Peer-to-Peer Blog: VAD and Waffles

I wasnt sure of what to fix this weekend as I needed to smoke some salmon for next weeks national sales meeting. All of the Broadvox and Cypress Communications sales personnel will be in Dallas meeting each other for the very first time. I decided I wanted to do something special for the two days. I used hickory to cold-smoke several whole fillets of salmon and they came out fantastically well. Sunday we had the some smoked salmon with, fresh out of the oven, Bennys Bagels, a local bagel shop. As I am traveling today my wife and I celebrated Valentines Day on Sunday with a grilled romaine Caesar salad (homemade dressing), curly fries (again homemade) with sea salt and grilled prime fillet steak with tarragon butter. Perhaps, the recipe of the week could be the butter as I dont think we have ever discussed herb butters. However, since I did promise the waffle recipe a week or so ago, I thought I should give that before forgetting the promise. Therefore, the recipe of the week is Waffles with Apple Smoked Bacon. Enjoy!

VADs

While VAD and waffles is not as famous as chicken and waffles, it is clear that distributors believe that to be competitive in the market they must increase their value to their customers, VARs and solution providers. Broadvox is fortunate to work with four excellent distributors, ABP Tech, NETXUSA, Scan Source and Computer Telephony Distributing (CTD). Each of these distributors offers a unique service or level of support to their partners and customers. ABP Tech is both a distributor and Master Agent for Broadvox. In fact they were the very first to join our partner program in 2007. Today, their focus on IP communications makes them somewhat unique in the industry. NETXUSA and Scan Source became part of our business ecosystem when we announced GO!VBX. With the merger of Cypress completed, GO!VBX is expected to benefit with the addition of new features, improved scale and the incorporation of unified communications. This should increase the amount of preconfigured phones and portal activity between our VAR partners and NETXUSA and Scan Source. CTD has been a great source for IADs and other products that Broadvox partners require. What is common amongst this group is the recognition that their role is more than that of a simple supplier. They offer training on business strategies, products and provide market information.

Although the concept of the Value Added Distributor is new, it has become the norm fairly quickly. For another supportive view of VADs and their role in supporting the channel, read The Changing Value of the VAD by Channel Partners Editor-in-Chief Khali Henderson.

David Byrd is vice president of marketing and sales for

Broadvox

, and is responsible for marketing and channel sales programs to SMBs, enterprises and carriers as well as defining the product offering. Prior to joining Broadvox, David was the vice president of Channels and Alliances for Eftia and Telcordia. As director of eBusiness Development with i2 Technologies, he developed major partnerships with many of the leaders in Internet eCommerce and supply chain management. As CEO of Planet Hollywood Online he was a pioneer in using early Internet technologies to build a branded entertainment and eCommerce website company partnered with Planet Hollywood. Having over 20 years of telecom sales and marketing experience, he has held executive positions with Hewlett-Packard, Sprint and Ericsson.