Master agency Intelisys Communications Inc. and solutions provider Resource Communications LLC have agreed to merge, combining their respective focuses on SMB and enterprise markets to provide a full-service communications entity the companies executives say will accelerate sales for its suppliers and extend benefits to its sales partners.

Nothing changes; the merger simply supercharges both organizations and ensures long-term stability, says Dana Topping, president of Resource Communications, a company founded in 1991 and bought by Topping more than three years ago.

Intelisys Communications, which was founded in 1994 by Rick Dellar and Rick Sheldon, will be the surviving corporate entity; however, the company will continue to use the Resource brand, which executives say has attained credibility among the enterprise customers it serves.

The combined company, which will be coowned by Topping, Dellar and Sheldon, now represents 31 service providers and supports nearly 400 subagents from offices in Petaluma and San Jose, Calif.

The official union was preceded by an eightyear working relationship between the two companies, which have been agents of one another and have shared suppliers. Aside from the different customer targets, the primary difference between the distributors is their business models. While Intelisys has used subagents exclusively, Resource has relied predominantly on direct sales.

Intelisys co-founder Dellar says the addition of the direct sales force will not compete with Intelisys downline, but instead will allow partners to leverage Resources proven methods and tools to tackle larger enterprise opportunities. It will empower them, not compete with them as they seek to move upmarket, he says.

In particular, agents will be able to use Resources CRM system and facilitiesmanagement toolset CommADVISOR to serve enterprise customers with inventory management and billing reconciliation services. As a first step, thats an immediate gain, says Dellar, adding over the long term, the merged company plans to build a lightweight version of the program to address the SMB market.

Sheldon says this is a logical next step to enable Intelisys partners to add more value to their offerings in order to cement their customer relationships.