**Editor’s Note: Read our list of 20 top UCaaS providers offering products and services via channel partners.**

Mitel made a major channel announcement eight days after announcing its updated partner program.

ScanSource is now the unified communications provider’s main distributor for on-site products. All tier-1 resellers that shift to getting their Mitel products through distribution will do so exclusively through ScanSource.

ScanSource’s Buck Baker

“We will be the primary distributor on any business that we recruit or that Mitel decides to transition to distribution. We will be the only source for those guys to buy products. They cannot buy that from any other distributor,” Buck Baker, ScanSource’s co-president of U.S. and Canada, told Channel Partners.

ScanSource will oversee product inventory as well as provide support, on-boarding, training and certification.

“It’s a continuation of momentum to really go into the channel market of helping our resellers, our VARs, and also our sales partners that are there working in the cloud area,” Baker said.

Mitel said Thursday that Jenne and Ingram Micro will still support their existing Mitel partners.

Jay Bradley, president of Scansource-owned Intelisys, tells Channel Partners that Mitel is scaling into the channel.

“They’re doing all the right things to successfully come into the traditional agent channel. We feel really bullish about where the program goes from here.”

One of the major factors behind this announcement is Mitel’s $430 million acquisition of ShoreTel. Baker says the conversation between ScanSource and Mitel began after the acquisition finalized.

Mitel’s Mike Conlon

Mitel rolled out its unified partner program last week. Part of that announcement was a shift to two-tier distribution. Our Edward Gately wrote that the combined company would consolidate its channel efforts so that a smaller number of distributors would hold a larger amount of inventory, and provide support and training.

“Mitel’s distribution strategy enhances our coverage and simplifies transactions for our partners,” said Mitel’s Mike Conlon, vice president of global channels. “With this approach, they can leverage all the attributes a distributor brings to the table — from inventory management, faster order processing, credit management, financing options and more.”

Conlon said on Thursday that Mitel needs to modernize and simplify its go-to-market strategy in order to keep growing.

“By strengthening our partnership with ScanSource, Mitel partners can take advantage of the speed, simplicity and scale of services available from the market’s premier value-added distributor, while leveraging Mitel’s innovation and technology to support customers and drive growth,” Conlon said.