstratios, +1 617-986-5873
anastasia_efstratios@lpp.com

Subscribe