Monday Morning Impact – December 28

Juniper Networks Revamps Partner Program for 2021

Juniper Networks has rolled out an updated channel program, effective January 1st, with a strengthened emphasis on the Sunnyvale, California-based company’s AI-Driven Enterprise strategy.

The new changes focus heavily on growing profitability via additional incentives for growth and partner-led activities. Further resources are earmarked to deliver increased levels of business simplicity with tools providing real-time visibility into Partners’ business with Juniper, digital marketing capabilities and a new automated Partner Support Service Program. The 2021 JPA Program also combines the Mist Partner Program with JPA, offering a single program structure and governance.

New Partner Plus programs will grant exclusivity, access to field readiness enablement and additional financial incentive including the Enterprise+ Partner Program developed to accelerate and reward Enterprise sales, as well as several programs and incentives that focus on growth for partner-led AI sales.

“Juniper is excited to be in the position to deliver a bold investment in our Partner Program with more development and financial growth opportunities for Juniper Partners,” said Gordon Mackintosh, Juniper’s Vice President of Global Channel & Virtual Sales. “We are also proud of our channel organization’s sales alignment model, which is key in the success of our partner-led strategy.”

Channel Impact^®
Juniper’s 2021 Partner Program is intended to increase simplicity and help partners achieve greater traction in the marketplace. Juniper is also offering rewards to partners who boldly invest in the Juniper portions of their businesses.

Clumio Launches Air-Gapped Ransomware Protection

Clumio, Inc., a Santa Clara, California-based enterprise backup vendor, has announced the availability of Clumio RansomProtect, an air-gapped ransomware protection solution for VMware / VMware Cloud on AWS, Amazon Web Services (EC2/RDS/EBS), and Microsoft M365.

The product is designed to eliminate the need for businesses to locate a second air gap site, buy more hardware, manage a separate backup network or manage air gap network security. Offered as a service, the platform features storage, end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication and a “bring your own key” option. Clumio says the platform also meets ISO 27001, PCI, AICPA SOC, and HIPAA certification and compliance designations.

Ransomware fears escalated earlier this year when bad actors targeted the healthcare sector. The increased threat to healthcare organizations prompted the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to issue an advisory that urged healthcare providers to take immediate action to prevent an attack. Although healthcare is the recent target, no organization is immune to ransomware attacks. Security researchers have tracked a growing ransomware threat during Q3 2020, including a massive spike in September.

“Traditional approaches to ransomware protection are way too complex, requiring additional hardware on-premises or the need to replicate snapshots in the public cloud,” said Chadd Kenney, vice president and chief technologist at Clumio. “The end result is weeks or months of implementation, high costs, and heavy management, all while ultimately not providing the level of protection organizations require. Enterprises demand a greater level of protection.”

Clumio RansomProtect is available today in North America via a free trial.

Channel Impact^®
A wide variety of researchers report an increase in ransomware issues amidst COVID-19. Proactive prevention and planning are critical in such an environment.

Mindtree Announces Microsoft Azure Experience Center and Training

Mindtree, an India-based technology services company, has launched a dedicated go-to-market business unit centered on building new solutions based on Microsoft platforms and technologies, as well as developing the next generation of talent across the Mindtree organization globally.

The business unit is a component of Mindtree’s multi-tiered initiative to support the continued demand of cloud services and solutions. Mindtree will also expand its Global Azure Experience Center in Redmond, WA and will leverage its Microsoft Excellence Academy to ensure all technical professionals are proficient and certified on Microsoft Azure technologies.

“As long-standing partners, our mutual goal is to bring together our complementary strengths to deliver specialized capabilities, industry solutions and services that will help our customers get maximum value out of their investment in Microsoft technologies,” said Debashis Chatterjee, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Mindtree. “Today’s announcement broadens Mindtree’s reach and expertise within Microsoft’s business which continues to grow at scale and underscores the unwavering commitment that Mindtree has made to drive strategic work for common enterprise clients.”

“By enhancing the focus on a dedicated Microsoft business unit, Mindtree is taking a critically important step forward in our collaboration and making further investments in the Microsoft ecosystem,” said Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft. “As a result, enterprise customers will further benefit from the innovative products and services tailored to their digital and cloud transformation initiatives, as well as Mindtree’s world-class talent around the globe to develop and apply industry specific solutions to solve customers’ business challenges.”

Channel Impact^®
The effort is expected to deepen capabilities with respect to Azure-based digital transformation.