Master Agency MicroCorp Inc. Joins Hosted VoIP Provider M5 Networks' Partner Program

M5 Networks (M5) announced on March 22 that it has added MicroCorp to its Master Agent Partner Program. MicroCorp agents may now sell M5's voice, UC and hosted contact center services.

For M5, teaming with MicroCorp means a significant increase in distribution opportunities. MicroCorp supports carrier contracts with more than 40 vendors and operates Nautilus, its own cloud based CRM and Back Office application. MicroCorp delivers solutions through one of the nation's largest distribution networks, consisting of over 1,500 Telecommunication Agents, System Integrators and VARs - a community of agents that frequently sell exclusively through MicroCorp.

Partners soon will have additional thrust behind their M5 sales efforts as M5 is being acquired by UC equipment vendor ShoreTel. The acquisition of privately held M5 enables ShoreTel to expand its solutions into the cloud and reach a large and growing market segment of customers that are looking to deploy IP communications through a hosted model. ShoreTel expects the hosted market to grow 20-28 percent in 2012, and over 30 percent per year beyond 2012. With the M5 acquisition, ShoreTel believes that it can meet these hosted market growth expectations. Once the deal closes (likely later this month), ShoreTel plans to certify its resellers to offer hosted services.

M5 uses an internally-developed UC platform complemented with Cisco routers and handsets. It has been transforming its platform to include a richer UC experience. Web and video conferencing capabilities were rolled rolled out in late 4Q11. We would expect continued infrastructure upgrades using ShoreTel equipment wherever possible.

The Company's brand is strongest in New York City and Chicago though its accounts cover the U.S. Its sweet spot is serving SMB demand for cloud-VoIP, unified messaging and contact center services, complete with call recording and analytics. Though M5 has demonstrated its ability to support accounts in the 1,000 and above employee range, its brand recognition there is limited.

M5 is currently in the "visionaries" quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America.