12 People To Watch

The former Veritas Software channel chief hit the ground running in January in his new position, heading off to meet with partners in Miami less than a day into the job. Sotnick’s responsibilities include developing channel initiatives that enable solution providers to sell two specialized SAP suite offerings into accounts with less than $250 million in annual revenue.

We also love the fact that Sotnick is working closely with another channel heavy hitter, Donna Troy, who heads SAP’s partner programs on a global basis. Still, they’ll need to marshal all their considerable resources to one-up the likes of Oracle and Microsoft, also gunning for this market.

It’s the Farris era now at the Walnut, Calif.-based display powerhouse. It’s notable that Farris used to work with channel legend Ross Cooley during the early days of the PC industry and Compaq Computer. More recently, at thin-client company Wyse, she grew sales 20 percent in 2004.

Look for Farris to emphasize not just new strategy but effective field execution of her ideas, which she plans to discuss with the ViewSonic partner advisory council in meetings this month. “That is where great ideas and great programs often fail,” she said in an interview in January.

As vice president and general manager of the new Intel Channel Platforms Group, Siu says one of his first tasks will be to assemble all of the enabling technologies that Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel has created into more cohesive and comprehensive offerings for the system builder community. These technologies will continue to be marketed through the efforts of U.S. channel chief Steve Dallman.

One of the first things on Siu’s agenda: mobile building blocks, which Intel Premier Providers are eager to exploit more effectively.

MORE CHANNEL ADO AT BIG BLUE

After acting as vice president of IBM Business Partners for the Americas, Greg Adams was made managing director for IBM’s Home Depot account. His replacement, Towney Kennard, most recently was vice president of strategic alliances at IBM Global Services.

Kennard’s background could make him an invaluable ally as IGS continues its march to team up with smaller systems integrators on deals within the midmarket. Meanwhile, IBM’s worldwide leader for PartnerWorld programs, Donn Atkins, will emphasize stability and consistency.

CHAMPIONING UNDERDOG COREL

In his previous job at Best Software, Hoke was responsible for creating programs around the Act and Peachtree accounting lines. At Corel, he’s pushing to raise the Ottawa-based software vendor’s profile with system builders and VARs that can represent the WordPerfect Office suite.

Hoke will have the chance to extend several aggressive promotions adopted by Corel last summer that capitalize on the system builder channel’s ongoing frustration with Microsoft’s pricing strategies for smaller OEMs.

ANOTHER CHANNEL ALLY NORTH OF THE BORDER

It’s the job of Dan Wensley, vice president of channel development, to translate that hype into sales of the Nitix server operating system, which had previously been bundled with a hardware server appliance.

One stat in its favor: Close to half of Net Integration’s 115 employees are focused on channel-building activities, and the technical support team was also brought into the fold in 2004. All are compensated based on the success of the company’s solution provider partners. The Ottawa-based company estimates that Wensley himself got in front of or met upward of 2,000 VARs and systems integrators through the first three quarters of last year.

One executive who could make a difference is Jim Williams, who was hired as vice president of sales for 3Com’s Americas region in late December. Williams and Nick Tidd, vice president of Americas channel sales, have their work cut out for them. Partners of the Marlborough, Mass., company are still reeling after 3Com’s decision to slash its partner ranks late last year, and many are suspicious of its more recent strategy shift to eliminate the familiar Gold, Silver and Bronze tiering designations.

PITCHING A CURVE BALL FOR HP

But the channel story for HP’s ProCurve switch line—recently fortified by the introduction of its first enterprise router—has been one bright spot for the giant vendor over the past eight months.

In particular, the programs championed by Louise Bishop, Americas marketing manager for HP’s ProCurve business unit, Palo Alto, Calif., are winning praise and some converts among smaller solution providers that feel they have often been overlooked by market leader Cisco.

Let’s hope the company doesn’t mess with success as it transitions its overall channel strategies in the wake of the February ouster of HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina. At the very least, Bishop’s success with smaller VARs is helping inspire competitor Cisco to pay more attention to that portion of the channel.

WHITHER THIS STORAGE PLAYER?

But there are several reasons we believe that McData will build out its own channel profile this year, especially as manufacturers such as Cisco look to expand their own storage channel presence.

Undeniably, one piece of recent evidence backing up our belief was McData’s $235 million decision in January to buy Computer Network Technology, a provider of SAN-related storage appliances.

McData also is a name we’re hearing more on more on the lips of storage-related solution providers. So that’s why this year we’re watching the actions of Michael Dailey, vice president of Americas at the Broomfield, Colo., company, who has been charged with developing new channel relationships.

THIS NUMBER NO LONGER IN SERVICE

Glenn Russo, senior vice president for global partner and channel development at Level 3, said the Broomfield-based carrier’s decision to end (3)Tone Business, a hosted IP-based PBX service, was part of its shift to emphasize VoIP wholesale services that solution providers can package together themselves. The company also has begun working more closely with three master agents that will handle its relationships with the broader channel.

The question now is whether Russo and his team can shore up channel relationships amid a fast-consolidating telecommunications market while facing aggressive competition from rivals such as Covad Communications that are trying to capitalize on Level 3’s transition.