FUSIONSTORM ACHIEIVES CISCO MASTER UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIZATION
Designation Recognizes FusionStorm with Highest Level of Unified Communication Expertise, Lifecycle Services and Success in Sales

San Francisco, California – July 15th, 2009– FusionStorm ‐‐“Making Technology Work”‐‐ a leading systems integrator and managed service provider, announced today it has achieved the Master Unified Communications Specialization from Cisco®. This specialization recognizes FusionStorm as having fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support highly sophisticated applications‐based Cisco Unified Communications (UC) solutions.

Bill Towne, FusionStorm’s National Engineering Manager for Networking & Security said, “The Master Unified Communications Specialization validates our investments and expertise in Unified Communications to both our existing clients, new customers and Cisco. To obtain the Cisco Master Unified Communications Specialization, our team had to pass a full day audit, which included demonstrations of all of our capabilities direct to Cisco.

"To help turn the promise of unified communications into a strategic advantage, customers are demanding an enhanced set of skills and capabilities from channel partners,” said Richard McLeod, director of unified communications for worldwide channels at Cisco. “FusionStorm’s investment in the Master Unified Communications Specialization ranks them among the industry’s elite.”

To achieve the Master Unified Communications Specialization, resale channel partners must first attain the Advanced Unified Communications Specialization. Partners must then meet stringent requirements that demonstrate their master‐level sales, technical, and services capabilities. Furthermore, master specialized partners must possess a number of Cisco and industry‐standard technical certification requirements; provide customer references that document Cisco‐prescribed design and deployment capabilities; and show evidence that they have the infrastructure to support a full menu of Lifecycle Services offerings and capabilities.

More information regarding the Master Unified Communications Specialization can be found at:
http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/program/specializations/ucom/master/index.html

Over the course of their Cisco partnership, FusionStorm has achieved advanced specializations in unified communications, wireless, security, routing and switching, data center networking infrastructure and data center storage networking. Cisco technical staff credentials include Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, Cisco Certified Network Professional, Cisco Certified Design Professional, Cisco Certified Voice Professional, and Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing & Switching and Cisco Certified Design Associate. FusionStorm also recently won the Cisco Architectural Award for Data Center Architectural Excellence.

The Cisco Resale Channel Program provides partners with the training required to build sales, technical and Cisco Lifecycle Services skills, and then validates their skills through a third‐party audit. Cisco resale partner certifications—Select, Premier, Silver and Gold—represent an increasing breadth of skills across key technologies and a partner’s ability to deliver integrated networking solutions. Cisco resale partner specializations—SMB, Express, Advanced and Master—reflect an increasing depth of sales, technical and service expertise in particular technologies. Cisco master specializations provide FusionStorm access to comprehensive sales, technical, and lifecycle services training and support available from Cisco.

About FusionStorm
FusionStorm – "Making Technology Work" – is a national provider of IT products, professional services, support contract services and 24x7 managed services for enterprises of all sizes. The company assists organizations by providing complete solutions for system infrastructure, storage, networking, voice‐over‐ IP communications, security, database, disaster recovery, managed hosting and remote managed services, both on‐site and in the data center. FusionStorm is the VARBusiness, VAR of the Year for 2006‐7. FusionStorm offices include San Francisco (HQ), Santa Clara, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Albuquerque, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Cincinnati, Bethesda, Boston, Tampa, Phoenix, New York City and Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Visit www.fusionstorm.com or call 800.228.TECH (8324).

FusionStorm, the FusionStorm logo and “Making Technology Work” are trademarks or registered trademarks of FusionStorm in the United States and other countries.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems Inc. in the United States and certain other countries.

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