F5 Unity program lands in A/NZ

F5 Networks has announced a refresh to its partner program that involves rewarding partners who get specialised in the vendor with higher margins.

As a result, the networking vendor has cut some underperforming Gold partners to increase the focus on specialised partners.   

“We’re looking for more investment,” said Kurt Hansen, managing director of Australia & New Zealand. “The [Australian and New Zealand] market has grown a lot and we’ve invested in headcount ourselves but we can’t continue to drive the growth alone.

“As part of the program we’ve probably cut down [partners] because it wasn’t sustainable,” he said.

Hansen said F5's headcount doubled in the last year and is about to hit 30.

The updated program, dubbed Unity, has deal registration, discount based support, online partner portal and marketing tools for distributors.

“Before, we treated everybody the same whether they were invested in the program or not," Hansen said.

“With Unity there are far greater rewards for partners who are helping us. We better classify the partners around who’s making the investments in education and investing in the sales cycle.

“Those that are investing in training and certification. they’ve got to assist us in developing and building the pipeline."

Dean Darwin, vice president of worldwide channels at F5 said the program was "extremely" well received in North America and EMEA. 

"We're excited to see all our global partners reap these benefits as we complete the program's worldwide rollout in early 2011."

F5 partners are classified under three tiers -- gold, silver and advantage. Distribution Central, Westcon and Observatory Crest  are its distribution partners in A/NZ.