By Margaret Kanini
Kenya: Kenyan based company, Mitsumi Distribution has signed a distribution deal with an American global leader in Video and audio conferencing solutions company, Polycom.
Polycom, which is a global leader provider of unified communication technology, hopes to bank on the ever-growing African economy for its products.
Chris Prowse Polycom’s regional sales director for Saudi Arabia, Levant and Africa said the firm considers Africa as a key market hence the signing of the contract with Mitsumi.
“This confirms the intention and determination of polycom to make innovations in unified communications and video conferences available to wider audiences,” he told a media briefing in Nairobi Thursday.
He said Mitsumi would provide distributor partnership within East and West African regions with Polycom’s Real Presence Platform solutions, which would meet all the video collaboration needs of any organisation therein.
Polycom’s ray of services to the clients include Telepresence, video, voice and infrastructure solutions which are all built on open standards and are available to clients using mobile phones PCs, tablets and a dedicated room system.
This agreement marks the first foray for the Kenyan authorised distributor, for leading global IT brands into the UC video space, a deal which will help African countries save on the communication costs involved in traveling distances to conduct and attend meetings or other engagements.
Francis Mballa, Polycom’s Solutions and Architect expert explained that Polycom’s clients would access video conferencing services even while on a public shared Internet and with only 256 bandwidths for clear connectivity or less than that for voice connections.
Distribution portfolio
Jagat Shah, Chairman and Chief Executive of Mitsumi said that Kenya has shown a growing interest for video conferencing solutions and so by adding polycom to their value distribution portfolio, Mitsumi would help the firm enhance value distribution to Kenyans.
“Market changes have increased the number of meetings and more businesses are being conducted today, we are coming in to help African Business men conduct seamless businesses,” Mr Shah said. Polycom has got a brand recognition in the world and has been operating in Kenya since five years ago.
The IT firm already has over 200,000 video systems installed in 50 different companies in Africa. The company too, like other global giants headquartered in the country have decided to use Kenya, which they describe as the IT hub for East Africa, to reach other East African countries.
“We are positive that this new partnership will help us boost our agenda of developing the African IT market,” Prowse added.
