Aprisma Launches Channel Offensive

The company, a unit of network equipment vendor Enterasys Networks, also plans to launch its first channel-only product, Spectrum Xsight 100, a new version of its enterprise network management software that targets the midmarket.

"The majority of our business overseas comes through the channel, and we're trying to duplicate that model here domestically," said Michael Jerich, vice president of channel programs at Aprisma, based here. "The channel sales managers reporting underneath me, our direct-sales force and direct-sales engineers,all of them will be compensated on the deals that come through the channel," he said.

To help grow its partner ranks, Aprisma is adding four regional channel managers who will act as liaisons between the vendor and new recruits, ensuring that solution providers get the training and support they need, Jerich said.

The vendor hopes to have 40 to 60 solution providers signed on by the end of the year, up from six partners now, Jerich said. That contrasts with competitors such as Hewlett-Packard, which has thousands of partners reselling its OpenView management product, he said.

The increased level of attention is an improvement over Aprisma's previous attitude toward the channel, said Alan Gilbert, vice president of strategic alliances at GuideComm, a systems integrator and Aprisma partner based in Chantilly, Va.

In the past, "they certainly haven't been aggressive in terms of lining up a lot of partners and incenting their people or partners to do a lot of deals through the channel," Gilbert said. "They also haven't done anything to disincent them."

The Aprisma Partner Program now includes two levels: a reseller/sales agent category for partners that want Aprisma's professional services group to provide implementation and maintenance, and a systems integrator category for partners that have at least two certified engineers on staff and can offer services themselves.

Both categories receive a 30 percent discount off list prices, up from 20 percent under Aprisma's old partner program. In addition, the vendor offers quarterly and annual rebates that could bring partner discounts as high as 40 percent off list, Jerich said.

Aprisma was scheduled to be spun off from parent company Enterasys in February, but that move was delayed after the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into Enterasys' accounting practices.

Despite the potential distraction, Aprisma's partner relationships haven't suffered, Gilbert said. "With the new channel strategy and the new product, it shows me they aren't being paralyzed by what's happening around them," he said.