Cooling Vendor Liebert Heats Up Channel Quest

The vendor has expanded its Liebert Network Solutions Partner program by increasing its training resources, boosting its channel field coverage and changing the way partners are recognized and categorized to better differentiate the margin opportunities between each partnership level.

Thomas Karabinos, director of partner channels for Liebert at Columbus, Ohio-based Emerson Network Power, said the company aims to deepen its coverage across the United States. In particular, it's finding good synergy with partners that have established relationships with Cisco Systems, eGenera, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems, he said, adding that Liebert is measurably more successful with these groups of solution providers.

Greg Byles, vice president of business development at Global Technology Resources, a Cisco Gold partner in Denver, said the Liebert line contributes substantially to his company's profitability because the products factor in almost every data center sale and installation. Liebert's channel program is simple, and the vendor has professional, personal field representation, he said.

Indeed, Karabinos said what separates Liebert from its competition is the level of local support it dedicates to channel partners. The company has nearly 90 field representatives designated to support the channel and recruit partners, he said.

Especially critical will be the conversations that Liebert's field team can encourage between traditional IT solution providers and contractors from the facilities management world, who also are grappling with perplexing power problems, he said.

"We cut our teeth protecting the largest data centers in the world," Karabinos said. "When you have influence on both sides of the wall, you win," he added.

About 40 percent of the division's sales stem from the channel. Karabinos said Liebert hopes to double that amount over the next four to five years.