HPE says unified channel strategy won't force Juniper partners to generalize

Integrating partner programs is always a difficult part of an acquisition. When they go well, efforts are made to be as open as possible, smooth the transition, and build relationships. When they go badly, there’s an inevitable build-up of bad feelings.

When one of the entities involved is specialist and the other generalist – as is the case with HPE and Juniper Networks – this can be even more of a challenge. According to HPE, however, there have been minimal issues.

At HPE Discover Barcelona 2025, Gordon Mackintosh, formerly SVP of Juniper’s partner organization and now VP of worldwide channel and partner ecosystem networking sales, said in a press Q&A: “Being here with partners … about five months into the integration, it's clear that we're probably moving at a speed that was greater than what they were anticipating and they are generally really satisfied with how things are going.”

Mackintosh added that he believes the disruption to the industry brought about by HPE’s acquisition of Juniper was something that partners had been looking for and needed.

“The early feedback … is very, very positive,” said Mackintosh “So we're extremely excited about that because, at the end of the day, this is an opportunity to not [only] participate in market disruption, but to really define the next generation of networking together with partners.”

Aruba strengths make integration easier

Mackintosh also claimed the integration of Juniper’s partner program has been made easier by the existing Aruba Networks business within HPE.

“One thing that has definitely struck me being new in this role is the similarity between Aruba networking and Juniper networking [and] this partner first mindset,” he said, adding that 90% of the combined networking business is done through the channel.

“We feel that that's a tremendous opportunity, because … we have this tremendously comprehensive portfolio all the way from the hybrid cloud through to Wi-Fi edge,” McKintosh continued. “And it's not just a portfolio and having the full stack, it's a portfolio that's really rich in innovation.”

A single partner program

HPE debuted a new, unified partner program at HPE Discover Las Vegas in June, which it rolled out on 1 November. This brings together not just HPE and Juniper’s partner programs, but HPE’s own manifold plans – 11 in total – into just one.

“In previous thinking, the reason that we had the different programs is that we had specialization built in,” explained Jesse Chavez, vice president of worldwide partner strategy, programs and operations at HPE.

“So if you wanted to sell our compute … you’d have to participate in one program. If you wanted to sell networking, you would participate in another program. If you wanted to sell services, you would participate in another program.”

The new program, which Chavez said has been “well received” in the 30 days it's been operating, brings all that together. This makes life simpler for partners who want to sell multiple HPE product lines, the company claims.

As Chavez explained, the new partner program features three tracks: build, sell, and services – with specialized sub tracks within them.

“Now a partner … (enters) the sell track and they can specialize either in compute, hybrid cloud, or networking, or do all three, or do two of them,” said Chavez, “and a lot of them will get access to all the innovation we’ve talked about.”

“Typically in the industry you build volume programs and that’s what we normally do,” he continued.

The company has, however, realized this isn’t for everyone and acknowledged “there are partners that want to sell our entire portfolio – and they make margin doing that – and there are partners that just want to specialize and we recognize those partners through competencies”.

When pressed on this approach, particularly in relation to former Juniper partners who have been brought into the HPE fold, Ewington said: “One thing I’ve learned about networking in the last year that I’ve been leading the Aruba channel is that we have a very specialized channel in networking. We have a lot of networking and security-only partners and I know the fear of some of them was that they would be forced to sell storage and service. [That’s] not the intent at all.”

“Their business model is ‘we’re specialists in network and security, we would love to continue to be specialists’,” he added, “so there was no intent to force a portfolio where it’s not a natural fit.”

“Having said that, there are many partners we work with who are working with our competitors and we would like them to sell more of our complete portfolio,” Ewington continued, “so we’re not confused”.

“That’s the whole purpose of building out competencies,” Chavez chimed in, “to identify those partners that have the and then we’ll know that they want to specialize and that’s all they want to do.”

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