Dive Brief:
- IT distributor ScanSource expanded its partnership with HPE to include the IT vendor’s recently acquired Juniper Networks subsidiary, the companies said in an announcement last week.
- ScanSource, which previously partnered with HPE’s Aruba networking unit, will add headcount to its HPE-focused team, using its Launch Point market accelerator program to craft custom programs and strategies.
- The move puts Juniper technology in the hands of a diverse base of sales partners, with a charter to drive mid-market and SMB adoption. “We have our shared partners in the enterprise space, but HPE is really counting on us to help the enablement of the partners downstream and grow their HPE networking portfolios,” ScanSource Group VP of Networking and Communications Cody Fritz told Channel Dive.
Dive Insight
ScanSource will get access to the Juniper portfolio as HPE integrates channel assets that came with the 2025 acquisition. HPE plans to merge Juniper’s channel program into a single HPE partner organization that goes live Nov. 1.
The timing of the partner agreement is no coincidence, Fritz acknowledged.
“I think we're always looking for the right opportunity, but the acquisition fast-forwarded and helped us move in this direction quickly,” Fritz said.
ScanSource was already a networking specialist for HPE. It signed up as Aruba’s first distributor in 2007, eight years before HPE acquired the networking vendor. ScanSource did not add the rest of HPE’s portfolio at the time, preferring to keep its focus on Aruba products.
The focus paid off. ScanSource was named the HPE Aruba Networking U.S. Distributor of the Year in 2023, when it was Aruba’s largest E-rate distributor, according to ScanSource President of Specialty TechnologiesMark Morgan. The success helped ScanSource get the Juniper nod from HPE.
ScanSource’s position is strengthened by the diversity of its partner base. The company boasts value-added resellers, technology advisors, managed service providers and independent software vendors and has been pushing partners to sell outside of their traditional swim lanes.
ScanSource is building motions to aid in TAs in its Intelisys unit to sell hardware — a category the broader TA market has largely avoided. By removing the legal and financial headaches of selling physical equipment, the distributor aims to create a new wave of sellers for its hardware vendors.
ScanSource is eying deals that involve multiple IT and telecom products and vendors — a strategy the company refers to as “converged” sales. Morgan said partners can sell Juniper’s networking technology alongside cloud and carrier services in the Intelisys portfolio.
“For me, the obvious thing is the expansion of our line cards and the AI capabilities, but we believe that we're tightly aligned with where Juniper wants to go, and that's key to our ability to execute,” Morgan said.
