Extreme Partner Play

The Santa Clara-based high-end enterprise Ethernet switching vendor is beefing up channel support and developing a new program to bolster partner loyalty in an attempt to become the No. 2 networking player, said John Spiliotis, vice president, America sales at Extreme.

Troubles at Enterasys and Nortel Networks have opened the door for Extreme to become the clear alternative to networking's top enterprise player, Cisco Systems, he said.

Phil Mogavero, president and CEO of Data Systems Worldwide, a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based solution provider, said the opportunity is Extreme's to lose.

"This is the time," he said. "With Nortel, Enterasys and 3Com off-balance right now, there is an opportunity for Extreme and its partners to seize the market."

With Cisco solution providers facing margin erosion from overdistribution and stiff competition from service providers, Extreme is in a good position to capture market share and woo top-drawer solution provider partners, Spiliotis said.

He should know. A veteran of Cisco's channel organization, Spiliotis jumped ship to take over Extreme's channels late last year.

"We are not overdistributed," he said. "Extreme has recognized that creating a profitable value proposition for our partners is important. We know that can't happen if we're overdistributed."

As Extreme grows, its channel program must evolve, Spiliotis said. "Up to now, our program has been fairly simple," he said. Extreme's new channel program, coming later this year, will be a tiered program emphasizing partner loyalty and certification, he said.

Extreme already has tripled its channel support staff and increased its market-development fund budget by 40 percent, Spiliotis said. It also is building a sales staff to work exclusively with channel partners to generate demand, he said.

Pat Grillo, president and CEO of solution provider Atrion Communications Resources, Branchburg, N.J., said he's impressed with the changes he has seen. Extreme has "already eliminated some of the people who were less channel-oriented and replaced them with people who are channel-friendly," he said.

Grillo said he's also impressed that Extreme has committed more resources to training the engineering staffs of its channel partners. "In the networking business, it's the engineers who make the big sales," he said.

Some networking vendors demand loyalty from solution providers but don't provide much motivation, Mogavero said. "Extreme is earning our loyalty instead of demanding it," he said. "They are stepping up to the plate to put skin in the game to help us be successful."