The new MSP program, the first shoe to drop in what will be a complete restructuring of Riverbed’s partner program by the end of this year, is focused on broadening Riverbed’s presence downmarket from their traditional enterprise base for their Alluvio Unified Observability Solutions.
Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, Global Partners and Alliances, at Riverbed
Today, Riverbed, which has complemented their traditional acceleration business by adding the Alluvio Aternity SaaS Digital Experience Management [DEM] service is launching a new partner program to scale the service out more, particularly downmarket. The new ACE [Alluvio Commercial Exclusive] program is focused on MSP, and looks particularly to expand Aternity downmarket from Riverbed’s traditional space in the enterprise.
“Alluvio itself is a product family,” said Alex Thurber, Senior Vice President, Global Partners and Alliances, at Riverbed. “We rebranded our traditional solutions last year in two sets. Our Riverbed Acceleration products still sell well. I use them myself because I live in rural Oregon and use Starlink. But it is not the broad market it used to be because infrastructure has caught up with it.”
Last year, Riverbed brought out Alluvio IQ, their broad platform for Alluvio, which was focused on selling Alluvio Aternity in the enterprise.
“It was a statement for us,” Thurber said. “Alluvio IQ was never designed to be a mass market product, and it is definitely meeting our expectations. The Alluvio, ACE program, on the other hand, came out as a way to expand our market, We have been selling to the largest companies in the world, the top 2000. But we also knew that there was a much bigger market for this than the top 2000. The purpose of ACE is to drive this technology to the smaller customers.”
By smaller customers, Thurber clarified that he meant small enterprises, midmarket, and certain types of larger SMB – what is generally referred to as SMEs.
“SMEs by definition are companies who are bigger than us, but it is a way to expand the way that we serve,” Thurber said. “We do a lot of work now in the GSI space supporting managed desktops into the enterprise. This market is greater for partners because it is solely done through the channel.”
Thurber emphasized how ACE will be the first part of a complete redo of the channel program
“We will have a whole new Go-to-Market program for partners by the end of the year,” he said. “What ACE’s role will be, as part of the new program, is to get Aternity downmarket into the commercial space.”
The ACE program is divided into two groups – ACE Master partners and regular ACE partners.
“We asked partners how they wanted to work with us,” Thurber stated. “One in the U.K has signed up as our first ACE Master partner. I don’t want to flood the market, which will mean that our partners can be profitable. I expect to have a half dozen ACE Master partners in the US, and a similar number in North America.
Thurber said he expects that many Master partners will manage networks of regular ACE partners, similar to telco Master Agents.
“We want regular ACE partners to provide our solutions to end user, but they make it clear to us that they are not being designed to be a MSP, and they don’t hold the technology as a result,” Thurber added. “In the last 18 months, we have found incredible value of Aternity to the end customer, and we are focused on delivering the experience level.
“I see ACE as the beginning of the new partnership system,” Thurber concluded.
