Cisco recently introduced a raft of measures aimed at increasing support, improving financial programmes and protecting its partners. Yet lead times for a multitude of Cisco routers and switches can be in excess of four months.

These delays cause problems for resellers and distributors selling new stock but also affect the supply of spares and replacement parts. Specialist, high-end kit may be worst hit, but standard run-rate items have also been affected.

So the channel could face an uphill struggle in 2010 when delivering the comprehensive support services that are key to maintaining and acquiring customers – especially when you consider the number of channel partners and customers that are reliant on Cisco.

Further, while many channel players offer products from multiple ICT vendors, simply replacing a product with a different one could cause network compatibility issues.

In the worst case scenario, customers might have to rip out their entire infrastructure if they are unable to replace a particular piece of kit.

I believe the channel seriously needs to reduce its dependence on Cisco. This may mean taking on additional vendors’ products, so partners remain able to provide competitive offerings to end users.

However, a great number of partners may be unwilling or insufficiently equipped to make this type of commitment. They will then probably need to look outside the Cisco channel, either to source spare and replacement parts or seek out third-party Cisco repair partners. If they cannot repair a piece of equipment themselves, they will need to find someone who can.

Such supply problems will eventually subside, but for the moment it is all about survival, while delivering reliable and continuous end user support remains key to success.

Askar Sheibani is chief executive officer at Comtek