Since we launched our Cisco Partner Program last year, the integrator and provider roles went live with great momentum. Now, I'm happy to share with you that the developer and advisor roles are open for business. Developers and advisors are important because they design and produce solutions that deliver more advanced capabilities based on Cisco technology to customers.

The Cisco Partner Program

We are going live with a running start and gaining speed. With developers, we are already working with thousands of DevNet certified professionals at nearly 1,000 partner companies that are building out capabilities on Cisco platforms. The developer role already has hundreds of partners that have released more than 1,600 Cisco-approved solutions to the market.

With advisors, we've been working with large global consulting firms for years. Now, we are reaching out to more firms of widely varying sizes and specialties to join our ecosystem, because advisors are often the first place our customers go when they are facing complex business challenges. Advisors bring value by acting as a bridge for customers between strategic business counsel and how to best deploy technology to supercharge the customer's business.

Often, partners in both roles bring deep expertise and relationships in specific vertical industries or lines of business. Naturally, Cisco customers want to get the most from their Cisco investments, so by expanding these roles, we are increasing all Cisco partners' opportunities to enhance the value they bring to their customers.

Partners: We Are Better Together

The Cisco Partner Program encourages all four roles to work closely together in the best interests of customers using Cisco technology. For example, integrators can select from an expanding array of applications from developers to incorporate into a broader solution for the customer and then support the customer with comprehensive lifecycle services. Or an advisor may join forces with a managed service provider to assure their customers are getting the right solution to meet the strategic objectives the advisor is consulting on. We already have hundreds of partners involved in this kind of co-selling, and we expect the Cisco Partner Program to stimulate more collaboration among partners.

This approach meets up with what partners say they want most from us in the developer and advisor roles. In addition to Cisco brand distinction, recognition and rewards, they want us to help expand their market reach and relevance. For these partners, Cisco provides assistance with building demand generation, business development engagements, market co-development, proofs of concept and the like. For Cisco's part, we have tools and teams to create the connections that make the expanded ecosystem come together.

Also, by more fully integrating developers and advisors into our partner ecosystem, the strategic value of our solutions grows for everyone, including customers. Collaboration between the roles also diversifies the options we can give customers for how to purchase and consume Cisco technology.

At our recent Partner Summit Digital conference, our theme for partner programs was "expanding your possibilities." The developer and advisor roles are essential options for our partners to differentiate their practices, sustain profitability, provide more value to customers and engage with customers the way they want.

For more information on these roles, visit our developer and advisor pages.

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