Cisco Seeks Love Connection Between VARs, ISVs

The company Wednesday took the wraps off a new channel initiative that encourages partners to team with ISVs and provides a virtual platform in which they can meet and interact.

The new Cisco Industry Solutions Partner Network unveiled at a press event in Dublin, Ireland, aims to introduce certified Cisco partners to a bevy of pre-defined solutions that combine Cisco technology and applications from its ISV partners.

"ISPN is one element of an overall initiative of creating more solutions selling on the part of our partner community," said Keith Goodwin, senior vice president of worldwide channels at Cisco, San Jose, Calif.

Cisco is encouraging its solution providers to add more applications expertise to their portfolios and put more focus on selling solutions. Partners that take those steps are securing larger deals and higher margins, said Andrew Sage, senior director of worldwide channels market development for Cisco.

As part of the initiative, Cisco has pre-qualified 30 vertical solutions in conjunction with ISVs and VARs who have developed their own applications. ISPN members that sell the solutions will earn the extra margins afforded through Cisco's Solution Incentive Program (SIP). Until now, partners participating in SIP could only earn financial rewards for solutions they themselves developed.

"Now they can get the SIP discount as if they had created the solutions themselves," Goodwin said, adding that Cisco is now working on a pipeline for the next 30 solutions to be added to the program.

In addition, Cisco is also rolling out a new Cisco Partner Space virtual community platform, a Web 2.0 offering that seems like a cross between MySpace and Second Life. In that environment, solution providers can visit virtual "booths" set up by ISVs to educate potential partners on their solution offerings, see the presence status of other community members and initiate chat conversations with representatives from the ISVs.

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