Networking distributor Westcon Group launched a new incubation program to identify emerging technology vendors who are in high-growth areas.
The strategy behind this new program is for Westcon to develop global distribution relationships for new products and services from these up-and-coming companies. Westcon has made this program a strategic initiative for the year and has allocated new funding and resources for it. Westcon also plans to get its network of solution providers involved in the program.
Under the program, Westcon is looking to find vendors that may not have previously used or considered distribution as a route to market.
Anthony D’Angelo, vice president of global partner management, emerging vendors and incubation, at Westcon, said this program is an important investment for the company’s future as it will create the next generation of top vendors. The incubation program also augments the distributor’s ability to offer multi-vendor solutions
Related Stories
In order to be eligible for the incubation program, vendors must invest in the program along with Westcon and offer a solution or service in a high-growth market that would be attractive to solution providers. Another consideration is the vendor’s partnering culture and whether they have the necessary structure to support a global channel program, even with Westcon’s help, D’Angelo said.
One of the benefits Westcon is offering in this program is they can ramp up vendors in each country or region, providing a repeatable, cost-effective, scalable process to expand geographically. The new vendor can also leverage Westcon’s specialized practice groups and services. This service helps the new vendors accurately target solution providers and the markets they wish to reach.
The first vendor to sign on to the Westcon Incubation Program is FireMon. FireMon solutions deliver continuous visibility into and control over network security infrastructure, policies and risk.
D’Angelo said FireMon has an enormous opportunity for significant growth as their technology centralizes management of security devices across large enterprise networks.
“A lot of vendors we’re talking with don’t have a lot of channel resources or the channel experience of a larger vendor. We’ll work with them on execution and enablement in order to accelerate their success, and in term our success and that of our customers,” D’Angelo said.