Canada-based VoIP software developer CounterPath has signed a new distribution agreement with global distributor Arrow Electronics (News - Alert). It announces the vendor’s entry into the reseller market. Prior to this deal, CounterPath’s business model was direct sales.

Through this agreement, the Arrow S3 business will provide its extensive roster of customers access to CounterPath’s (News - Alert) industry-leading Bria desktop and mobile softphones including its Client Configuration Server (CCS), touted as an innovative licensing and provisioning system that allows enterprises and operators to easily deploy and manage complete communications solutions. Arrow S3 is also offering CounterPath’s branding, customization and support services to provide enterprise customers with a complete hosted unified communications platform.

 In a statement, David Lover, vice president of Strategy and Technology, Arrow S3, said, “Unified communications and BYOD (bring your own device) are leading telecommunication issues facing business today. Offering quality softphones and advanced CCS, CounterPath gives enterprise customers compelling solutions to address their unified communications and BYOD needs."“We have tested Bria software in our labs and are confident that these SIP-based UC solutions will help simplify the deployment of call center and mobility solutions,” he added.

CounterPath’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Products, Todd Carothers believes that Arrow S3 is a valuable distributor with a broad customer base and a reputation for bringing technology solutions to a broader market. Carothers added, “Arrow S3’s understanding of the marketplace and commitment to developing channel-ready unified communication solutions will further position Bria as the leading BYOD and OTT solution for all sizes of enterprises and service providers. We are a perfect match to be the first standalone softphone to be sold through the Arrow S3 channel.”

According to CounterPath, its current customer base is around tens of millions of downloaded endpoints and comes complete with an extensive vendor interoperability list in the IP-PBX (News - Alert) and SIP-based network infrastructure softswitch space. The company is also marketing mobile applications that enable communications services to be delivered to mobile devices.

The company's Bria softphones support unified communications including voice and video calls over fixed, mobile and Wi-Fi broadband networks.