By Erin Harrison, Executive Editor, Cloud Computing

Tapping into the needs of the small- and medium-sized business market, Chicago-based Telecom Brokerage (News - Alert), Inc. and ADTRAN have teamed to help channel partners drive revenue growth and become more competitive in this space.

 

In a recent interview with TMCnet, officials at TBI, one of the nation’s largest telecom master agents, said the partnership will help channel partners in the small and medium enterprise market. The Chicago-based company represents more than 60 industry providers and over 800 independent channel partner agencies.

 

“Combining ADTRAN’s (News - Alert) industry-leading solutions and TBI’s partnerships with leading national and regional service providers brings an added benefit for channel partners to drive revenue growth,” said Mark Garcia, TBI’s IT director who is in the process of becoming ADTRAN-certified.

 

TBI recently blogged: “There is a certain cell phone maker who likes to say that for every issue or question ‘there is an app for that.’ If you have one of their devices, you know that for the most part this is true. Likewise, when it comes to finding solutions to the demands of any network, the same applies to ADTRAN. This is true from the simplest LAN to global networks; ADTRAN has a hardware-based solution.”

 

ADTRAN solutions enable voice, data, video, and Internet communications across copper, fiber, and wireless network infrastructures.

 

Always interested in improving its own vendor catalog, company officials said that TBI members have spent the last few weeks working on their ADTRAN certifications. The ADTRAN certification program is designed to equip qualified individuals and companies with the market and technical knowledge required to excel in the selling, installation and configuration of ADTRAN products and solutions.

 

Like their fleet of routers and switches, ADTRAN offers many degrees of certification. TBI officials said that each is a valuable tool for selling ADTRAN products as well as improving your IP telephony and networking knowledgebase. For the sales professional, there are certifications in IP telephony, internetworking and microwave wireless.

 

For the more advanced, there are technical certifications available in the same areas. According to TBI officials, the ADTRAN certifications are a boon to anyone who not only sells ADTRAN products but also supports them for their clients.

 

There are more advanced levels of these technical certifications and training varies per product, some can be done as self study while others can be taken online or at in-person classes.

 

Based on a previous blog post, TBI officials professed that learning new skills opens doors to opportunities for upselling, which can preserve and grow existing relationships and can also impress new customers.

Erin Harrison is a senior editor with TMCnet, primarily covering telecom expense management, politics and technology and Web 2.0. She serves as senior editor for TMC's (News - Alert) print publications, including "Internet Telephony", "Customer Interaction Solutions", "Unified Communications" and "NGN" magazines. Erin also oversees production of TMCnet's weekly iPhone (News - Alert) e-Newsletter. To read more of Erin's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Erin Harrison