2017 Partner Program Guide: 5-Star System Vendors

Systemic Approach

Systems, everything from server hardware, to network appliances to desktop PCs, are the platforms for all IT. And while industry giants like Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco and Lenovo may dominate the systems arena, the rise of converged infrastructure systems has provided an entry for a new generation of startups who are challenging the big guys – and all of them are battling to recruit solution provider partners.

For solution providers, that means making decisions about which vendors to partner with. And what level of support, incentives and rewards vendors are offering through their partner program is a big part of those decisions. CRN's 2017 Partner Program Guide offers the information solution providers need to evaluate IT vendors they work with or are considering working with. The guide is based on detailed applications vendors submitted outlining all aspects of their partner programs.

As part of the Partner Program Guide, CRN designates some programs as 5-Star Partner Programs. Here we present the 5-Star designees in the system technology space.

A10 Networks

Program Name: A10 Affinity Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Kirsten Young

URL: www.a10networks.com

APC by Schneider Electric

Program Name: APC Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1991

Number of North American Partners: 5,466

North American Channel Chief: Shannon Sbar

URL: www.apc.com

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

Program Name: Partner Ready for Networking

Year Program Established: 2016

Number of North American Partners: 4,022

North American Channel Chief: Jim Harold

URL: http://www.arubanetworks.com/

Asigra Inc.

Program Name: Asigra Hybird Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 450

North American Channel Chief: Eran Farajun

URL: www.asigra.com

AT&T

Program Name: AT&T Alliance Program

Year Program Established: 1998

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Kevin Leonard

URL: www.att.com/alliance

AT&T

Program Name: AT&T Partner Exchange

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Randall Porter

URL: www.att.com

Avaya

Program Name: Avaya Edge

Year Program Established: 2016

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Gary Levy

URL: www.avaya.com

Barracuda Networks

Program Name: Barracuda North America Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2004

Number of North American Partners: 6,224

North American Channel Chief: Ezra Hookano

URL: www.barracuda.com/

Cisco Systems

Program Name: Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Program

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Rick Snyder

URL: www.cisco.com

Cisco Systems

Program Name: Cisco Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1996

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Rick Snyder

URL: www.cisco.com

Citrix

Program Name: Citrix Partner Network

Year Program Established: 1989

Number of North American Partners: 2,579

North American Channel Chief: Rafael Garzon

URL: www.citrix.com

Commvault

Program Name: Commvault Partner Advantage Program

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: David Fischer

URL: www.commvault.com

DataCore Software

Program Name: DataCore Premier Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: 206

North American Channel Chief: Devi Madhavan

URL: www.datacore.com

Datto Inc.

Program Name: Datto Global Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2017

Number of North American Partners: 3,950

North American Channel Chief: Rob Rae

URL: www.datto.com

Dell Inc.

Program Name: Dell EMC Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2017

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Greg Ambulos

URL: www.delltechnologies.com

Digium Inc.

Program Name: Digium Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2007

Number of North American Partners: 4,055

North American Channel Chief: Steve Harvey

URL: www.digium.com

D-Link Systems

Program Name: Value in Partnership+

Year Program Established: 2008

Number of North American Partners: Nor Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Mike Hardy

URL: us.dlink.com

Eaton

Program Name: PowerAdvantage Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Curtiz Gangi

URL: http://www.powerquality.eaton.com

Extreme Networks

Program Name: Extreme Partner Network

Year Program Established: 1996

Number of North American Partners: 1,316

North American Channel Chief: Gordon Mackintosh

URL: www.extremenetworks.com/

Fortinet

Program Name: Fortinet Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Joe Sykora

URL: www.fortinet.com

Genband

Program Name: Partner Advantage Program

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Charles (Chuck) Assenza

URL: www.genband.com

Gigamon

Program Name: Gigamon Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: 304

North American Channel Chief: Barbara Spicek

URL: www.gigamon.com

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Program Name: HPE Partner Ready

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Scott Dunsire

URL: www.hpe.com

Hitachi Data Systems

Program Name: Hitachi TrueNorth Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2003

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Jay McGloin

URL: www.hds.com

HP Inc.

