The VAR Guy

Despite the recession, Juniper is pushing ahead with its annual J-Partner Summit — scheduled for May 18-19 in Las Vegas. During the event, Juniper will promote TCO (total cost of ownership) info that channel partners can communicate to customers, according to Frank J. Vitagliano (senior VP, worldwide channels, pictured) and Blaine J. Raddon (VP, channels). Here’s the scoop.

Vitagliano and Raddon sounded reasonably upbeat during a sit-down with The VAR Guy at last week’s Ingram Micro Venturetech Network conference in Orlando. Vitagliano said the J-Partner Summit will reinforce four consistent themes that have been central to the company’s channel strategy since inception.

Specifically, Juniper will once again vow to:

1. Grow mutual revenue  and profit with partners
2. Invest in partner programs
3. Ensure an ease of doing business with Juniper
4. Continue to team Juniper’s sales force with the channel

Looking Back

Vitagliano said Juniper began to get serious about the channel when the company acquired Netscreen in 2004. More recently, Juniper has had to evolve the partner program with new specialties to reflect key product launches — including Ethernet switches.

The latest partner program enhancements, including a focus on managed service providers, surfaced in February 2009.

“We added categories to the program that we didn’t have, including industry influencers and consultants who don’t necessarily take title to our products and resell them,” said Vitagliano.

At the same time, Juniper noticed a need to better support MSPs — including small VARs that were transitioning to managed services, and large service providers (AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Orange Business Services, BT, Global Crossing and Telia Sonera) that were introducing MSP-oriented services.

“We introduced unique pricing for integrated solutions, and unique tools and white papers for MSPs,” said Vitagliano. “But I want to be clear: We’re not creating a NOC [network operation center] or competing with MSPs.”

Looking Ahead: Calculating TCO

During the J-Partner Summit, Juniper will also speak extensively about the total cost of ownership (TCO) advantages that Juniper’s single operating system strategy offers partners and customers, according to Vitagliano.

Specifically, Juniper claims that the JUNOS network operating system can cut network operation costs by 41 percent. “We’re training partners to articulate that TCO story to customers,” said Vitagliano.

The VAR Guy is wary of TCO studies, but you and draw your own conclusions from this Forrester report, which The VAR Guy believes Juniper funded.

Meanwhile, Raddon says the J-Partner Summit will also provide an important annual reality check for Juniper. “It gives us our own internal annual deadline to make sure we’re delivering on everything we promised the previous year,” Raddon says.

Juniper isn’t the only networking company pushing ahead with a partner summit this year. The Cisco Partner Summit is scheduled for June 1-4 in Boston.

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