Lucent Technologies announced that it has signed a Value Added Distributor (VAD) agreement with AFINA, a regional distributor of products and professional services for Internet/Intranet, to resell Lucent's Bell Labs-developed comprehensive security portfolio as part of its larger IT offerings to Latin American IT resellers, system integrators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom carriers, and enterprises.
This new partnership will enable AFINA and its reseller and carrier clients to directly offer solutions to enterprises through the suite of Lucent's carrier-grade network and security components -- a portfolio that spans the full spectrum of network security from firewall and VPN functionality to robust bandwidth management and secure mobile data networking.
Lucent's security portfolio includes the VPN Firewall Brick IP services portfolio, the Lucent Security Management Server and the Lucent IPSec Client. AFINA will also have a master reseller agreement for Lucent's VitalSuite products for network management in Latin America.
With the announcement, Lucent is introducing a two-tier channel model in the Latin American region, providing leading national IT distributors with the technology, products, and support infrastructure to sell best-in-class solutions for delivering secure VoIP and data networking applications to local security resellers, systems integrators, ISPs, smaller carriers and enterprises.
'We are pleased to have signed this VAD agreement with AFINA to support our overall global strategy to leverage our hardware, software, and management tools to deliver carrier-grade security solutions that meet the needs of enterprise customers,' said Francisco Berrueta, Director Global Business Partners for Lucent Technologies in Latin America.
'Through AFINA's network of experienced security reseller partners, we can extend our expertise and leverage our Bell Labs innovations to address the complex security needs of enterprise customers.'
Lucent said that it is currently recruiting more distributors for security in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions throughout the world, implementing the two-tier channel model in all key markets.
'AFINA represents our first VAD partner in the Caribbean-Latin America Region as we extend the benefits of our security solutions to enterprise customers throughout the world,' said Carmen Sorice, Director, Global Business Partner Programs for Lucent Technologies. 'We look forward to working with AFINA as we continue to expand our global two-tier security distribution program and build on the success of our VAD launch in Europe earlier this year.'