Texas-headquartered unified communications (UC) platform, E-MetroTel, has opened shop in Australia with a Nortel compatible proposition at the heart of its go-to-market strategy.
E-MetroTel was founded in 2009 by former Nortel systems and software engineers after the telecommunications and networking company went under.
Its platform, UCx, utilises a unified architecture suited for Avaya, Aastra, NEC and Cisco enterprise customers (with 10 to 1000 employees) looking to integrate to new communications applications while preserving existing telephony environments.
According to E-MetroTel Australia managing director, Dermot Cox, the UCx’s differentiator is its ability to “support legacy Nortel BCM and CS1000 customers that have Nortel digital and IP handsets” by recycling them onto the UCx platform without degrading the customer experience.
“We have developed our technology to support the customer experience, like screen appearance and ring cadence when the core platform is changed to a UCx,” Cox said.
“Reuse of Nortel phones can save firms significant capital outlay. It means they can protect their current investment, adopt UC capabilities when they need, and migrate to all IP when it makes sense.”
As a new player in the local market, E-MetroTel is looking to recruit resellers with two to four technicians in order to build more intimate and direct relationships.
Cox said the vendor prefers to ship directly rather than through distribution.
Having established a footprint in Canada and the UK, E-MetroTel expanded into Australia as it saw the opportunity to leverage Cox’s experience.
“I was involved in a contract with Commander NT back then which caused Nortel to really ramp up its enterprise resources in Australia,” Cox said.
“When we won the contract with Telstra to introduce a small business system, known locally as Commander NT, we made it into the big time.”
In addition to running E-MetroTel’s sales and channel operations locally, Cox said he aims to move into the New Zealand market within six months.
