Taking another step in its solutions strategy, Cisco Systems has rolled out a new program aimed at increasing the level of collaboration among channel partners, independent software vendors, and Cisco itself.
Dubbed the "Cisco Industry Solutions Partner Network" (ISPN), the new initiative is basically about growing a menu of network-centric business solutions while also building a roster of participating channel partners and software vendors willing to collaborate in the delivery of those full solutions. Various types of industry experts will also be engaged to help establish best practices – particularly around the collaboration component, which has always been something that both intrigues and concerns channel partners because of the opportunities and potential risks.
Those 30 solutions are divided into seven vertical markets and one hybrid category: Education, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Real estate, Retail, and "Cross Industry." Partners may choose to focus on one particular vertical, or branch out into multiple verticals.
Participating partners access the program through the "Cisco Partner Space," an online virtual environment designed to foster partner-to-partner collaboration through chats, blogs, joint marketing tools, exclusive sales resources, industry-focused demand-generation kits, and marketing campaign tools and services. Partners can also find industry-specific training and information about third-party consulting services tailored to fit the needs of their target market.
To get the full benefit of the program, partners should use ISPN in conjunction with Cisco's "Solution Incentive Program (SIP)," which provides financial benefits tied to the sale of approved solutions. The SIP program has been opened to all certified partners, and further tweaked to better support ISPN. Changes include support for collaborative delivery of the solution plus a new application format that specifies which partner is responsible for each component of the solution. In addition, only one reference account is now mandated.
Although ISPN is open to all categories of certified partners, approval from the respective channel account manager is a necessary first step to entering the program. Other requirements include:
Industry-focused pipeline
"More and more, our customers and by extension our partners are wanting to do business this way," summarized senior channel director Andrew Sage. "This is how Cisco as a company is going to deliver solutions. We're not going to try to take all these offerings from ISVs and put them on our price list. We're going to meet the customer needs through our partners."
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ProCurve Unveils New Core Switch
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ProCurve Networking by HP has rolled out its first home-grown core switch – a move that is intended to underscore the company's seriousness about moving beyond small-to-medium business and into the heart of the enterprise.
The ProCurve Switch 8212zl provides Layer 2 through Layer 4 features and advanced security with high-density Gigabit and 10GbE connectivity. The company also announced the ProCurve Wireless Edge Services zl Module, adding centralized wireless local area network (WLAN) configuration, management and advanced wireless services to the 8212zl core switch and 5400zl edge switch family. Pricing for the ProCurve Switch 8212zl starts at $24,000 with immediate availability. The Wireless Edge Services zl module is priced at $5,500.
Based on HP's ProVision ASIC technology and backed by the company's lifetime warranty, the new device displaces previous core switch products available through a 6-year OEM agreement with Foundry Networks.
"We've always had a core switch in the product line, but when it's a fairly well known fact that it's through an OEM, it doesn't instill the confidence that you're in this for the long run," said Mark Thompson, director, Worldwide Sales and Marketing. "So doing the in-house development gets us to a product that really is the perfect match for the Adaptive Edge architecture."
"We built the 8200 to be optimized around the model of pushing intelligence out to the edge of the network, and make the interconnect space really optimized around performance, high availability and the functionality you need without being the god-box that has every feature in the world in it. So it's a much better product from a cost of ownership point of view, it's a much better fit with those edge products."
The switch's lifetime warranty features standard next business day advanced-replacement (availability varies by location) with phone and email support. ProCurve also provides lifetime software and firmware updates for its product line.
Over the last few quarters, ProCurve has been realigning its channel relationships to accommodate greater enterprise penetration, especially in the Fortune 2000 segment of the market. Thompson added that Elite partners familiar with the ProCurve portfolio should have no problems getting skilled up for the new core switch via free web-based training.
"The 8200 uses the same firmware image as our leading edge products, the 3500 and 5400, so there's really no learning curve. We built something that has identical behavior a the edge and at the core for any given feature.
The only additional training partners need is around the use of the high-availability features, the hot swap and fail-over, and fabric, the same for the management module. But the management tools are the same, the command line interface is the same, and the firmware image is the same," he added.
