Wireless networking specialist Aruba Networks announced that it is expanding its PartnerEdge Program to better serve the wants of small and midsize enterprises (SME) and the channel partners that serve them.
With its PartnerEdge Program as a foundation, Aruba is adding training, promotions and sales enablement support for the SME market.
Each partner will go through a 90-day onboarding cycle that includes Aruba Partner portal access and Aruba Quotient mobile application, dedicated support from an Inside Channel Account Manager and Inside Channel SE, demo equipment offers and access to deal registration financial incentives.
Other features of the cycle include preferred pricing and targeted promotions to drive incremental business, cloud WiFi training with a 30-day license to use Aruba Central and free sales specialist training and certifications.
“Aruba has always had a strong partner program for our enterprise-focused partners. With this new program, we have taken steps to add new benefits to attract SME partners around our Cloud Management and Instant controller-less solutions,” Jim Harold, Aruba Networks’ vice president of channels, told eWEEK. “With our Aruba PartnerEdge Program as a foundation, Aruba is adding training, promotions and sales enablement support for the SME market to ensure that new partners can quickly ramp and develop solutions expertise.”
Authorized partners will also receive a limited number of technical training vouchers each fiscal year to cover a variety of certifications that are required to progress within the PartnerEdge Program.
In addition, a number of promotions have been designed specifically for the SME channel. Aruba will offer SME customers a special, $50 Aruba Central introductory price, as well as a buy four, get one free Instant AP promotion.
Aruba will also offer partners a K-12 promotion bundling Aruba Central or AirWave with Instant APs, a discount for new and dormant partners and a $20 per Instant AP spiff for partner representatives.
To support the effort, Aruba has adapted its internal organization, as well. A special SME channel team, based in the company’s Portland, Oregon office, will focus on the SME channel particularly in the areas of partner recruitment, enablement and demand generation.
“An ever-growing number of mobile devices and applications are driving the need for dependable WiFi everywhere. Small and midsize businesses need similar advanced security and features as their enterprise counterparts but in much simpler and easy-to-use packaging,” Harold said. “Our purpose-built solution for the SME market addresses key challenges that customers are facing with competitive solutions – speed, reliability and affordability. Partners have a great opportunity to differentiate their offering with Aruba’s simple and flexible architecture and grow their WiFi practice.”
Harold also said the company will be adding more features to their cloud management platform in the near future.
“We will also continue focusing on network security because, as more and more devices access the WiFi network and as increased amounts of data travel over the network, security will remain an important consideration for our partners and our end users,” he said. “Additionally, we are creating new products and services that leverage enterprises’ existing WiFi infrastructures to allow those organizations to better engage with their customers.”