August 31, 2011

By John Lahtinen

Community Development Editor, TMCnet

 

Patton (News - Alert), a multi-national organization that designs, develops, and manufactures electronic communications equipment for network access, connectivity, voice-over-IP, triple play and video surveillance, has signed Sistems Enterprise Communications (News - Alert) (SEN), the Siemens Enterprise Communications Distributor and Certified Preferred Partner for Central America and the Caribbean, as a value-added distributor and systems integrator to deliver converged-IP and legacy communications solutions in the region.

SEN will now be able to offer Patton’s catalog of more than 1,000 US-manufactured products for carrier, enterprise and industrial networks to customers throughout Central America. 

“The Patton-SEN alliance addresses a real need for local sources of reliable networking equipment,” said Roberto Bonilla, CEO at Sistems Enterprise. “Patton is a well-known and coveted brand here in Central America. Now SEN can deliver quick, easy access to Patton products for any customer in the region – with local delivery, local system-integration services and local technical-support.”

The partnership enables telecom operators, businesses and governments all across Central America to develop and maintain new converged-IP – as well as traditional TDM and serial – communications infrastructures and services, based on Patton’s reliable network equipment. Patton’s extensive portfolio, including legacy connectivity, multiservice-access, converged-voice-and-data (VoIP), Ethernet extension, and mobile-video-surveillance solutions, enables SEN to expand the breadth of solutions now available in the fast-growing region in Latin America.

“SEN has an extensive, well-developed service organization with strong penetration in many vertical markets and years upon years of experience with virtually every conceivable network application,” said Ernesto Casas, Regional Director for Patton.  “Partnering with SEN puts us closer to our customers while adding tremendous strength to the overall value proposition.”

SEN – with market penetration comprising such regional carriers as ICE, Telefonica and Claro (News - Alert), plus an extensive network of resellers and end-user customers – offers system design and project management services in addition to order fulfillment, system integration and customer support.

Headquartered in San Jose, Costa Rica, SEN recently opened a new office in Panama and also operates in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.Although its distribution capacity is now expanded by more than 1,000 Patton products, SEN’s strategic plan remains focused on four key areas:

• Complement current Siemens Hipath and Unified Communications (News - Alert) solutions with enhanced Corporate VoIP Solutions;
• Supply regional telecom carriers and operators with locally-available (in-country) equipment for traditional operations;
• Enhance and enrich telecom providers’ end-customer service offerings by delivering a broad selection of CPE, DSL, and IAD options, loaded with such value-added features as DownStreamQoS, voice-encrypted VoIP VPN technology, and VoIP and Data Survivability with Dial Backup and IP Link Redundancy; and
• Increase public safety within the region by promoting Patton’s VisualityTM mobile-video-surveillance solutions for security and situational awareness.

In recent news, the Patton-ABP-Broadvox (News - Alert) Alliance recently launched their VoIPReady offering that delivers instant enterprise communications based on Patton’s SmartNode VoIP CPEs and Broadvox SIP trunks, pre-configured by ABP for out-of-the-box turn-up.

Earlier this year, Patton announced IBM Sametime certification and Microsoft OCS certification for SmartNode products. The company also recently expanded the SmartNode PRI gateway series enabling customers to choose the ideal, best-priced solution for their infrastructure, business processes, and go-forward communications strategy. 

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It’s also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

John Lahtinen is Community Development Editor for TMCnet. He has more than 15 years of combined professional and educational experience involving news, education, and marketing. John holds a master's degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell