New Brocade EMEA partner boss opens up on channel plans

Thomas Langkjaer dismisses need for thousands of resellers and aims to focus on existing partners for future growth

Brocade's newly appointed EMEA channel boss has vowed to strengthen the firm's ties with its existing channel partners as well as aiming to welcome in new resellers across the region.

Thomas Langkjaer, who was promoted to the role of director for EMEA channel sales at Brocade last November, said while he hopes its partner base will grow, he does not have his sights set on a mass influx of resellers.

Speaking to CRN, he said: "I do not want 10,000 partners like Cisco does, it does not make sense to me. What does make sense is having partners that understand how Brocade can make a difference and that we can help position better in the market with our technology.

"My goal is to make sure that the number [of reseller partners] continues to be relevant for the size of the business we have."

He added that channel recruitment is driven by its distributor partners, while his in-house channel team focuses on existing reseller partners, of which there are seven Elite and 12 Premier resellers in the UK, and 80 across both levels collectively across EMEA.

Last November, prior to Langkjaer's appointment, Brocade announced the acquisition of software-defined networking (SDN) vendor Vyatta. Langkjaer added that it is important for resellers to be up to speed on Brocade's growing technology portfolio.

When questioned on the firm's EMEA sales goals, Langkjaer claimed he was reluctant to put a figure on any targets for channel-centricity or revenue volume, but that it was his priority that the channel sees the vast majority of the business's sales.

"Let me make it clear, we have chosen to be close to a 100 per cent channel business – we do not really move in the direction of selling to customers direct – we are here to work with the channel," he said.

"Yes, I do want to set goals for how we work with partners and it is important that when we invest, we see a return on that. [But], there is not necessarily a target on that – I am not going to put a dollar sign on it – we just want to do the business through the channel."