Cisco Expands SMB Channel With New Partners, Products

On the channel front, Cisco has brought on approximately 1,000 Select Certified partners globally since unveiling the new SMB-focused certification in April and is on track to hit its goal of reaching 5,000 Select Certified partners this fiscal year, said Andrew Sage, senior director of worldwide channels market development for Cisco.

Cisco is looking to double that number to reach 10,000 Select Certified partners in the next fiscal year, Sage said, noting, however, that next year's target hasn't yet been finalized.

"It really is going to depend entirely on the sales success of the partners we get into the program," Sage said. "We don't want to get into a situation where we're over-distributed."

Currently, Cisco is adding Select partners at the rate of approximately 100 per week globally, he said.

The Select Certification is the new entry-level tier of the Cisco Certified Partner program. It was built for solution providers focusing on customers with fewer than 250 employees and is the first new certification added to the program in 10 years, where it joins the vendor's existing Premier, Silver and Gold badges.

It bridges the gap that previously existed between Premier and lower-end Registered partners, which have to do little more than sign up to begin working with Cisco.

All of the solution providers that have achieved the Select certification have come out of Cisco's Registered partner ranks, Sage said. To achieve the certification, solution providers have to first earn Cisco's SMB Specialization, which trains solution providers on Cisco's routing, switching, wireless and VoIP technologies. In exchange, they get access to the full breadth of Cisco's partner training, sales resources, rebates and incentives.

Cisco this week also launched new high-end switches, bringing virtualization to enterprise networks with a new module for its flagship Catalyst 6500 switches and rolling out the next generation of its Catalyst 4500 platform.