Frank Vitagliano, Senior Vice President Worldwide Channels, Juniper Networks

Frank Vitagliano, Juniper Networks' senior vice president of worldwide channels, has a mantra that he lives by that he imparts on his channel team within Juniper networks. It's something he's carried with him through his days at IBM, but is apropos as Juniper continues to make networking strides, popping up on the radar screens of more and more partners as it hones its high powered networking messaging.

"Drive a level of honesty and consistency all the time," Vitagliano said. It's that personal philosophy, wrapped around four key objectives--help partners and Juniper make money, be easy to do business with, invest in program and reduce channel conflict--that have raised Juniper to where it is today, a strong challenger in the crowded networking field dominated by the 800-pound Cisco Systems Inc. gorilla.

Over the past year, Vitagliano has been instrumental in creating profitable relationships with partners, offering them a solid vendor they can go to market with. That included creating an opportunity registration program; making strides in announcing and starting to deliver a strong services enablement portfolio and working with partners to help them design, implement and operate Juniper technologies in a bid to help partners differentiate themselves from the pack. All of it, to Vitagliano works toward eliminating "non-productive activity."

That doesn't come without challenges. Vitagliano said he knows there are a host of vendors that partners can choose to do business with. He looks to separate Juniper from the pack, making it not just another vendor, but the vendor that partners lead with and arm them with the knowledge to explain the Juniper story.

And Juniper's story is expanding. Over the past year, Vitagliano and his team have given partners the "power of one" message, promoting the JUNOS operating system as the one OS to power the network, whether it's core gear like routing or security solutions all running the same OS. Early in 2008 Juniper also debuted its first enterprise-class Ethernet switching line, the EX, which has so far been deployed in 100 customers and in 2008's second quarter brought in $10 million.

Those accomplishments, Vitagliano said, are not just personal for him, but for all of Juniper as partners continue to embrace its message.

"We want to be the best partner in the industry," Vitagliano said.