2015 Partner Programs Guide: 5-Star Networking Vendors

Notables In Networking

You can have all the systems, software and services you like. But if you don't have communications capabilities between all those IT components, it's all for naught. So it's no surprise that as IT proliferates, networking – wired, wireless, software-defined, etc. – has become increasingly critical. That means more opportunities for solution providers. It also means more need for technical, marketing, sales and financial assistance from IT vendors.

The 2015 Partner Program Guide offers the information solution providers need to evaluate IT vendors they work with or are considering working with. The guide is based on detailed applications vendors submitted outlining all aspects of their partner programs.

As part of the Partner Program Guide, CRN designates some programs as 5-Star Partner Programs. Here we present the 5-Star designees in the networking technology space.

Adtran

Program Name: ADvantage Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 4,133

North American Channel Chief: Ted Cole

URL: www.adtran.com

Aerohive Networks

Program Name: Aerohive Advantage Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Johnna Bowley

URL: www.aerohive.com

Allot Communications

Program Name: Allot Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 60

North American Channel Chief: Greg Parcel

URL: www.allot.com

APC by Schneider Electric

Program Name: APC Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1991

Number of North American Partners: 38,000

North American Channel Chief: Shannon Sbar

URL: www.apc.com

Aruba Networks

Program Name: Aruba PartnerEdge Program

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 1,500

North American Channel Chief: Jim Harold

URL: www.arubanetworks.com

AT&T

Program Name: AT&T Partner Exchange

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: 279

North American Channel Chief: Brooks McCorcle

URL: www.att.com/partnerexchange

Avaya

Program Name: Avaya Connect

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 2,271

North American Channel Chief: Joe Lohmeier

URL: www.avaya.com

Barracuda Networks

Program Name: Barracuda Networks Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 4,660

North American Channel Chief: Glenn Esposito

URL: www.barracuda.com

Black Box

Program Name: Black Box Reseller Program

Year Program Established: 2000

Number of North American Partners: 500

North American Channel Chief: Jay Jenkins

URL: www.blackbox.com

BMC Software

Program Name: BMC Partner Advantage

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: 77

North American Channel Chief: Brian Marvin

URL: www.bmc.com

Brocade Communications Systems

Program Name: Brocade Alliance Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2008

Number of North American Partners: 3,627

North American Channel Chiefs: Mike Newcomb (pictured), Eric Buck

URL: www.brocade.com

CenturyLink

Program Name: CenturyLink Channel Alliance

Year Program Established: 1998

Number of North American Partners: 177

North American Channel Chief: Blake Wetzel

URL: www.centurylink.com

Ciena

Program Name: BizConnect Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 44

North American Channel Chief: Nigel Williams

URL: www.ciena.com

Cisco Systems

Program Name: Cisco Solution Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 497

North American Channel Chief: Wendy Bahr

URL: www.cisco.com

Cisco Systems

Program Name: Cisco Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1996

Number of North American Partners: 20,438

North American Channel Chief: Wendy Bahr

URL: www.cisco.com

Citrix Systems

Program Name: Citrix Partner Network

Year Program Established: 1989

Number of North American Partners: 2,900

North American Channel Chief: Rafael Garzon

URL: www.citrix.com

Comcast Business

Program Name: Comcast Business Solutions Provider Program

Year Program Established: 2011

Number of North American Partners: 3,000

North American Channel Chief: Craig Schlagbaum

URL: www.business.comcast.com/solutions-provider

Condusiv Technologies

Program Name: Condusiv Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: 1,920

North American Channel Chief: Nick Tidd

URL: www.condusiv.com

Dell

Program Name: Dell PartnerDirect

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 55,000

North American Channel Chief: Jim DeFoe

URL: www.dell.com

Digium

Program Name: Digium Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 2,514

North American Channel Chief: Jim Butler

URL: www.digium.com

Eaton

Program Name: PowerAdvantage Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 3,733

North American Channel Chief: Ramesh Menon

URL: www.powerquality.eaton.com

Emerson Electric, Network Power Division

Program Name: Innovation Partnership Program

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 1,556

North American Channel Chief: Steven Hammond

URL: www.emersonnetworkpower.com

Emulex

Program Name: Emulex Connect Partner program

Year Program Established: 2011

Number of North American Partners: 822

North American Channel Chief: John Alfieri

URL: www.emulex.com

Extreme Networks

Program Name: Extreme Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: 615

North American Channel Chief: Bob Gault

URL: www.extremenetworks.com

FireMon

Program Name: FireMon Ignite

Year Program Established: 2011

Number of North American Partners: 82

North American Channel Chief: Todd DeBell

URL: www.firemon.com

Fortinet

Program Name: FortiPartner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 7,500

North American Channel Chief: Joseph Sykora

URL: www.fortinet.com

FreedomVoice

Program Name: FreedomVoice Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 358

North American Channel Chief: Chris Sterbenc

URL: www.freedomiq.com

Gigamon

Program Name: Gigamon Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: 223

North American Channel Chief: Scott Sullivan

URL: www.gigamon.com

Globalscape

Program Name: Globalscape Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 158

