Channel pros are converging in Phoenix this week for the Juniper Networks Americas Partner Conference, where the networking and security provider will reach out to its reseller base with announcements, strategies and, perhaps most importantly, free food. But the real stories here should be the chatter around the challenges facing Cisco Systems and Juniper’s recent channel hires. Here’s some perspective on the lead-up to the event:

Juniper kicked off 2011 with some head-turning news, naming Microsoft veteran Emilio Umeoka as senior vice president of worldwide partners, fellow Microsoft alum Brad Brooks as vice president of worldwide enterprise marketing and solutions and, most notably, former Cisco channel executive Luanne Tierney as vice president of worldwide partner marketing — all within the span of one week in January.

The conference will be the new channel and marketing executive team’s introduction to a number of Juniper partners, and how well the team’s message goes over with partners will set the tone for the rest of 2011. Umeoka is slated to deliver a keynote, along with Juniper executives CEO Kevin Johnson, CMO Lauren Flaherty and CFO Robyn Denholm. Cisco vet Tierney is set to introduce a new model for Juniper partner co-marketing.

The theme of this year’s event is, “It’s Time To Build a New Network,” with the overarching discussion focusing on ways to capitalize on new trends in the IT world.

The presence of Tierney — who spent her tenure at Cisco leading strategic initiatives for the company’s more than 13,000 partners — is likely to energize partners. And when it comes to competing with Cisco, the Juniper Partner Conference couldn’t be more timely — especially in light of Cisco CEO John Chambers admitting last week that Cisco has hit some turbulence.

Your humble correspondent is boots-on-the-ground in sunny Phoenix this week to find out if any of Juniper’s bold moves translate into business opportunity for its VAR partners. But it certainly sounds like it’s fast times at Juniper central.

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