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ZyXEL Partners With Level Platforms; Strengthens Managed Services Offerings for Value Added Resellers

Posted on: Monday, 21 May 2007, 12:00 CDT

ZyXEL Communications Inc. today announced a partnership with LPI Level Platforms Inc., the leading provider of managed services software for IT solution providers servicing small to mid-sized businesses (SMB), to strengthen its managed services offering to value added resellers (VARs). According to the terms of the agreement, Level Platforms will build remote monitoring and management capabilities for ZyXEL products, and ZyXEL will become a Level Platforms Certified Vendor.

More than 2,000 solution providers in 23 countries use Level Platform's award-winning software, Managed Workplace, to provide high performance managed services to their SMB customers. The award winning agentless software allows solution providers/resellers/VARs to remotely monitor and manage their SMB customers' IT infrastructure, including, but not limited to, servers, desktops, firewalls, routers, switches, printers and applications from any web browser. This allows the solution provider to be proactively alerted when events occur, and remotely connect into any device in seconds as well as provide patch management and automated actions to ensure proactive support for high performance, availability and security.

A leading provider of secure broadband networking, Internet connectivity and routing products, ZyXEL worked closely with Level Platforms to develop a customized ZyXEL template that works with the Managed Workplace software.

The main benefit of this new capability is that it allows ZyXEL products to be more easily supported by VARs. "As the channel continues to move away from break-fix support, we are excited to enable VARs to use proactive managed services with our products," said Munira Brooks, senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development at ZyXEL. "The move to managed services allows solution providers to better understand their customer environments and create recurring, highly profitable revenue streams."

Through Managed Workplace, VARs using ZyXEL's ZyWALL products will be notified of events and can respond to them more quickly, saving their customers the cost of sending technicians onsite. In addition, VARs can build managed services revenues around the ZyXEL product line, creating recurring revenue streams based on monthly charges for remote monitoring/management, patch management and asset tracking.

"This partnership is an important step in responding to requests by our reseller customers to add support for ZyXEL products," said Ryck Marciniak, Level Platforms' director Vendor Alliances. "As managed services become more popular in the channel, vendors that embrace it by allowing their products to be remotely monitored and managed will put themselves in an advantageous position in the market."

Level Platforms is well known in the industry for its software, support and complete solution provider program, assisting solution providers in the migration from break-fix to proactive managed services. In addition, the company has received several awards for its software over the past few years, including Microsoft's 2006 Software Sales and Marketing Partner of the Year. Level Platforms has added ZyXEL's award-winning security product line, with plans to expand support to cover all ZyXEL product lines in the future.

About Level Platforms

Level Platforms is the leading provider of managed services software for IT solution providers servicing small and mid-sized end customers through its award winning remote monitoring and management software, Managed Workplace.

Managed Workplace provides everything a managed services provider needs to remotely monitor and manage their end customers' IT networks through a single web based central dashboard. The dashboard presents all customer site data including integrated performance and security monitoring, availability status, real-time alerting, graphical performance reporting, trouble ticketing, and asset inventory (hardware, software, network devices, and patches), monitoring of both local and hosted web sites as well as integrated patch management, remote control and scripting for service automation of routine tasks. In addition to summarizing critical status information, the dashboard, provides immediate "drill-down" access to detailed information about any device or event.

Managed Workplace allows the solution provider to maintain high customer availability at a low cost while achieving long term, high margin recurring revenues and more responsive customer service. Comprehensive managed services training and personalized business coaching, combined with simple per site subscription pricing makes it easy for any solution provider to offer high-profit, customized managed services to end customers of any size. For more information, visit Level Platforms at www.levelplatforms.com.

About ZyXEL Communications

ZyXEL Communications, Inc., with North American headquarters in Anaheim, California, is one of the world's foremost suppliers of broadband networking and Internet connectivity/routing products. ZyXEL is focused on developing MSAPs, xDSL DSLAMs / modems / gateways, cable access, broadband-sharing, VoIP, wireless and security solutions for a large target audience including Telcos, cable operators, ISPs, small-to-medium sized businesses, SOHO, residential and institutional MxU (multi-tenant unit/multi-dwelling unit) markets. Some of ZyXEL's largest customers include: Sprint, Time Warner, Charter, Earthlink, Chunghwa Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telefónica Brazil, Telia, Verizon and many others. ZyXEL's North American distributors include Embarq, Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Wynit. ZyXEL offers its channel partners industry leading incentives with a full line of enterprise-class products through the North America ZySTAR Channel Program. For more information on ZyXEL Communications and its broadband solutions, visit the company's website at http://www.us.zyxel.com.

Source: Business Wire

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