North American Channel Chief: Christopher Cleary

URL: www.globalscape.com

Hewlett-Packard

Program Name: HP PartnerOne

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 40,000

North American Channel Chief: Scott Dunsire

URL: www.hp.com

Hitachi Data Systems

Program Name: Hitachi TrueNorth Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2003

Number of North American Partners: 560

North American Channel Chief: Christopher White

URL: www.hds.com

IBM

Program Name: IBM PartnerWorld

Year Program Established: 1999

Number of North American Partners: 32,382

North American Channel Chief: Tami Duncan

URL: www.ibm.com

Ixia

Program Name: Channel Xcelerate Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 220

North American Channel Chief: Lori Cornmesser

URL: www.ixiacom.com

Juniper Networks

Program Name: Juniper Networks Partner Advantage

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: 11,635

North American Channel Chief: Jonathan Belcher

URL: www.juniper.net

Kaseya

Program Name: Kaseya Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: 138

North American Channel Chief: Roger Hodskins

URL: www.kaseya.com

Kerio Technologies

Program Name: Kerio Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2001

Number of North American Partners: 1,848

North American Channel Chief: Karen Miller

URL: www.kerio.com

LANDesk Software

Program Name: LANDesk Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1985

Number of North American Partners: 500

North American Channel Chief: Reza Parsia

URL: www.landesk.com

Lenovo

Program Name: Lenovo Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 29,000

North American Channel Chief: Sammy Kinlaw

URL: www.lenovo.com

Mellanox Technologies

Program Name: Mellanox PartnerFirst Program

Year Program Established: 2008

Number of North American Partners: 1,000

North American Channel Chief: Darrin Chen

URL: www.mellanox.com

Microsoft

Program Name: Microsoft Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Jenni Flinders

URL: www.microsoft.com

Mitel Networks

Program Name: Mitel Partner Program, Americas

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 750

North American Channel Chief: Sandra E. Hill

URL: www.mitel.com

N-able by SolarWinds

Program Name: N-able by SolarWinds Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2001

Number of North American Partners: 1,962

North American Channel Chief: Mike Cullen

URL: www.n-able.com

Oracle

Program Name: Oracle PartnerNetwork

Year Program Established: 1999

Number of North American Partners: 5,400

North American Channel Chief: Tom LaRocca

URL: www.oracle.com

Palo Alto Networks

Program Name: NextWave Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: 1,202

North American Channel Chief: Todd Palmer

URL: www.paloaltonetworks.com

Polycom

Program Name: Choice Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 2,341

North American Channel Chief: Barb Huelskamp

URL: www.polycom.com

QLogic

Program Name: Signature Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2000

Number of North American Partners: 2,048

North American Channel Chief: Ryan Klein

URL: www.qlogic.com

Raritan

Program Name: Partner Advantage Program

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 390

North American Channel Chief: Ashley Fox

URL: www.raritan.com

Red Hat

Program Name: Red Hat Connect

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 1,220

North American Channel Chief: D. Robert Martin

URL: www.redhat.com

Revolabs

Program Name: Core Reseller Program

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: 300

North American Channel Chief: Curtiss Singleton

URL: revolabs.com/home

Riverbed Technology

Program Name: Riverbed Performance Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 850

North American Channel Chief: Lynn Tinney

URL: www.riverbed.com

Ruckus Wireless

Program Name: Ruckus Big Dog Channel Program

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 3,703

North American Channel Chief: Ron Gill

URL: www.ruckuswireless.com

Server Technology

Program Name: Power Rewards Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 175

North American Channel Chief: Mike Johnston

URL: www.servertech.com

ServiceKey

Program Name: Independent Service & Maintenance Organization (ISMO Program)

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 251

North American Channel Chief: Danielle Thiery

URL: www.servicekey.com

ShoreTel

Program Name: ShoreTel Champion Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Sam Koury

URL: www.shoretel.com

Silver Peak

Program Name: Silver Peak Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2011

Number of North American Partners: 200

North American Channel Chief: Bob Bruce

URL: www.silver-peak.com

SimpliVity

Program Name: SimpliVity PartnerAdvantage

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 250

North American Channel Chief: George Hope

URL: www.simplivity.com

Star2Star Communications

Program Name: Star2Star Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 532

North American Channel Chief: Michelle Accardi-Petersen

URL: www.star2star.com

Unify

Program Name: Unify Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 86

North American Channel Chief: Todd Freefield

URL: www.unify.com/us

Veeam Software

Program Name: Veeam ProPartner Program

Year Program Established: 2006

Number of North American Partners: 3,700

North American Channel Chief: Chris Moore

URL: www.veeam.com

Verizon

Program Name: Verizon Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: Not disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Matthew Montgomery

URL: www.verizon.com

VMware

Program Name: VMware Solution Provider Program

Year Program Established: 2003

Number of North American Partners: 22,063

North American Channel Chief: Frank Rauch

URL: www.vmware.com

Zebra Technologies

Program Name: PartnerEmpower Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: 3,050

North American Channel Chief: Eileen Eck

URL: www.zebra.com