Reseller Networked Information Systems Lauded by Cisco as Top VAR

June 8, 2005

Networked Information Systems (NIS), an IT solutions provider from Woburn, Mass., has received an award from Cisco Systems as U.S. Theater Partner of the Year. Cisco based the award on NIS's record as best-performing channel partner in the U.S. NIS's release from today is on TMCnet at:

Networked Information Systems Named Cisco U.S. Partner of the Year

NIS has indeed racked up an impressive record since the company started in 1999, reaching $124 million in revenue in 2004.

The 1999 start date is significant -- that means NIS weathered the storm during the recent�tech bust. However, this fits with a business philosophy I have long subscribed to: When bad economic times hit, that is the time to increase your efforts, especially in the all-important areas of marketing and R&D. If you do that, you stand a better chance of coming out ahead of your competitors once the economy rebounds, since most of your competitors will be cutting their budgets (and consequently their own throats)�in these critical areas.

NIS founders Thomas Foley and Robert Murphy credit their success to "customer focus�-- including a big investment in project management skills – and the decision to focus its solutions business on a few key technology platforms." Especially noteworthy is that IP communications was one of the technology areas they picked as a focus -- putting them in an excellent position for growth in the current market.

The following quotes from Foley and Murphy are telling:

“A key factor in our growth was the decision to build a company that could leverage the convergence of technologies in areas like IP communications and storage area networks,” said Foley. “That meant investing in a broader set of skills than most VARs. For example, we wanted to be first out of the gate in IP Telephony. That meant we had to acquire expertise in TCP/IP data and voice communications, Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory, storage management, and data security. Not many companies possess that range of skills even today.”

Said Murphy, “Convergence creates opportunities, but it causes problems, too. Companies that have built comprehensive practices across these areas grabbed the early lead in IP telephony, storage and wireless infrastructure. The ones that didn’t were late to market and are still chasing the train.”

Today's release says that NIS has been ranked the last three years�among the world's top 50 VARs by "VAR Business" magazine. NIS says that it beat out 850 other Cisco partners for the Partner of the Year award announced today.

AB -- 6/8/05