Infoblox snuggles up to channel with Elite programme launch

Network management vendor looks to woo application delivery specialists as it ceases investment in its own services clout

Network management player Infoblox is embracing the channel with the launch of its Invest & Profit partner programme.

The scheme includes a tiered discount structure, deal registration programme, subsidised demo equipment and a dedicated tranche of MDF cash. Former Check Point and Cisco exec Tariq Ahmed joined the vendor as director of EMEA channels six months ago.

"Historically, we were selling directly and fulfilling through channel partners," he said. "We will never take another account directly and are not investing another silver dollar in our own professional services capability.

"We want [partners] to build up a forecastable, repeatable pipeline of business and, when they want to invest in professional services, we will make it so easy and economically viable."

Part of the new channel programme is an Elite level, designed to demarcate Infoblox's top 50 partners worldwide, about 15 of which are in Europe. One requirement for such partners is to punt $1m (£631,000) worth of product a year, and Ahmed claimed the margin would remain healthy, as will the the services opportunity. He added that his firm would lend a hand with training and marketing, having created six "campaigns in a box".

"I have a marketing budget that I own," he said. "We have to keep the start price as high as possible for as long as possible, keep the margin as rich as possible, and not have too many partners fighting for that. We are doing the pre-sales investment with them, sending our training people in for three days, free of charge. It is not just us selecting a partner and then saying ‘off you go'."

The Infoblox man claimed the vendor would like to work with resellers who had relationships with application delivery vendors, such as F5, Citrix or Cisco. He added that it would not add another UK distributor to work alongside incumbent Exclusive Networks.

"The market in which we operate requires a certain level of value-add; broadline distribution is not the right avenue for us," he explained.