Brocade Expands Alliance Partner Network Program

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. is expanding its global Alliance Partner Network with new channel programs designed to attract storage and IP networking channel resellers with more selective and profitable professional services, support, and warranty offerings.

The new Brocade Professional Services Program (PSP) allows a selective group of channel partners to deliver a wide scope of Brocade IP professional services or resell their own services as Brocade-certified. Brocade today also unveiled the Support Delivery Program (SDP), which enables selective channel partners to deliver Tier-1 and -2 support, as well as the new Brocade Assurance Limited Lifetime Warranty on select IP networking products.

“Services are becoming one of the most important elements of a successful partner’s portfolio and can often be the foundation for expanding the partner’s role from trusted business advisor to trusted technical advisor. The new service and support offerings from Brocade help enable incremental revenue opportunities and improve customer satisfaction,” said Janet Waxman, vice president of infrastructure channels and alliances at IDC. “Brocade is clearly focused on promoting partner profitability, choice, and selectivity – and these programs are another proof point of their continued investment in their reseller partners.”

In an effort to address the growing Brocade IP/Ethernet networking install base and increased market demand, the Brocade PSP enables Brocade resellers to deliver high-value professional services to their customers directly after achieving the newly created Brocade IP Certified Consultant certification or by reselling Brocade services and resident consultant offerings.

The Brocade SDP is designed to offer select partners the opportunity to provide support for Brocade data center and IP/Ethernet networking solutions, enabling new offerings and building stronger, more strategic relationships with customers. Recognizing that partners have varying levels of knowledge and technical capabilities on Brocade products, the Brocade SDP uses a tiered approach with two distinct levels of partnership: specialists and professionals. Under both partnership tiers, the Brocade SDP partner defines and delivers their own support offering on Brocade products.

Brocade will also offer networking customers the Brocade Assurance Limited Lifetime Warranty program, a limited lifetime warranty* on new purchases of high-performance Brocade FastIron WS compact switches, Brocade FastIron CX edge switches, and Brocade TurboIron 24X compact 10 Gigabit Ethernet top-of-rack switches. This new warranty helps reduce total cost of ownership and financial risk, allowing end user customers to reinvest any resulting savings into other critical areas of their business.

Formally announced in May 2009, the Brocade Alliance Partner Network was created to help channel resellers preserve and maximize profitability with innovative sales programs, attractive service and support offerings, and high-integrity business processes and tools designed to level the competitive playing field and offer channel partners a true alternative in the networking industry.

“Brocade is committed to helping channel partners increase their market share and customer satisfaction with a complete portfolio of innovative, proven, and cost-effective data center and IP/Ethernet networking product and service offerings,” said Barbara Spicek, vice president of channels at Brocade. “These new service and support programs will help allow channel partners to deliver the highest-touch customer experience with a comprehensive product and support coverage model. It will also further substantiate our program goals to drive partner profitability and return on partnership.”

*Duration of warranty: As long as the original end user continues to own the product. In the event of discontinuance of product manufacture, Brocade warranty support is limited to five (5) years from the announced product end of life date.