Symantec programmes are to change
Symantec warns channel to expect new programmes following completion of Veritas acquisition
Storage and anti-virus vendor Symantec has forewarned its channel to expect new partner programmes over the coming months.
The vendor, which acquired Veritas late last year also pledged to help its resellers maintain their sales momentum as changes take effect.
Speaking exclusively to CRN in New York last week, Gary Bloom, vice-chairman of Symantec, said: “Partners are anxious to know how channel programmes will change, but new programmes will be rolled out as a process not an event. There is no need to disrupt [partners’] current momentum.”
Bloom also launched two new data protection and recovery software suites, which he claimed would boost partner business – BackUp Exec 10d, a continuous “designed for disk” file recovery system for the Windows platform; and LiveState Recovery 6.0, a Windows file server recovery suite.
“The partner opportunity here is twofold. Firstly, there are upgrade opportunities with the existing BackUp Exec customer base; secondly, resellers can make additional cross-sell opportunities with the LiveState product,” Bloom claimed.
Julie Parrish, vice-president of enterprise and mid-market channel marketing at Symantec, added: “Increasingly, our resellers are looking for a services opportunity and with [BackUp Exec 10d] they can create margin by helping customers to
understand their data recovery and business continuity needs.”
Disk-based storage systems are expected to become the primary choice for many businesses by 2008, according to Ray Paquet, Gartner’s managing vice-president. “Disk-to-disk is emerging as the primary means for recovery and will be even more so over the coming years,” said Paquet.