Cisco hints at channel services strategy rejig

Vendor reviews its relationships with third party support and maintainance firms

Networking giant Cisco is set to shake up the way it treats third-party maintainers and support services firms.

Speculation has suggested the vendor is forming a programme tailored to channel services providers. Cisco indicated it was planning to revise its channel strategy around support services firms and that details would be unveiled in due course.

Last summer the vendor came down on Cisco Shared Support Partners (CSSP) selling own-brand services to third parties to then be sold on to end users. July 2011 will see the last European sales of shared support contracts.

Bob Dalton, managing director of channel services specialist Intact Integrated Services, claimed his firm had been lobbying for a specialised accreditation.

Companies like ours are valuable to Cisco and its partners. But Cisco has been smart in taking its time to evolve a programme.”

Steve Niven, sales director for support services firm Networks First, added: “We have been saying to Cisco for some time that it should have a services-only partnership.”