Like: Lowered Upfront Investment

One of biggest highlights partners are cheering about is how Cisco lowered the upfront investment on the new EA's, which opens up midmarket opportunities. Solution providers said the barrier to entry for a typical Cisco ELA for customers was previously a few million dollars. However, with the new EA, Cisco has dropped that price point down to as low as $250,000, according to solution providers.

"We would position this for the midmarket and above. It's the right move for Cisco to lower the entry point," said Faisal Bhutto, vice president of enterprise networking, cloud and cybersecurity for Computex Technology Solution, a Houston-based solution provider and Cisco Gold partner.