Tivoli makes moves to support channel

Software Vendor reveals plans to focus on resellers ignored in past.

Tivoli has thrown its weight behind the channel for the first time as it unveiled a management suite of products to target the upper mid-market.

The IBM-owned network management software vendor has expanded its Team Tivoli partner scheme as part of a drive to increase channel revenues to 50 per cent from the present 30 per cent by 2001. In addition, the vendor has launched six management suites that will be pushed through all sales routes, although fulfilment will be exclusively through the indirect channel.

Richard Mathewson, EMEA channel manager at Tivoli, said the vendor would be attracting a type of reseller that, to date, the company had ignored. 'Up until now we've only been focused on the top 2000 global businesses and have only partnered on a global scale with integrators and consultancies. We haven't touched the upper mid-market, but now we need to extend it,' he said.

'The number of companies in this area is huge, and they are growing on average eight per cent faster than the larger organisations. But we need channel bandwidth to penetrate this sector,' he added.

Mathewson said Tivoli would focus on organisations with between 750 and 3,000 employees, and which had revenue of up to $1 billion.

The vendor has already signed 27 premier partners in Europe and about 40 at member level, who receive no marketing development funds. 'We are looking to expand both tiers, but we don't want hundreds of partners,' said Mathewson.

Tivoli's foray into the medium-sized market follows hot on the heels of rival Computer Associates, which recently said it would name the large accounts with which it dealt directly, to reduce channel conflict (PC Dealer, 29 April). 'CA is making acquisitions, but we have built our technology from scratch and can transfer our best practices to our partners,' added Mathewson.