Allied Telesis confirms new partner programme for 2010

Networking firm Allied Telesis has today announced its plans for 2010, including a new partner programme scheduled for February, and a focus on vertical markets such as government and education, and in particular, healthcare.

The vendor is positioning itself as a lower-cost alternative to Cisco, with the aim of attracting cash-strapped organisations. Keith Hoult, who this week joined the firm, and is responsible for sales in the UK and Nordics, told Channel Pro: “There are a lot of end users looking to maximise the value out of their infrastructure; the days of buying Cisco because it’s a safe thing to do are over.  As long as the recession continues, customers will look for [alternatives] that present value and functionality at a lower cost.”

Hoult also the firm sees a lot of opportunities stemming from HP’s acquisition of 3Com which he says “will cause continue confusion in the channel and in prod overlaps over the next six to nine months.”

Francesco Stamezzi, EMEA channel manager stresses that the vendor is not looking to recruit a big number of reseller partners: “We are going to limit the number of people that come in and participate, not like Cisco has done. We will be very selective and highly restrictive.”

Allied Telesis says it plans to extend its x900 and x600 series of products to incorporate more functionality, to enable more efficient and streamlined network management at the network core and edge.