Pluribus Networks’ Revitalized Partner Program To Target SDN, Data Center Opportunities Set To ‘Pop’

Pluribus Networks’ newly revamped partner program will provide more resources, opportunities and a ‘competitive differentiation’ to solution providers, one Pluribus partner tells CRN.

Software-defined networking specialist Pluribus Networks is rejuvenating its channel program to help partners capture more SDN wins, Mike Capuano, Pluribus Networks‘ chief marketing officer, told CRN.

Pluribus Partners First, an upgrade from the existing Pluribus Networks partner program, will empower the company’s global partner ecosystem with the knowledge they need to compete in the open networking and hybrid-multi-cloud arena, the fastest-growing segment of the data center switching market, the company said.

The new partner program will offer the channel more resources to generate new opportunities and demand, as well as provide differentiation for partners selling disaggregated networking solutions, said Leonardo Garcia Alvarez, commercial director for Grupo ICA, a Madrid-based systems integrator and Pluribus partner.

Grupo ICA is being promoted into the Gold tier as part of the soft launch of the Pluribus Partners First program. “We’re very focused on the public sector and big projects, and in this market being a Gold partner is a very important competitive advantage,” Alvarez said.

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The solution provider recently won a large deal with Pluribus in Spain for an active-active data center and has been “very pleased” with the presales and post-sales support offered by the new partner program, Alvarez said.

“In the new partner program, we like that Pluribus added four free trainings per year and [we like] the quality and comprehensiveness of the training. Most of my technical team are all officially Pluribus Certified Networking Associates. We’re also looking forward to taking advantage of the jointly funded marketing offered to Gold partners,” he said.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Pluribus is a 100 percent channel-focused company. Founded in 2010, Pluribus is focused on powering white-box switches with network analytics, data center interconnection and software-defined networking solutions.

“We’re re-energizing our program. We’ve always been a partner-centric company, but we’re really doubling down now as we’re looking to post strong double-digit growth this year,” Capuano said.

That growth, said Capuano, is expected to come from the disaggregated networking market, which took a hit in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic that not only upended supply chains, but also interfered with physical data center deployments as channel partners couldn’t get to their customers’ sites because of stay-at-home mandates.

“There was a big shift to tools to help [employees] work from home, but that has created pent-up demand that we believe is set to pop in 2021 in the data center,” Capuano said.

The Pluribus Partners First program has been simplified to two tiers—Silver and Gold. Pluribus Silver partners will have access to basic sales and technical proficiencies in Pluribus core products. Gold partners will be able to establish a service practice for more complex disaggregating networking deals and have access to market development funds and to advanced partner sales and technical Pluribus staff, the company said.

Pluribus has more than 350 customers across the service provider and enterprise segments, according to the company.