First of all, my apologies for the title of this entry. I’ve been spending way too much time following the presidential election this year, and I’m actually pleased to see Hillary Clinton still in the race. The old advice about never quitting has never been proven more valuable than in the situation here. In fact, I expect her to be the democratic nominee and then to lose in a fairly close race to John McCain. Not that I personally would vote for either of these two, but my point here is that persistence pays off – assuming, of course, a focus on the elements that really matter.
Which brings me to Colubris Networks. Colubris has been a player in wireless LANs for as long as I can remember. They’re best known for their position in vertical markets, like hospitality and healthcare, and evolved during the era of the traditional AP. As I’ve written elsewhere, I’m a little surprised that that the whole controller-based/thin-AP model did not come to dominate the market, but further analysis shows that a standards-based, inexpensive AP would have been required for this to occur. And we have not seen “thin” (whatever that means) APs at a hundred bucks or so, nor have we seen any real impact from AP standards like CAPWAP. The situation remains fluid and the WLAN architecture debate will most certainly continue for some time. But it’s not clear that architecture will determine who’s left standing when the market begins to, um, consolidate.
Colubris was one of the first to adopt the central-control/direct-forwarding approach, along with centralized management. What they offer today is very contemporary and their product line is definitely worth a look. But, as a recent announcement from the company demonstrates, success in the WLAN space is not dependent upon winning an architectural or any other single technical argument. The market opportunity for WLANs is truly vast, and I’m expecting a major uptick in demand this year as the availability of products based on (yes, still a draft; that no longer matters) 802.11n eliminates the last real barrier to enterprise (and essentially all other) adoption. So, yes, technology is important, but (and it pains me deeply as an engineer to say this) marketing is even more important. Most potential customers are going to suffer from a serious case of eyes glazing over as the sales pitch turns to the fine points of WLAN architecture. But an even bigger problem is getting in front of the prospect to begin with – especially if your company name does not start with “Cisco”.
So what Colubris announced is a very comprehensive Partner Program that is designed to make the channel productive. What’s a channel? It’s a general term for the dealers and VARs and such that actually find and close customers. Most of these guys are smaller companies, all over the world, who have a local knowledge of the market and good (albeit typically wired) customer base who depend upon these firms for support and not just equipment. And while most of these companies are proficient in wire, they know that wireless is their future – they just don’t know whom to go with. Colubris’ Advanced Partner Program (CAPP) has all of the elements required to provide the incentives and support that the channel needs. Included are training, certification, discounts, sales and marketing tools, a quote generator, webinars, lead generation, campaign generation, and even funding for local sales campaigns. In short, a channel player could get up and running quickly and efficiently with such a program behind them. And there are incentives to sell more, with benefits accruing along with success in moving the gear.
All WLAN vendors have some form of reseller program, but resellers are looking for something that will give them an real edge over their competition. Specific brands aren’t that important; productivity is. And WLAN vendors that understand this and make the channel productive will find themselves among the survivors when the shakeout inevitably comes.
