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Cisco builds collaborative partner ecosystem for industry solns

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CIOL Bureau
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MUMBAI, INDIA: As part of its continued effort to help build a collaborative and adaptive channel to accelerate customer and partner success, Cisco has introduced the Cisco Industry Solutions Partner Network, an initiative aimed at increasing the level of collaboration among channel partners, independent software vendors, and Cisco itself.

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The new Industry Solutions Partner Network will engage, enable and reward the community of channel partners in India, application providers and device manufacturers to collaborate and deliver industry-specific solutions that address the business needs of customers. Partners that qualify for this new program will also be the first to have access to Cisco Partner Space, an innovative virtual environment that facilitates the partner-to-partner collaboration required to deliver complete industry solutions.

"We want to expose our partners to a growing variety of solutions, and help ISVs interact with our channel partners," explained Mike Allen, senior director of Channels, Distribution and Partner Alliances, Cisco - Asia Pacific. "We are going to launch this program with solutions that Cisco has defined in addition to those that partners have defined, and decided to share. Companies and governments are looking to deploy industry solutions to increase collaboration and productivity, while partners are looking to deliver industry solutions to increase transaction size and gross margins."

The solutions that Cisco has defined are divided into seven vertical markets and one hybrid category: Education, Financial Services, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Real estate, Retail, and "Cross Industry." Partners may choose to focus on one particular vertical, or branch out into multiple verticals.

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Commenting on the launch, Avinash Purwar, vice president, Cisco Channels- India & SAARC said, "Cisco recognizes the current market needs and has developed innovative programs for channel partners to help them deliver a broader range of solutions. This new initiative is aimed at creating a collaborative channel between partners and ISVs and encourage them to work together to deliver real-time business solutions."

Program Benefits

The Cisco Industry Solutions Partner Network will support partners by providing industry training, expertise, industry specific communications, and innovative collaboration tools based on Web 2.0 technology, such as Cisco Partner Space. Cisco will promote the capabilities of the partners in the network in various ways, and will provide collaborative business planning, proposal-based joint marketing funds and turn-key demand generation programs. This will allow partners to quickly engage each other, expand their geographic reach, and better address the business challenges of customers.

The collaborative delivery of these industry-specific solutions will be rewarded with product discounts offered through the Cisco Solution Incentive Program, provided that the Cisco product and services component accounts for no more than 70 percent of the total solution.

Cisco partners must meet additional requirements, such as having industry references, an industry-focused business plan and dedicated resources to participate in the program.