Credit: Dreamstime
Silver Peak has rolled out a new certified deployment partner (CDP) program with the aim of enhancing select provider capabilities when deploying SD-WAN technologies.
The initiative is centred on allowing approved partners to resell and deploy the vendor’s Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform as part of plans to better support customer WAN and security projects.
Initial partners to achieve the new sales, technical and deployment certifications include World Wide Technology - which runs a $700 million business in Asia Pacific - CDW and Intervision, in addition to Invite Networks, Teneo and Xalient. At this stage, it’s unclear whether select providers from Asia Pacific will also be included in the program.
“Modern enterprises are quickly recognising that their legacy networks are holding them back from realising the full transformational promise of the cloud and many are seeking skilled partners to drive their WAN and security transformation initiatives,” said Ken Marks, vice president of channel sales for Silver Peak.
“This provides an unprecedented opportunity for our partners to bring new levels of business value to customers by attaining the training and certifications required to successfully drive SD-WAN deployments. The CDP program is architected to scale both the number of customers we can serve as well as the number of partners that we can enable to build high-growth profitable SD-WAN business practices – it’s a win win for everyone.”
To participate in the CDP program, Marks said partners must complete a “rigorous training and certification regimen” that requires advanced deployment certifications with proctored exams.
“Organisations are increasingly turning to SD-WAN for their digital transformation initiatives, optimisation of SaaS and cloud applications, and more efficient IT operations,” added Jeff Wynne, vice president of Services at WWT. “The rigorous training, testing and certification requirements of the Silver Peak CDP program expands our in-house teams’ resident SD-WAN acumen, enabling our teams to continue building cloud-first business-driven networks for our customers.”
The channel launch comes two months after Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) made a significant leap into the SD-WAN market with an offer to buy Silver Peak for $925 million.
As reported by Channel Asia, Silver Peak's Unity WAN technology will slide into HPE subsidiary Aruba's portfolio, offering an immediate shot in the competitive arm when it comes to the hot SD-WAN arena where Cisco, VMware and others are attracting enterprise IT dollars.
Founded in 2004 by David Hughes, who is still CEO, Silver Peak develops a variety of wide-area network technologies including WAN optimisation and SD-WAN software.
