Nectar Launches Advanced Network Assessment Partner Program

New partner certification program enables successful, reliable design, deployment and reporting for enterprise-grade UC environments

Nectar Services Corp. announced today that it has launched a new advanced partner designation program. The Network Assessment Partner Program helps enterprise customers identify partners that have been certified to leverage Nectar's Perspective solution to design, deploy and report the results of network assessments for both cloud and on-premise UC deployments, including Microsoft Skype for Business Online.

Microsoft's new hosted service model provides enterprise customers the ability to support ever-changing business needs while gaining control over operating costs and an increasingly complex software and hardware infrastructure. However, the value gained through hosted UC services does not automatically materialize if enterprises move their users to the cloud without the proper planning. A key component of Microsoft's Skype for Business Operations Framework (SOF) centers around planning and the need for assessments prior to a deployment.

Nectar, too, believes that preceding the deployment of hosted UC services, well informed enterprise customers will want to confirm that network connections between their major locations are capable of supporting anticipated voice, video and collaboration traffic. For this type of network assessment, enterprise customers need a trusted and comprehensive partner who understands the complexities of geographically distributed, multi-vendor UC networks, and has the assessment tools and skill sets necessary to thoroughly test the network's ability to support the enterprise's growing UC traffic.

With this guiding principle, Nectar is very pleased to announce the first two Nectar Certified Network Assessment Program Partners. These initial partners are recognized UC market leaders and include:

Avanade, Inc. - Avanade is the leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions and design-led experiences for its clients, delivered through the power of people and the Microsoft ecosystem. Avanade offers a broad portfolio of UC capabilities to enable clients in their UC adoption. The company's capabilities include deployment models which span Office 365, private cloud, hosted and on-premises and it has designed deployments for more than one million seats of Skype for Business and Lync.

Modality Systems - Modality Systems is a specialist provider of consulting and managed services for Skype for Business. The company's proposition, which is designed to support a customer through every stage of their journey, is underpinned by a highly qualified and well respected team of experts with a wealth of experience. Modality is proud to have been selected by Microsoft as its 2016 Partner of the Year for Communications.

According to one of the certified partners above, "Planning and managing a multi-vendor UC environment can easily become a cumbersome task. With Nectar's Network Assessment Partner Program certification, we are now able to offer our customers the confidence that their enterprise network is prepped and ready for their UC deployments. Any provider can suggest and install the best UC solution for an enterprise. Nectar's partner program and solutions enable us to offer our customers a unique, in-depth understanding of their network that spans from network assessment all the way to remediation."

"Simply designing and deploying an enterprise's UC network is just a small portion of the total value these trusted and certified program partners are able to provide to their customers. Nectar is proud to be associated with Avanade and Modality Systems in the initial launch of our Network Assessment Partner Program," said Tom Tuttle, senior vice president of global UC strategy and alliances at Nectar Services. "With the launch of our Network Assessment Partner Program, we are ensuring that our partners have the necessary tools to help identify potential network issues prior to a UC deployment, thus minimizing the impact on enterprises and users moving to the cloud, such as Skype for Business."

Nectar's vast history of providing advanced software solutions to monitor and manage multi-vendor, on-premise, hybrid and cloud UC environments is why Nectar was named a 2016 Microsoft Partner of the Year finalist. Further, Nectar is a Microsoft Gold Certified Communications Partner, an initial and still one of only three certified IT Pro Tools Partners for Skype for Business.

Nectar is demonstrating and providing theater presentations of its Perspective network assessment solution along with its complete UC Management Platform (UCMP) solution at Microsoft Ignite this week at booth #2026.