ChannelWorx was once a specialist value added security and networking distributor, but it is quickly becoming the place to put your VoIP gear.

The company, which made its first entry into the VoIP space when it was appointed to distribute IP Telephony equipment for SMB vendor Zultys, now has another VoIP customer under its belt in the guise of Avaya.

Tony Warhurst, country manager for Zultys in Australia told VoIP News, the choice of ChannelWorx as a partner was made in part because its security and networking skills positioned it perfectly to help solution providers new to the voice area.

Warhurst has since sung the praises of ChannelWorx on several occasions saying the distributor has turned out to be a boon for sales of the Zultys product in Australia.

They must have been doing well to attract the attention of a global IP Telephony leader the scale of Avaya.

Avaya has a strong global alliance with Juniper for networking gear and ChannelWorx' relationship with that company no doubt contributed to the appointment.

The deal comes after a very public spat between Avaya and systems integration partner Touchbase. The two companies reportedly squabbled over the share of services business, with Avaya seeming to be trying to freeze Touchbase out of some parts of its consulting business.

The two had worked together for five year, but when it came time to sign up a new contract, Touchbase MD, Magnus Maynard refused to sign up to the plan Avaya had for him as it "restricted the level of services it could provide to its customers".

When the two companies went there separate ways, Touchbase sold its entire Avaya business on to Telstra, which no doubt picked up the extra bit of VoIP business with glee.

Notably the deal with ChannelWorx will allow resellers to provide consulting services, but presumably only to a level Avaya is comfortable with.

Meanwhile, ChannelWorx MD Scott Lidgett may have been having a bit of a dig at his Zultys relationship when he told a reporter: "In the past we have partnered with companies that are too far out on the edge, but Avaya allows us to offer real-world solutions," he said. "Cisco may be the name that everyone has heard but Avaya lead the game."
ChannelWorx joins existing Avaya distributor, IPL, to cover both SMB sand enterprise markets.