Juniper gets increased investment from Azlan

Distributor Azlan has pointed to Juniper Networks’ rising UK visibi-lity as the reason behind its increased investment in the vendor in 2007.

The Computer 2000-owned distributor has put together a three-man Juniper product team, and is looking to recruit between 75 and 100 resellers for the vendor this year.

This will be backed up by a 10-strong Juniper-focused sales team, while Azlan is also gearing up to launch a string of accompanying marketing and promotional programmes into the channel.

Andrew Shepperd, Azlan’s newly appointed UK director, said: “This is about Juniper’s growth. It has just come from a year of growth and presents a tremendous opportunity for the channel.”

Shepperd claimed that Juniper is also “gaining a lot of visibility” through its improved standing in Gartner’s magic quadrants. He insisted the investment wouldn’t conflict with Azlan’s Cisco business, but would instead “stretch the opportunity” in the security market for its resellers.

David Small, vice-president of channel sales EMEA at Juniper, said signing a deal with Azlan 12 months ago has allowed it to reach a new breed of reseller.

“Azlan is seeing the results coming through so it is investing more in Juniper and putting more heads around us,” he said. “It has a strong presence in the networking VAR community.”

Simon Welch, marketing director at Horizon UK, said: “Juniper as a brand and product set is gaining good traction in the market and there is space for everyone to grow.”

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