Show Of Support, Times Two

Both Cisco Systems and Adtran registered overall scores of 72, with the veteran player Cisco beating out newcomer Adtran 78 to 73 in the product innovation subcategory. Adtran edged ahead in the support subcategory 72 to 71, and soundly beat Cisco in the partnership subcategory 72 to 67.

Juniper stole the spotlight in one product innovation subcategory criterion: technical innovation. It came in first, narrowly defeating Cisco and Enterasys. Adtran lost ground in product innovation, with poor showings in both the marketability and services opportunity criteria.

For Cisco, the top seed in the product innovation subcategory, planning is key to success.

"Our strategy is that the network is the platform, and that means being able to integrate more technology," said Edison Peres, Cisco vice president for advanced and core technologies. "Our Integrated Services Router (ISR), for example, you can buy already integrated with multiple solutions."

Sharing strategy goes a long way with partners, said Laurie Benson, CEO of Cisco partner Inacom. "We have met with Cisco each year to understand its strategy and direction, so we are in alignment," she said. "We got involved in VoIP as an emerging technology, based on a strategic conversation with Cisco six years ago."

Peres added that simplifying its partners' lives will allow Cisco's channel to grow into more areas. "We're seeing an 18 percent growth in routers and switches and an increasing need for bandwidth as video is more and more a killer app," he said.

Adtran really shone in the partnership subcategory, blowing away the rest of the field and coming in first in six out of seven criteria; the company just barely lost the "partner portal" criterion to Cisco. In the revenue and profit potential criterion, it tied for first place with Juniper.

According to Ted Cole, vice president of Adtran's channel sales, the company has focused on being easy to do business with, and its top ranking in that criterion shows it's succeeding.

"We are focused on technical prowess and support for pre- and postsales, on being easy to do business with, and on double-digit margins," Cole said. "We've grown our partner base and yet are maintaining our channel support ... the channel is everything."

For partners such as Inacom, intangibles about its vendors are important and are, perhaps, reflected in the partnership subcategory.

"Cisco is also committed to making a difference in the world. Specifically, they have sponsored the national movement, Make Mine a $Million [Business], to drive economic development for women-owned businesses, including our involvement in it," Benson said. "It has contributed to the entrepreneurial programs at the University of Wisconsin, and donated time and money to other community efforts."

At the bottom of the pack are Enterasys, HP ProCurve and Netgear, all tying for third place, followed by Linksys (fourth), Alcatel-Lucent (fifth), 3Com and D-Link (tied for sixth).