SADA Systems First Google Partner To Bring Jamboard To Market

Google's electronic whiteboard, Jamboard, is finally coming to market, with a pioneering partner preparing to ship the first units to enterprise customers.

SADA Systems will deliver the cloud-enabled, 55-inch, 4K, interactive displays through a partnership with Taiwanese electronics giant BenQ, the exclusive distributor of the new Google product, SADA CEO Tony Safoian told CRN.

The first resale Jamboards are stocked and waiting to ship in both SADA's Los Angeles headquarters and Washington D.C. offices, Safoian told CRN.

[Related: 5 Key Features Of The Google Jamboard]

Jamboard mimics the natural user experience of a whiteboard, but ties into Google's G Suite office productivity tools, integrating with Google Drive and enabling users to collaborate from any location.

"For the cloud to come alive in its full glory, you have to connect it to the real world in a meaningful way and a way that's intuitive," Safoian said.

Jamboard will challenge Microsoft's Surface Hub, as well as a number of other products that have recently hit the market in the emerging category.

At $5,000, Google's product is priced extremely competitively, Safoian said. There's also an annual subscription fee for the software licensing.

Jamboard is almost entirely going to market through partners; Google won’t sell the units direct. BenQ will offer units online, but the company said it has no intent on selling into any Google partner accounts .

Google didn't comment on its distribution strategy for the product.

"We're excited that Google has chosen this path, emphasizing partner value as opposed to just a race to the bottom," Safoian said. "We can add a lot of value in the ecosystem by implementing this to the 800 customers we already have."

Many of those customers have expressed a strong interest in getting at least one unit in their hands and giving it a test run, he said. SADA hopes to eventually see a Jamboard in every corporate conference room.

SADA has made a habit of being on the vanguard of bringing to market cutting-edge products. The solution provider was both an inaugural Google Apps (now G Suite) and Microsoft Office 365 reseller, and was a pioneering Google Maps partner. SADA is also among the first group of Facebook Workplace partners.

And just two weeks ago, SADA became the first channel partner to use Google's Orbitera cloud commerce platform to service Google's cloud customers.