Monday Morning Impact – June 15

By Ken Presti, Senior Consultant, Channel Impact

Pulse Secure Announces Global Partner Program

Pulse Secure, a San Jose-based provider of access and mobile security solutions for the enterprise and service providers, has announced the launch of its global partner program known as, “Pulse Secure Connect Now.”

Rather than requiring certifications, the new program mandates joint case studies designed to validate partner competency in sales, engineering and marketing.

The company will recognize three program tiers: Community, Secure Plus and Secure Premier. Each level represents the partner’s proficiency, expertise and growth with program benefits that escalate by level. A deal registration component is planned for August.

“Our goal was to develop a partner program that is optimized for our partners’ businesses, enables profitable growth for our partners as well as Pulse Secure, and most importantly, is easy to understand,” said Doug Erickson, vice president of worldwide partner sales at Pulse Secure. “Pulse Secure is a channel-led business and through the development of this program our partners are able to sell effectively and efficiently with best-in-class training and incentives that result in profitable mobile security businesses. This is a huge milestone and further shows our dedication to our channel partners and the industry as a whole.”

Channel Impact
Security is an area in which partners continue to develop expertise and differentiation. As mobile security gains importance, partners are often looking for new vendors and new options.

Tech Data Corporation to Acquire Signature Technology Group

Tech Data has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Signature Technology Group, Inc. (“STG”), a provider of data center and professional services, for an undisclosed price.

STG offers partner-led IT professional services that deploy technology physically and virtually, cloud assessments and migrations, and technical staffing to ensure that IT departments have skilled resources and coverage. The STG team holds certifications across 23 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and its technicians, deployed in customers’ IT environments, support over 300,000 devices throughout North America.

STG’s services will be offered through Tech Data’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) division, the company’s data center business in the Americas. STG CEO Charles Layne will assume the role of president, Signature Technology Group at Tech Data and will report directly to Chuck Bartlett, senior vice president, AIS at Tech Data. The transaction is expected to close in early June 2015.

Channel Impact
The transaction clearly strengthens Tech Data’s service delivery capacity. However, service is an area that is often a key component to the business models of the distributors’ reseller partners.

Avnet Technology Solutions Names Dee Dee Lear SVP of Americas Emerging Channels

Avnet Technology Solutions has named Dee Dee Lear as senior vice president of Emerging Channels for the Americas. Lear will be responsible for the strategic direction, expansion and growth of emerging channels, including system integrators (SIs), independent software vendors (ISVs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and various types of service providers (xSPs). Lear’s responsibilities also include Avnet Technology Solutions’ operations in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

With more than 26 years of experience in the technology industry, Lear has extensive leadership experience in sales, strategy and business development.

Her professional background includes time with a national integrator of technology-based solutions, a distributor of IBM mid-range server products, and a technology distributor. Lear is also president of Women in Channels (WiC), an industry-related non-profit board.
She reports to Jeff Bawol, president, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas.

Channel Impact
Strategic plans were not disclosed.