Juniper reviews distributor finance initiative

Fighting the squeeze: Juniper has been offering its distributors extended payment terms of 90 days

A perceived improvement in market conditions has prompted Juniper Networks to review a distributor finance initiative it launched last year in conjunction with IBM Global Financing.

Nine months ago, the networking and security vendor extended payment terms for its European distributors from 60 to 90 days in a bid to give them more breathing room on deals involving specific partners and technology markets.

David Small, EMEA vice president of channel sales, admitted the vendor is reviewing the programme as the European market begins to show signs of a recovery.

"We extended their payment terms and financed it to ensure they weren’t squeezed too far," he explained.

“If you look at the analysis from some of the distributors themselves they have had a relatively soft landing in some areas. The impact has not been as severe as it might have been.” Details of the programme can be found here.

Bruce Hockin, head of business strategy at Juniper distributor Avnet Technology Solutions, said: "The programme was a short-term project designed to incentivise channels and enable tactical growth within specific partners and technology markets. It was a successful programme and Avnet would welcome a similar strategy again."

One anonymous distributor said the initiative had "helped take the pressure off bigger deals" and was fearful that the commercial terms involved would be made less favourable.

Dave Ellis, director of new technology and services at Computerlinks, said: "The channel is under pressure at the moment in terms of cash flow and credit and anything that vendors can do to help ease the pressure is much appreciated.”

Small added that there were no plans to make changes to Juniper’s UK distribution line-up, despite the recent acquisition of Juniper distributor Sphinx by Arrow ECS.

Small stressed that Arrow is already a partner in some European countries so the merger was “very straightforward” from a UK perspective. The duo have briefly been partners before but parted company in 2007 at roughly the same time Computerlinks was appointed.