Arista goes on the offensive

VMware, NetApp and EMC resellers high on aggressive networking vendor's wish-list

Bullish networking vendor Arista Networks aims to make waves in the UK channel with aggressive pricing, robust technology and some well-known faces leading the business.

Arista found itself in the media spotlight recently when former Cisco executives Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal joined the company. Marketing director Mark Foss said: “It has made people take notice of our products.”

Arista signed a European distribution agreement with Consolidate IT last year and about 50 resellers across 15 countries have already been signed up. The distributor’s UK managing director Monica van Lunteren said: “We are building the channel in the UK and across Europe nice and steadily.”

Foss indicated many Arista VARs are focused on the SME space. “A lot of them sell VMware, NetApp or EMC,” he said. “Many sell Cisco and we have no interoperability issues.”

Foss claimed now is a good time for VARs to buy into 10 gigabit Ethernet technology and said that Arista’s offering is leading the market in terms of price at about €350 (£317) per port.

“Resellers can take advantage of a high-growth market,” he said. “Our strategy is to give early adopters room to grow.”