EMC creates selective partner scheme

Channel welcomes accreditation programme

EMC has launched a new channel programme aimed at select resellers.

The vendor, which admitted it hasn't always had a close relationship with its channel, said it has been focusing on its indirect route to market for several reasons: its new higher-volume product set, the changing storage market and the slow economy.

"We now have a strong partner portfolio but we realised we had no channel programme," said Colm O'Neill, partner sales manager UK and Ireland at EMC. He said EMC will not have a tiered programme but instead will differentiate between types of partner.

The EMC Partner Accreditation and Certification programme allows individuals to become certified and companies to become accredited.

Business Partners become accredited to sell EMC storage offerings. A member of the Authorised Services Network will have a large commitment to services and is likely to be a very large organisation.

Finally, a Premiere Solutions Partner will be a combination of business partner and services partner.

"There will be no more than 10 partners in the first round of accreditations as it won't benefit anyone if we have lots of resellers," O'Neill said.

"We don't have many small resellers who deal with us directly so they can continue to buy through their distributors. As we mature the programme, we will start to accredit the smaller guys."

Phillip Collins, storage partner manager at Computacenter, said: "It's an excellent initiative that demonstrates commitment to the channel and recognises the multi-vendor integration services we are able to wrap around products from companies such as EMC."