Fierce Cisco competitor Juniper Networks has launched its first formal Australian channel program and planned to launch a fresh range of 'J Series' enterprise branch office routers this month.
Better known for its command of the high end service provider router market with a 53.4 percent share in Australia and New Zealand, the company is now chasing the enterprise networking and security markets with the program.
Partners are categorised by Elite, Select and Reseller certifications based on their level of technical and sales expertise and not necessarily sales revenue.
Under the program there are three areas of specialisation. The first is the service provider market for partners selling the T-Series, M-Series and E-Series router products; the second is enterprise networking for partners selling the M7i and M10i, the new J-Series and VPN products; and the third area is advanced security for partners selling VPN, IDP and Secure Access systems.
Brian Allsopp, who was poached last month from Linksys and is now the Australia and New Zealand director of channels at Juniper, said the company would be careful about how many partners it recruits in order to retain product and services margins. 'We don't want to boil the ocean with coverage, but keep it nice and tight,' he said.
Allsopp added that the Juniper products were complex and required consultancy. 'If you're investing in the product(s), you're going to be guaranteed you'll get the sale,' he promised.
Since landing in Australia four years ago, the company has recruited about 40 certified partners here.
Juniper distributes in Australia through Channelworx and was on the cusp of announcing a second distributor soon.
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