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Some partners argued that the best thing Juniper can do from a marketing standpoint -- apart from offering them better marketing resources, some of which were announced at the conference -- is to play up what really separates it from the networking and infrastructure pack.
With fewer dollars to spend on data center upgrades, customers are willing to shop around, even as the economy recovers, they said.
"They've done a great job establishing a brand," said a senior executive at a well-known national VAR. "We've been encouraging them to continue that effort. Juniper should look more like Apple, I think, then another Foundry, Brocade, HP, Cisco, 3Com, Huawei, whatever. They're on the right track. They have to have an alternative message and an alternative way of going to market."
The executive, who asked not to be identified, said Juniper should stay focused on making itself a true alternative. Partners are getting the "New Network" message -- the changing of data center architecture to fit the demands of explosive growth in storage and network traffic -- and Juniper has to keep hammering home that message.
"At the Cisco conference a few weeks ago, we heard Cisco say 'Write the rules, own the game,' " said the executive. "Well, hey, here's Juniper writing new rules. As long as they can stay on this, and keep channel partners focused and engaged with Juniper on the things they're driving, they'll get stronger."
Andrea Bilobrk, senior product manager for enterprise security with MTS Allstream, a Toronto-based partner, said that the unified platform message was resonating with Juniper customers.
"Everyone has this offering and that offering, and everyone plays everywhere in the space," she said. "But they've got a unified message saying it's all about the network, which is really in line with with what we want to be about. We can talk up the whole Juniper offering as opposed to 'we just sell routers and switches.' We want to say -- and we can say -- we sell Juniper."
Added Flaherty: "The biggest bit of feedback I've gotten is that people perceive us as punching way above our weight class. Juniper didn't have the visibility it needed until just this past year. Suddenly, we're a much brighter light on the radar screen."
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