Jomaa's appointment has been welcomed

In a move that has been applauded by the channel, industry veteran Ali Jomaa has been appointed to lead Juniper in Saudi Arabia. Yet to be confirmed by Juniper or Jomaa himself, Juniper channel partners have verified Jomaa’s new position and are looking forward to the industry heavyweight taking on behemoth Cisco.

Credited with building Symantec’s local operations, Jomaa has a long background of working in the networking space including with Lucent and Transworld Technologies Corporation. Widely respected for his transparency and channel acumen, Jomaa’s appointment has already been widely welcomed by channel partners looking for an alternative to the status quo.

“We’ve worked with Juniper on a couple of deals, and we know Ali very well. We’re delighted that he’s on board and we hope he’ll start embracing the channel very soon,” said one Cisco partner who asked not to be named.

A channel favourite, Juniper looks set to invest money into partner activities and marketing in Saudi Arabia as it looks to knock Cisco off its perch. “This is a company that is known for its market leadership in the security and networking space, and most importantly channel partners can make money from Juniper unlike from the larger rival,” added Feras Zeidan, regional manager for wireless firm Trapeze Networks.

With Juniper looking to develop a complete end-to-end solution for the networking industry, and its focus on ensuring channel profitability the question remains as to how Saudi solution providers will take to Jomaa’s appointment and increased investment from Juniper.

If initial feedback is anything to go by, Cisco may have to re-evaluate its services approach locally to ensure that partners can make money. One Cisco partner who recently split from the vendor told IT Arabia last week the reasons for their departure from the networking giant: “Cisco is asking us to invest in training but we can’t make any money from them. Instead, we looked to partner with Juniper.” Will Cisco go channel friendly in the wake of increased competition from Juniper or will Jomaa steal the limelight from Cisco’s Dr Badr as the networking GM for the Kingdom? Let battle commence!