Brocade releases annual channel trends survey

BENGALURU: Brocade has announced the results of its annual channel trends survey that was completed by more than 1,200 global Brocade channel partners from its distributor and reseller communities. The company says that the survey was conducted to better understand the changing needs of customers and learn how Brocade can help its partners provide more strategic networking solutions.

The results show that there is a clear opportunity for the channel to seize a competitive advantage in the industry by strategically advising global enterprises and organizations on hybrid cloud networks, data center bandwidth management, and network virtualization—by leveraging the Brocade product portfolio.

“In 2016, Brocade will continue to provide partners with innovative technologies built for the New IP, along with market-proven solutions and vibrant brand recognition,” said Pete Peterson, Brocade Vice President of Global Channel Sales and Marketing. “I am thankful the communities within the Brocade Partner Network have provided great insight, as it will help us to better support them via Brocade’s programs, solutions, and engagement.”

Brocades’ top five global customer and technology trend findings include:

A large majority of Brocade channel partners surveyed say the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data will be significant trends, at least for some resellers, within 24 months.

Within the next year, 29 percent believe IoT will be a significant trend, although 40 percent believe it will be a significant trend only for some specialized resellers.

Within five years, on the other hand, 67 percent believe that IoT will be a significant trend, whereas 23 percent believe it will be a trend limited only for some specialized resellers.

Network security, followed by managing hybrid clouds and data center bandwidth requirements, are seen by Brocade channel partners as the three biggest customer challenges in 2016.

Network security is anticipated as one of the biggest customer challenges (by 27 percent of channel partners).

Managing security in hybrid cloud environments is anticipated as one of the biggest customer challenges by 21 percent of channel partners.

Nearly 22 percent of channel partners believe solving needs around disaster recovery between data centers is the third-most-anticipated challenge.

The top three anticipated drivers of end-customer spending for 2016 are hybrid cloud, followed by network virtualization and increasing data volumes.

24 percent anticipate that the desire to adopt hybrid cloud will drive end-customer spending. 24 percent anticipate that the desire to adopt network virtualization will drive end-customer spending.

14 percent anticipate that the competitive pressure to deliver better services will drive end-customer spending.

The five top business priorities for channel partners in the next five years include:

44 percent are continuing with their current growth strategy.

40 percent plan to expand into new vertical/industry markets.

33 percent are upgrading and/or expanding their technical competencies.

27 percent plan to expand into new geographic regions.

21 percent plan to enter a new practice area, focused on a new vendor brand or solution type.

Channel partners believe their customers are driven by the following top three reasons to adopt data center networking technologies based on open source standards:

49 percent believe agility/flexibility/innovation drive the need for open source standards.

14 percent believe creating cross-vendor solutions is easier with open source standards.

10 percent believe that decreased vendor lock-in is driving interest in open source standards.