Juniper Networks has “tweaked” its partner programme, with its EMEA channel boss insisting that a “radical overhaul” wasn’t needed because the current regime is yielding results.
The enterprise networking behemoth – whose acquisition by HPE is set to close imminently – gained marketshare in the UK last year, Dale Smith claimed.
The record levels of activities Juniper is carrying out with partners signals that the Juniper Partner Advantage programme “is working”, he added.
For this reason, the changes made to the scheme on 1 January 2025 – namely in the areas of profitability, investment and partner collaboration – amount merely to “optimisation tweaks”.
“We’ve not radically overhauled it,” Smith told IT Channel Oxygen.
“This is not a year for radical changes, because it’s working.
“The partners tell us this in the record-breaking amount of events we’re doing at C-level, and in the fact they’re enjoying the profitability of the MNP [Managed Network Provider] programme and Seller Rewards.”
The number of partner roundtables Juniper ran in 2024 rose 40% year on year, Smith claimed.
“We feel the partners really leant into us in 2024,” he said.
“There was a lot of great momentum in terms of not just sales, but how they showed up to our events. We put on a lot more events. We wanted to get out there and talk to our partners more, listen more, and create new ideas together.”
Although declining to offer details, Smith claimed that Juniper has increased the amount of rebates available to partners in “certain stacks”.
“It means a lot to partners”
HPE CEO Antonio Neri last month said he still expects the vendor’s acquisition of Juniper to close in early 2025, saying he has “no pause about the deal [getting done]”.
The deal will “create a formidable contender for Cisco”, according to partners IT Channel Oxygen spoke to at the time it was first announced 12 months ago.
Smith denied that any programme changes Juniper – whose Q3 net revenues fell 5% year-on-year to $1.33bn – makes will be rendered meaningless by the union.
“I think it means a lot to the partners to go out from day one of 2025 with super clear enhancements, super clear investments, super clear strategies, super clear teaming, and super clear apsirations to grow the market,” he said.
“We were talking to our partners about these things in November and December, which gives them confidence. And that’s super important, because we continue to function as a standalone business.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