Program Name: HP Partner First

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Stephanie Dismore

URL: www.hp.com/

IBM

Program Name: PartnerWorld

Year Program Established: 1999

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Neal Callahan

URL: ibm.com/partnerworld

Intel Corporation

Program Name: Intel Technology Provider Program

Year Program Established: 1980

Number of North American Partners: 24,000

North American Channel Chief: Todd Garrigues

URL: http://www.intel.com

Lenovo

Program Name: Lenovo Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2005

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Sammy Kinlaw

URL: www.lenovo.com

Maxta Inc.

Program Name: Maxta Value-Added Partner (MVP) Program

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Steve Tiches

URL: www.maxta.com

Mellanox Technologies

Program Name: Mellanox PartnerFIRST Program

Year Program Established: 2008

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Darrin Neil Chen

URL: www.mellanox.com

Microsoft Corporation

Program Name: Microsoft Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Stephen Boyle

URL: www.microsoft.com

NCR Corporation

Program Name: NCR Interact Channel Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 264

North American Channel Chief: Michael Kozel

URL: www.ncr.com

NetApp

Program Name: NetApp Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 1,274

North American Channel Chief: Bill Lipsin, VP, Global Channel

URL: www.netapp.com

Nimble Storage

Program Name: Nimble Storage Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: 450

North American Channel Chief: Keith Macove

URL: http://www.nimblestorage.com

Nutanix, Inc.

Program Name: Nutanix Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Chris Morgan

URL: www.nutanix.com

Oracle Corporation

Program Name: Oracle PartnerNetwork Program

Year Program Established: 1999

Number of North American Partners: 5,500

North American Channel Chief: Bill Swales

URL: www.oracle.com

Panasas, Inc.

Program Name: Panasas Accelerate

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: 125

North American Channel Chief: Philip Crocker

URL: www.panasas.com

Pivot3

Program Name: Pivot3 Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: 250

North American Channel Chief: Bruce Milne

URL: www.pivot3.com

Polycom Inc.

Program Name: Polycom Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Number of North American Partners: 2,666

North American Channel Chief: Nick Tidd

URL: www.polycom.com

Pure Storage

Program Name: P3 (Pure Partner Program)

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Michael Sotnick

URL: http://www.purestorage.com/

Quantum Corporation

Program Name: Quantum Alliance

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 7,054

North American Channel Chief: Andrew Brinck

URL: http://www.quantum.com

Samsung Electronics America

Program Name: Samsung Team Of Empowered Partners

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Greg Taylor

URL: http://www.samsung.com/business

Schneider Electric

Program Name: EcoXpert Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: 3,000

North American Channel Chief: Robert Klein

URL: www.schneider-electric.com

ScienceLogic

Program Name: ChannelLogic

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Steve Kazan

URL: www.sciencelogic.com

Server Technology Inc.

Program Name: Power Rewards Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Number of North American Partners: 165

North American Channel Chief: Mike Johnston

URL: www.servertech.com

Silver Peak

Program Name: SD-WAN Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Robert Bruce

URL: www.silver-peak.com

SimpliVity

Program Name: SimpliVity PartnerAdvantage

Year Program Established: 2014

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Geoff Fancher

URL: www.simplivity.com

Tegile Systems

Program Name: Tegile Authorized Partner Advantage Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Sherman Tam

URL: www.tegile.com

Tintri

Program Name: Tintri Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2012

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Gena Phelps

URL: www.tintri.com

Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Client Solutions Division

Program Name: Toshiba Preferred Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1985

Number of North American Partners: 3,000

North American Channel Chief: Patrick Mani

URL: http://www.toshiba.com/us

VeloCloud Networks Inc.

Program Name: VeloCloud Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: 110

North American Channel Chief: Ratnesh Sharma

URL: www.velocloud.com

Verizon

Program Name: Verizon Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2013

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Janet Schijns

URL: www.verizon.com

Viavi Solutions

Program Name: Viavi Velocity Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2015

Number of North American Partners: Undisclosed

North American Channel Chief: Sergio Bea

URL: www.viavisolutions.com

Zebra Technologies

Program Name: Zebra Partner Connect

Year Program Established: 2016

Number of North American Partners: Not Disclosed

North American Channel Chief: Tom Sheahen

URL: www.zebra.com