Monday Morning Impact – January 12

By Ken Presti, Senior Consultant, Channel Impact

Hortonworks Expands Certification Program

Hortonworks, which focuses on enterprise-grade Apache Hadoop, recently announced expansion of its Hortonworks Certified Technology Program to include three components.

“HDP Operations Ready” delivers assurance to manage and run applications on HDP, specifically integrating with Apache Ambari, using Ambari as a client to an enterprise management system, integrating Ambari-managed Hadoop components via Ambari Stacks, or providing tailored user tools with Ambari Views.

“HDP Security Ready” delivers tested and validated integration with security-related components of the platform. Beyond the ability to work in a Kerberos-enabled cluster, it is also designed to work with the Apache Knox gateway and Apache Ranger for comprehensive security integration and centralized management.

“HDP Governance Ready” provides assurance that data is integrated into the platform via automated and managed data pipelines, as defined by the Apache Falcon data workflow engine.

“By offering one of the most comprehensive certification programs in the market, our technology partners are better enabled to help drive the modernization of enterprise data architectures,” said Tim Hall, vice president of product management at Hortonworks. “Our program gives vendors extremely valuable guidance and integration tools for the ecosystem and allows customers to be assured of an ecosystem that integrates well.”

Channel Impact:
As the complexity of IT grows in the midst of the new paradigm, partner education, as evidenced by certifications becomes an important means to assure quality control while, at the same time, providing partners with a credential that can help them secure new customers.

Patrick Zammit Named Avnet Technology Solutions Global President

Phoenix-based technology distributor Avnet has promoted Patrick Zammit to global president for Avnet Technology Solutions, one of two global operating groups within Avnet.

Avnet Technology Solutions serves customers and suppliers in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa. It generated US $11.0 billion in annual revenue for fiscal year 2014.

Zammit will be responsible for the strategic direction, day-to-day operations and performance of the group globally. He reports directly to chief executive officer Rick Hamada, succeeding Phil Gallagher.

Zammit began his career with Arthur Andersen and joined Avnet in 1993, holding a series of positions in finance, operations and strategic planning and served as president of EBV Elektronik, an Avnet company, before being promoted to regional president of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA in 2006. He graduated from the Business School ESLSCA with the French equivalent of a master’s degree in business administration.

Channel Impact:
Zammit’s plans for management of the business unit were not disclosed.

Extreme Networks Appoints Bob Gault as VP Global Channels

Extreme Networks recently named Bob Gault as the company’s new vice president of global channels and partners. Gault’s appointment follows the transition of Theresa Caragol into the role of vice president of strategic sales initiatives for Extreme, where she will continue to support Extreme’s Customers and Channel Partner-first commitment and sales efforts.

Gault has more than 26 years of channel experience. He was most recently vice president of Cisco’s Cloud and Managed Services Partner Organization where he drove the worldwide go-to-market strategy, recruited channel partners across the ecosystem, focused on field sales enablement and profitability by helping channel partners monetize their investments while accelerating the adoption of cloud and managed services into the market.

In joining Extreme Networks, he now leads a global ecosystem of 2,500 channel partners.

Channel Impact:
Extreme Networks has seen its share of ups and downs during the course of its nearly twenty-year history. Bringing Gault into the fold should help to strengthen the company’s credibility with its partners.