Line Systems Announces 2008 Channel Program, Hires Channel Manager

Line Systems Inc. (LSI) has announced its 2008 Agency program, LSI Advantage, which is designed to enhance its channel partners’ and independent agents’ ability to uncover, qualify, propose and close telecommunications sales.

Utilizing a combination of personalized sales support, sales force automation databases and LSI’s proprietary online agent portal, LSI Advantage supports sales activities from the individual sales agent through master agent and branded reseller segments.

The program officially launched this month.

One key difference between the 2007 and 2008 programs is segmentation. LSI is interested in a handful (five to 10) of master agents, and the majority of individual sales agents will be positioned as subagents.

Directly contracted sales agents will still be involved, but they must meet business requirements such as back-office, productivity and niche market. Also new for 2008 is the inclusion of LSI’s branded reseller program, which includes pure wholesale access, billing options and co-branding.

LSI Advantage includes access to all of the network consolidation services LSI offers. This includes traditional POTS line, PRI and local access services. The company also is rolling out additional product sets for 2008 to include On-Net dedicated access for IP, VoIP, MPLS data needs and DS-3 level voice applications.

Furthermore, LSI's contracts and commission programs have been adjusted to reflect the changes.

“LSI Advantage accentuates our commitment to the agent channel we’ve maintained since 1999,” said Mike Miller, CEO of LSI. “LSI respects the needs of our partners, and has invested time, money and personnel to ensure our continued mutual success, while serving customers with state-of-the-art products and services.”

Support has been beefed up for 2008, including the addition of management, marketing, prospecting and technical personnel. LSI has brought on Chris Bonavita as channel sales manager to specialize in recruiting, managing and selling with LSI agents, master agents and resellers. He will work with channel partners nationwide managing their sales efforts into LSI’s five-state services territory. Bonavita has more than a decade of experience in the telecommunications industry, most recently as regional sales director for Cybera, a private broadband managed services provider.

Bonavita said the company is aggressively recruiting new partners that fit into all three segments of the program, and they desire to partner with at least two or three more master agents.