Sun Revamps iForce Partner Program

Sun has set two designations for its VAR partners--strategic iForce partners or iForce partners-eliminating its previous labels of regional service provider, national service provider and the like, which confused partners, said Bill Cate, director, U.S. iForce Program Office.

Strategic iForce partners are eligible for an automatic 2 -percent rebate on every Sun product they sell. Application providers, or ISVs that design and deploy their products on Sun and will fall under the strategic IForce designation, can earn up to 3 percent rebate, Cate said.

Strategic iForce partners are those that have at least 10 sales reps and 10 systems engineers certified at the enterprise level for Sun. Five of those 10 systems engineers also must have a Solaris core certification, Cate said.

To be strategic, partners also must have a minimum of two specialty certifications-such as clustering-and be branded either Storage Elite or Sun ONE Elite partners. Sun requires strategic iForce partners to have at least $10 million in annual revenue or a growth rate of 30 percent for one year, Cate said.

Sun also will assign each strategic partner a Sun vice president and director through the iForce Advocate Program. This is to ensure that dedicated partners will always have access to someone at Sun for questions or concerns, Cate said.

To be named an iForce partner, a VAR only needs two sales reps and two systems engineers certified at the Sun enterprise level, and a minimum of $250,000 in revenue per year or a 25 percent growth rate, Cate said.

Regular iForce partners are not eligible for cash rebates, but they do receive 2 percent of products sold in Sun Fund money for marketing services, demo equipment and training, Cate said.

Strategic iForce partners receive the same Sun Fund rebates in addition to their cash rebates, he added.

All iForce partners also are eligible for a "Sun-only" rebate, Cate said. Sun partners that do not sell HPUX, IBM Unix, EMC or Dell products receive 1 percent of total sales under this incentive.

In addition, Sun is launching a target account program in which all iForce partners can receive 10-percent rebates for selling into specific accounts designated by Sun, Cate said. Those accounts are "significant corporations with large IT budgets" that Sun has been unable to reach beyond its own named accounts, he said.

In line with this, Sun also will name about 50 top companies in different vertical markets,such as healthcare and financial services,for application providers with solutions that target specific markets. That way, Cate said, these partners also can receive 10-percent rebates if they sell into targeted accounts in their markets.

Rob Mock, president and CEO of Detroit-based solution provider Dewpoint, said the target account program was "not popular" among solution providers on Sun's VAR council, which heard about the new programs early last week (Monday, Oct. 28).

"It's a free for all, and the partner doesn't benefit," he said.

However, Mock said receiving "cold, hard rebates" for partner loyalty shows that Sun is taking a "show me the money" approach to its stated commitment to partners.

Mock also said partners responded well to Sun's plans for an iForce Awards of Excellence program to award partners in various categories for their hard work, much like CRN's Best in Show awards.

Not all partners are entirely pleased by the rebates, however. One partner that exclusively sells and recommends Sun products said he has not earned revenue substantial enough to continue being a Sun-only shop.

The solution provider, who requested anonymity, said he is looking to partner with other vendors after being an exclusive Sun partner for two years.

"Honestly, a 2-percent rebate on sales isn't going to make a business [grow significantly," said the solution provider. "We haven't seen the type of revenue we're putting into this business relationship."

In addition, the solution provider said that his company continuously has met conflict from both Sun salespeople and Sun's professional services engineers in the field.

He said that his company "is getting punished" by its expertise in Sun products and solutions, because "the more expertise you have, the more you're seen as a competitive energy to Sun."

Curt Stevenson, founder and vice president of business development for Boston-based solution provider Back Bay Technologies, said that his company's relationship with Sun has significantly improved in the last several months.

"A couple of years ago, we weren't seeing a ton of [interest from Sun," Stevenson said. "But there is a visible uptake in Sun's commitment."

Sun has recently tapped Back Bay to be a leading partner in providing solutions for the financial services market, he said, adding that Sun is beginning to see the value of working with partners to sell specific solutions to solve specific problems.

"If you're selling a focused solution to increase revenue or decrease costs, it's easier to pitch that," Stevenson said.

But Stevenson added that a relationship between a vendor and a solution provider can depend on the relationship a partner has with local Sun channel reps. If "whoever they had the good relationship with" leaves Sun or moves to a different region, Stevenson said he can see how a partner might get "the raw end of the deal."

Further, he said in the current economic climate,not to mention Sun's own financial troubles,it's not surprising that there is conflict between Sun and partners on the services side.

"We've definitely bumped into Sun Professional Services before," Stevenson said. "It comes down to business. If they have a huge Sun ONE software deal going on and smell a services contract related to it, they will pursue that hard.