Pro AV Catalog
345 Encinal St,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States
Project List
Polycom and Avnet Technology Solutions Announce U.S. and Canadian Distribution Agreement
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Polycom and Avnet to help value-added resellers grow their unified communications businesses
 
SAN JOSE, Calif. and TEMPE, Ariz. - Jun 26, 2012 : Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM), the global leader in open standards-based unified communications (UC), and Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), today announced a distribution agreement for the U.S. and Canada. Under this agreement, Avnet will provide value-added reseller (VAR) partners with a comprehensive selection of Polycom® RealPresence® video and voice solutions. Avnet will help partners accelerate the growth of their UC businesses by enabling them to target high-growth vertical markets where these solutions are in demand, such as energy, finance, government, healthcare and retail.
 
With this new agreement, Avnet partners will be able to leverage Polycom's offerings across vertical markets to help their customers reduce costs; increase collaboration; improve operational efficiency and productivity; educate and train employees; and enhance security for video collaboration. Partners can deliver these solutions in a variety of ways to align with their customers' needs, including on-premise, hosted and cloud deployments.
 
"Polycom complements Avnet's solutions-focused market approach and enhances our capabilities in the unified communications and video collaboration market," said Gavin Miller, vice president of marketing, solutions and sales acceleration, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. "Avnet's partners can combine Polycom's open standards-based solutions with offerings from other industry-leading manufacturers in our portfolio, such as HP, IBM and Microsoft, to develop complete unified communications solutions. We will work closely with our partners to identify collaborative business-building opportunities that span multiple manufacturers' lines and address the communications infrastructure needs of specific high-growth vertical markets, helping partners to deliver solutions throughout their customers' enterprises."
 
Avnet will help partners develop specialized solutions capabilities in high-growth markets through its SolutionsPath® vertical practices focused on the energy, finance, government, healthcare and retail markets. Avnet can also help partners increase their data center expertise in technology specialization areas related to cloud computing, mobility, networking, security, storage, and virtualization.
 
"We're delighted to establish an alliance with Avnet," said Ron Myers, senior vice president, Global Channels at Polycom. "Together, we're delivering UC solutions that power richer conversations and higher productivity by transforming the way business is conducted."
 
"Unified communications is a rapidly growing practice for us and key to how we currently engage with customers," said Tony Balistrieri, vice president, marketing and partner strategy at FusionStorm, an information technology delivery company and Avnet partner. "We are enthusiastic about this new relationship between industry leaders Avnet and Polycom because it will enable us to provide our customers with powerful solutions that can have a significant impact on their operational performance and productivity."
close

Douglas Fearing- Co-Founder / President

A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.

Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.

Lois Fearing- Co-Founder/Accounting, Human Resources

A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.

Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.

Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.

Ehren Tresner-VP of Technology and Innovation

Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.

Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.

Ben Voeck-Director of Commercial AV

With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.

By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.

Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.

Chris Matson-Senior VP of Sales

Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.

Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.