Ruckus asks Top Dogs to prove their pedigree

Hall: potential partners may be carrying competitive product that is highly priced

Ruckus Wireless’ new UK chief is banking on the vendor’s first deal registration scheme and a fortified top-partner level to help grow its reseller base.

UK and Ireland regional sales manager Bryan Hall joins from HP. He has been tasked with growing UK partner numbers, which stand at 69.

“[Potential partners] may be carrying competitive product, which may be highly priced for the current climate,” said Hall.

Ruckus has added a deal registrat­ion scheme to its Big Dogs channel prog­ramme, allowing participants to benefit from a 10-point margin advantage. EMEA enterprise sales director Jim Calderbank claimed its introduction would stop Ruckus “becoming a low-margin opportunity”.

Partner membership requirements have also been modified. To re­main in the programme, VARs must get at least one member of staff accredited technically within a year of signing up. Big Dogs also has a new top tier, Top Dogs, with Gold and Silver levels being phased out.

“The criteria were vague as to how you moved from one to the other,” explained Calderbank.

Top Dogs will receive a five-point margin boost, as well as increased market development funding.

Scott Dobson, managing director of Cloud Distribution, worked with Ruckus at former company Vcomm. He said the vendor had “a good technology in the traditional market”, but warned the goalposts are moving.

“The challenge is that you still have to put a switch in,” he said. “Cisco is investing heavily in trying to build a cloud-based solution and vendors like Aerohive are also pushing in the right direction.”