‘On an investment basis internally, we’ve been very overweight as far as growth and dollars invested in … everything partner, which was a massive departure from the past. You’ve got to put your money where the mouth is and make sure that this has the opportunity to be a really valuable revenue generation opportunity for channel partners,’ Aviatrix CEO Doug Merritt tells CRN exclusively.
Cloud networking specialist Aviatrix is supercharging and relaunching its channel program as the company puts partners at the center of its strategy to capture more share in the $30 billion cloud networking market.
Aviatrix today has more than 100 partners, but the company hasn’t necessarily treated the channel as valuable peers and strategic co-compatriots. It’s why Aviatrix over the last year has been “reformulating” its strategy, which includes investing heavily in partners and its channel program, Aviatrix CEO Doug Merritt told CRN.
“As part of this relaunch, it’s really almost a relaunch of the company. We’re changing the way that we talk about ourselves with much more specific use case-driven frameworks for problems that we solve, that, hopefully if we’ve done our job, are deeply tied to key business priorities that CIOs have as they’re continuing to work their way through their cloud journey and their new hybrid landscape,” Merritt said.
[Related: Cloud Networking Startup Aviatrix Launches ‘Consumable’ Network Security PaaS Option]
The fully revamped Aviatrix channel partner program now offers aggressive incentives for channel partners, as well as dedicated senior channel headcount and resources and training and certifications to help partners nab their fair share of the “massive” cloud networking opportunity, especially as refresh cycles loom and networking market turmoil reshapes the industry’s incumbent networking players.
Aviatrix said that its existing partner program groups all of its partners together, but partners can’t exist under one umbrella, said Anh Profiti, head of global channels for Aviatrix. The new program will have multiple tiers that offer additional benefits for partners as they progress through the program. The program tiers will reward them with deal registration and net new opportunities that offer higher margins and price protection, and partners can “tier up” monthly, rather than quarterly or yearly, Profiti said.
Program infrastructure is key to the relaunch in making it easy to do business with partners, she said.
“This way, we’re marching to the same tune, down the same path, trying to find those common goals,” she said. “Partners want a clear path to revenue. By partnering with Aviatrix, you have a lucrative incentive program [that’s] super competitive, and that was by design, because we’re trying to get the attention of our largest resellers.”
Profiti said there’s “easily” a 10-15 percent delta in revenue that can be earned by partners in the Aviatrix program compared to competing partner programs.
The new channel program will also boast a new partner portal that will offer marketing resources and support, as well as sales enablement resources and access to the Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) program that offers continuing education for cloud networking professionals, the company said.
Re-Orienting Around The Channel
Leadership in the past wasn’t “enamored” with partners overall, which is not unusual for new organizations because it’s harder to get the attention of partners from smaller organizations and startups, Merritt said, But Aviatrix, under Merritt’s leadership since he came on as CEO in 2023, needs the channel.
“What we do is really unique and sophisticated and difficult and different … I’ve lived with channel my entire career. I’ve seen the power that partners can have, and especially in our segments of the industry, and I can’t find many players over the past 30 years in networking and network security that have gotten to a really successful status unless they’re aligned with channel.”
In tech, no matter how dominant a vendor is, it’s always an ecosystem play, he added.
“Certainly, in our industry, you’re only as strong as your ecosystem,” Merritt said.
The CEO’s first year at the helm has been focused on understanding and organizing the company in a different way so it can more aggressively launch into the market with its cloud networking and security platform for targeted and specific user cases. To that end, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Aviatrix doesn’t have a “box” mentality and it’s looking for partners with a similar mindset, Merritt said.
“If you’re going after the traditional [VARs] that are still tasked with pushing X Cisco boxes per quarter, it’s going to be hard to get their attention,” he said.
Aviatrix doesn’t plan on collecting as many partners as they can. Rather, the company wants to identify and onboard a select set of 30 strategic channel partners for its FY26, which starts in February.
“[It’s about] enhancing the way that we’ve been doing things, so we can get well lined up to re-emerge in a different way than we had been operating. As part of that, from the very beginning, was [an] extremely strong partner orientation,” he said. “On an investment basis internally, we’ve been very overweight as far as growth and dollars invested in a percentage basis on everything partner, which was a massive departure from the past … You’ve got to put your money where the mouth is and make sure that this has the opportunity to be a really valuable revenue generation opportunity for channel partners.”
