Sun shines on the data management message
Vendor wants its channel to move away from traditional storage, as it looks to attract more VARs
Sun’s channel partners should concentrate less on storage and think more about data management, the vendor has claimed.
James Whitemore, vice-president of marketing data management at Sun, said the vendor wants channel partners to take a data-management message to customers, not a message about the physical persistence of data on a device.
“Channel partners should move beyond storage and think about how to manage data,” Whitemore said. “It’s our responsibility to help VARs get there through [the provision of] support, tools and training.”
Sun added that, following its $4.1bn acquisition of StorageTek in September, it will also look to expand its reseller numbers and review how it could help to add value to them in each of its five operational verticals: financial services, telecoms, media and entertainment, education, government and commercial.
“Post-acquisition, we have put more emphasis on the channel than StorageTek did,” Whitemore added.
“There is a huge opportunity for us and our channel partners, because the top end-user priorities all revolve around data management. Half of StorageTek’s revenue came from services. This is one of the main reasons why we chose [to acquire] it.”
Martin Vessey, UK country manager at GE Access Distribution, told CRN: “There’s very little value in taking just [storage] products to market. Resellers have to talk to customers about data management because it offers a wide variety of opportunities.
“It’s not about buying five terabytes of storage, it’s about the actual management of the data.”
Eric Murphy, Sun business manager at Sun VAR Interface Solutions, told CRN that a lack of Sun SME storage products is having an impact on the company.
“Because of the Sun products available at the moment, we have no choice but to go down the data management route,” he said.