Vertiv Channel Partners Get Formal Intro to Americas Channel Chief, a Dell Vet

Vertiv channel partners got their formal introduction to the company’s new vice president, Americas channel, on Monday. They can learn more about Pete Klanian and Vertiv’s channel strategy at the company’s Digital Partner Summit on Tuesday.

Klanian, who joined Vertiv in April, has been on the job for seven months. His responsibility is to drive strategy and sales, mainly for the North America channel community. Klanian is no stranger to the channel, having spent 13 years at Dell. He also worked at APC for a dozen years beginning in March 1994. He’s spent much of his career working with partners.

Vertiv’s Pete Klanian

“I started at Vertiv taking a view of the market and noticed that we had an opportunity to grow specifically with our smaller, medium, even larger IT channel partners in the regions,” Klanian told Channel Futures. “Through a two-month pilot program, we onboarded new partners. We then looked at resources on the Vertiv sales team and pulled together groups under a single sales team. We’re now actively recruiting, onboarding and developing channel partners regionally, throughout the U.S. and Canada.”

Get to Know Vertiv

For channel partners unfamiliar with Vertiv, there’s some history that dates back to about 1946. Liebert Corp. offered computer room cooling and power solutions. Then, Emerson Electric Company acquired Liebert, which was a wholly owned subsidiary until 2000. Subsequently, the company consolidated its network and computer protection business to become Emerson Network Power platform group. In 2016,  Platinum Equity acquired Emerson Network Power and called the company Vertiv. Vertiv owns eight brands, including Liebert power and cooling. Vertiv is a global provider of digital infrastructure and continuity solutions.

At the beginning of the year, GS Acquisitions Holding Corp. merged with Vertiv and took the company public.

When Klanian joined Vertiv, the company had a well-established partner program. Most of the partners are electrical, contractor and power-focused.

“What we’re doing now is building up a larger portfolio of partners in the IT space,” he said.

Getting partners on board is about working with the company’s sales, engineering and marketing teams to train IT partners on the Vertiv value proposition and the market opportunity.

Big Opportunity

Vertiv reported $4.4 billion in revenue in 2019. “In North America alone, we believe we can help partners enter a market opportunity worth $2 billion to $4 billion, depending on which parts of the portfolio they pick up,” said Klanian.

Partners are overlooking new business, he contends.

”When you’re selling a server, it’s easy to ask the question, “How are you going to power it? Where is it being stored and how are you going to cool it?” he said. “Equally important is the question for customers, ‘How will you access it remotely if you can’t go onsite?'”

Vertiv’s Avocent portfolio allows users to control multiple IT devices from anywhere. The Avocent products sell exclusively through partners. Small uninterrupted power supplies (UPS), power distribution and racks are other products partners can sell exclusively.

“What we’re bringing to the IT channel — we have a full portfolio that addresses the smaller applications on the network, everything from the end points to the edge and everything in between. For example, single-point server, servers in a rack, a telco closet — all of the things that are so important today. That’s especially important with work from home; communication must be uninterrupted,” said Klanian. “It’s like selling the fries with the burger.”