Channel Beat: Cisco Adds New Certification Level To Its Partner Program

A sales restructuring at Brocade Communications has added confusion and delay to the storage and networking vendor's field engagement model, making it difficult for solution providers to close deals and, in some cases, causing them to move business to rival vendors, partners told CRN.

A recent reorganization at the company added multiple layers to the channel engagement model, partners said, making it difficult to get in touch with Brocade and Ruckus account managers, engineers, and sales reps for special pricing or solution redesigns. This has caused delays from a few days to upwards of a week in getting critical answers required to close sales, according to partners.

Brocade Channel Chief Sandra Glasser Cheek said the company is working to understand which account managers are aligned with which partners, and which partners are selling across the portfolio.

’We feel like we're getting into the homestretch right now of a very disruptive year, and we're aligning ourselves for success," Cheek said.

On Wednesday, May 24, NetApp unveiled two acquisitions it expects to help expand its already-growing converged infrastructure and cloud storage business.

NetApp has acquired Immersive Partner Solutions, a Littleton, Colo.-based developer of software that validates multiple converged infrastructures through their lifecycles. NetApp has also agreed to acquire PlexiStor, a Sunnyvale, Calif. provider of software that turns off-the-shelf servers into high-performance converged infrastructure systems with persistent memory technologies.

NetApp CEO George Kurian unveiled the acquisitions during the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

For the first time in years, Cisco is adding a new certification level to its Partner Program: Cisco Global Gold. Cisco's Senior Director of Strategy, Planning & Programs, Marc Surplus said "the world is changing" and that "supporting global customers is becoming more and more important."

Effective May 23, Cisco Global Gold is the networking giant's top certification partner tier, surpassing Cisco Gold status. Surplus said Cisco's new top certification is open to any partners that want to invest in global and local business. Currently, five partners have earned Global Gold status.

The certification was created to make it easier for partners to do business globally with different customers, as well as large multi-national organizations.