For more information on ProCurve
Channel Partner Programs visit http://www.procurve.com/partners/
Jay Forbes Named President of Ingram Micro EMEA
Ingram Micro Inc. named Jay A. Forbes as executive vice president and president-designate, Ingram Micro EMEA effective September 3, 2007. Forbes will replace Hans Koppen, who will retire as of December 31, 2007, and will report to Alain Monie, president and chief operating officer of Ingram Micro Inc.
Forbes was president and chief executive officer of Aliant Inc., an Atlantic-Canadian telecommunications and information technology company generating revenues of approximately $2 billion. Prior to joining Aliant, Forbes was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Oxford Properties Group, a $3.5-billion commercial real estate company. He also served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Emera Inc., a Canadian energy corporation.
Koppen and Forbes will work together in a four-month transition period through year-end. Forbes will immediately join the company's worldwide executive team and will become a corporate officer following Koppen's retirement.
Juniper Networks Names Hayley Tabor Vice President, U.S. Enterprise Sales
Juniper Networks, Inc. announced the appointment of Hayley Tabor to the position of vice president, U.S. enterprise sales. With 15 years of enterprise experience to her credit,
Mrs. Tabor joins Juniper Networks from Computer Associates where she served as senior vice president and general manager of the company's EMEA sales and service organization. In that assignment she led the company's direct sales, field marketing, pre-sales and customer relations organizations. She also held previous executive assignments within the company's sales organization, including Canadian country manager and senior vice president, Western U.S. and Canada.
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On The Other Hand - Partners Partnering: The Next Horizon?
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By: Ken Presti
Several years ago, Cisco's former channel boss Tom Mitchell outlined before a gathering of partners his vision for channel "ecosystems": a concept that involved partners getting deep into their own specialties and then partnering with other channel organizations to handle other parts of the big solution that the original reseller did not offer. While there has always been at least some of this going on in the indirect sales community, the vast majority of attendees listened politely and then went on to other things. Mitchell's presentation was a bit before its time.
Well, guess what. It's back. Fast forward to September 12, 2007. Cisco's current channel chief, Keith Goodwin, stood before a group of analysts in Dublin, Ireland to discuss a new portal and collaboration framework called "ISPN," which effectively moves down that same ecosystem path.
Things are different now. Times have changed. Cisco's "specializations" have evolved into a fundamental underpinning of the overall channel program, based on the premise that IT is growing in too many directions at the same for most partners to evolve quickly enough. Technologies have become more complex and more tightly integrated. And most customers are less impressed by the latest whiz-bang gadget, and more focused on optimizing their actual bottom lines.
The Cisco newsletter article (above) covers the ISPN program in full detail. But the thing that really caught my attention in Dublin happened in a panel discussion with a handful of channel partners also attending the conference. I asked the partners if they were at all concerned about how they might actually execute on collaboration while protecting their businesses, and the answer was along the lines of, "Hey, no problem. We'll all work together!" Another analyst tried the question a different way and got no further. Yes, the partner panel stayed completely on-message. Hmmm.
I'm skeptical. On one hand, I think collaboration is an idea who's time has come, and I think we're all going to learn a lot more about how it will really work over the next few years. It's a solid opportunity to expand capability while controlling investment costs. But on the other hand, I doubt it's going to be that easy.
Let's say a teenage boy meets a teenage girl. He likes the girl but he also has male buddies. Does he want his buddies to date the girl? To borrow a phrase from the Irish: "Not bloody likely!"
It's all about account control, my friend.
Okay, grown-up business-people tend to have a lot less acne and a few other differences compared to teenagers. But that desire for account control runs just as deep. Then there's the idea of exposing differentiators to potential competitors –always a scary proposition. There are also legal implications associated with these collaborative efforts, plus enough potential contractual variations to make a lawyer salivate like Pavlov's dog. How will they determine who will lead the engagement? How will the revenue be shared? Should there be a time frame during which one collaborator can't pursue the customer independent of the other collaborator? How will post-sales support be handled? Who will bear those costs? If something goes wrong with the integration, will the finger-pointing begin? Who's liable for what, and when, and where, and how?
Best practices, or at least better practices, will emerge over time. But it will take a lot of discussion and a lot of focus. So let that dialogue begin.
Until that happens, Cisco's new collaboration rollout shows promise, but has certainly given us a lot to think about.
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