Aerohive takes aim at commoditised Cisco channel

Ambitious WLAN vendor to double EMEA headcount as it bids to recruit Cisco and Apple partners

Aerohive hopes to be "the mouse that roared" in the WLAN market as it goes about increasing EMEA headcount and swelling its channel ranks.

Former McAfee EMEA channel boss Andy Rattigan recently joined the wireless vendor as international channel director, and he told ChannelWeb he intends to double headcount and treble revenue across EMEA in the coming year. Regional staff ranks will grow from their current level of 60, with a focus on channel management.

Aerohive has about 80 UK partners, with three at the top-tier Platinum level and four holding a Gold accreditation. Rattigan wants to double channel ranks, with a focus on cementing ties with tier-one integrators. He added that his firm could offer a degree of differentiation to Cisco partners operating in an increasingly commoditised market.

"In my experience [working for a Cisco partner] there are always four others bidding at the same time as you; it can be very hard to differentiate one Cisco partner from another," he said. "Right now, and for some time in the future, Cisco does not have a cloud story. We do today, and we can provide significant differentiation."

Partners can typically make margins of between 20 and 30 per cent on Aerohive product, claimed Rattigan. The channel boss explained that he wants to add to the vendor's stable of 15 partners from the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

"If an organisation is deploying iPads, they will typically do that through the ACN, and that is where we come in," he said. "The iPad is the main driver behind BYOD; people want to be able to use their devices anywhere, and we have an architecture that fits very well with Apple."