The VAR Guy

May 25, 2011

2 Min Read
Certeon Promises 20 Percent Margin on Registered Deals

If there’s one thing The VAR Guy has learned in his many years writing about this space, it’s that channel-friendly companies tend to thrive even in an economic downturn — especially those that respect their relationship with their partners enough to reward them even when a sale falls through. That’s why such companies as Certeon, which is by no means a household name, tend to gain the attention of The VAR Guy. The application acceleration and WAN optimization vendor promises a minimum 20 percent margin guaranteed to its premier resellers on all registered sales of its technology. Read on for the breakdown …

Certeon said it is trying to right the inequity of the other vendors’ channel programs, most of which provide no guarantee of margins. The company is ensuring its premier partners who register a potential sale of its aCelera technology will receive a minimum 20 percent margin, with the possibility of earning as much as 40 percent margin on a sale. That’s pretty impressive by any standard.

But even if a deal is lost to another Certeon reseller, the company still will make sure the VAR that registered the deal doesn’t walk away empty-handed, awarding them 10 percent of the base margin. The company said it’s a way to show its appreciation to the partner and the partner’s investment in Certeon.

The company believes its program is a real “game-changer for the industry.” The VAR Guy thinks at the very least, Certeon may be on to something. Our resident blogger has seen just about every iteration of channel program that exists, so you’ll excuse him if he’s a little jaded sometimes. But Certeon’s program — at least at first glance — shows no rough edges.

Of course, as always, any company’s ultimate success has as much to do with its technology as it does with how well it treats its partners. It has some formidable opponents in the WAN optimization space – most notably Riverbed’s Steelhead appliance – so we’ll keep an eye on Certeon to see whether its margin-rich channel program is the icing on the cake of a great company or whether it’s the only thing enticing partners to sell its technology.

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