3Com evokes spirit of 1990s

Rival vendors have lost focus in the channel, networking vendor's EMEA boss claims

Ansley: How can you sell five networking manufacturers and believe you can do a good job

As 3Com hunts for partners to sell its H3C enterprise gear, the networking vendor’s EMEA boss has called for a return to the channel mindset of the early 1990s.

Mike Ansley, vice president EMEA at 3Com, has lashed out at rivals for spreading themselves too thinly and letting their channel programmatics spiral out of control.

He hailed 3Com’s new channel authorisation programme for H3C – the high-end networking brand it recently bought outright from Chinese vendor Huawei – as a return to the ideals of the previous decade.

Ansley revealed 3Com is looking to sign up just a small handful of UK resellers in a bid to create a “narrow and profitable” EMEA channel for H3C.

“In the early 1990s you would not see anyone selling multiple vendors. As manufacturers have broadened their VAR base and vice versa, neither one of them has won. How can you sell five networking manufacturers and believe you can do a good job?”

Ansley said 3Com would stand in front of the customer and work with the channel partner to create a total solution. “This is a fundamental change in how we go to market,” he said.

And Ansley slammed rivals for developing overly complex channel programmatics and losing focus on the bottom line.

“Partners used to make money on the resale of products. All these programmatics have been institutionalised and no one can tell if they are making money any more,” he said. “We have a very straightforward programme where partners make money for the business they do.”

He added: “We are going to create a very narrow, profitable channel. Our cost structure allows us to do that because of our China-based strategy. I have the lowest design and development costs in industry. Last quarter we had the best gross margin in the company’s history and we want to share the wealth with partners.”