I am so pleased to share the news that for the sixth year in a row, our Cisco Channel Partner Program has been awarded a 5-Star ranking by CRN and will be listed in CRN's 2017 Partner Program Guide. In addition, this year our Cloud and Managed Services Program also earned this prestigious 5-Star ranking in addition to being listed in the Partner Program Guide for the fourth year, and our Solution Partner Program, Lifecycle Advisor, and Integrator Partner Roles will also be included in CRN's 2017 Partner Program List.

The 2017 CRN Partner Program Guide is the definitive listing of technology vendors that service solution providers or provide products through the IT Channel. On behalf of my entire Program Portfolio team, I am appreciative and excited about these awards and what they represent: a true alignment with partner's business needs and Cisco's program design. Our partners work hard to achieve success in their business and the Cisco team continuously strives to listen to partner feedback and create programs that fit our partners.

Ready for the Next IT Wave

We're on the verge of the biggest IT opportunity in two decades -the Digital Transformation. Our industry-leading Channel Partner Program will help make sure partners have everything they need to take full advantage of it. Our Partner Programs are best-in-class, offering value-add to partners and increasing their opportunity to build and maintain a profitable business. The award-winning Channel Partner Program provides many ways to differentiate our partners' business from their competition. The program offers a myriad of solutions, training, tools, rewards, and support to enable our partners to drive toward profitable growth and customer satisfaction.

Our Cloud and Managed Services Program is designed for an elite group of partners who have earned differentiation in the marketplace by delivering innovated and validated Cisco Powered cloud and/or managed services to solve their customers' business needs. Tiered partner levels make it easy to enter the program and increase their level of expertise and benefits based on business needs and customer demands. The Cisco Powered Service designation is built upon a foundation of superior service, security, and 24-hour support. These partners can take advantage of financial rewards, branding, and go-to-market support from Cisco.

Continuing the turn toward digitization and differentiation, our Solution Partner Program helps partners integrate their solutions with Cisco's world-class architectures and technologies, and navigate the increasingly complex world of selling and delivering integrated solutions to customers. Likewise, our Lifecycle Advisor and Integrator partner roles offer partners unique opportunities to not only land solutions, but also drive adoption, solve business problems and measure results.

Partner Program Excellence

CRN's 5-Star Partner Program rating recognizes an elite subset of Partner Program Guide applicants who offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. The 5-Star rating is bestowed on programs whose overall rating is among the elite.

We created our Partner Programs and Partner roles to make sure partners have everything they need. So they can bring their customers new technology with a name IT buyers have trusted for decades, and have a deeper conversation with them about where they want to go.

Learn more about our Partner Programs.