All Systems go for AMD reseller programme

Chip maker pleased with its attempt to build a more direct relationship with its partners

Chip maker AMD has labelled its latest global channel recruitment drive a hit after signing more than 500 partners in less than six months.

The AMD Commercial Systems Channel Programme, which provides partners with the support to build solutions featuring the latest AMD64 technology, as well as other benefits, was launched in October last year.

Speaking to CRN, Michael O’Brien, director of worldwide channels at AMD, said: “As a creator of innovative technology, we wanted a more direct relationship with partners, including system integrators, VARs and distributors. We want to help them understand and deliver the best total cost of ownership (TCO) to customers. We want to understand what our partners’ priorities are.”

AMD also announced further enhancements to its partner portal last week, including a self-registration facility that allows partners to post member profiles and register their AMD-powered solutions.

“We want to help drive partner awareness through the portal, and give them access to the right materials to ensure they understand everything about our offerings,” O’Brien said.

He added that the UK market is crucial to AMD. “It [the UK] is an important market from a commercial perspective. It is quick in adopting new technology, and has a level of maturity on how to use it. From our perspective, the UK channel is a critical element of our strategy,” he said.

Pan-European integrator SCC is a recent signing to AMD’s programme.

Andy Wright, volume partner director at SCC, said: “AMD’s technology represents a step-change in the potential to run an enterprise-class IT infrastructure at a reduced TCO through heat and power savings. We want to embrace this technology, which should allow us to help customers looking to overcome these challenges, while not compromising on compute power.”

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