VMware previews new partner competencies
Virtualisation giant to expand partner programme specialisation areas later this month
VMware is to introduce several new competencies to its channel programme to help partners address issues that are slowing cloud adoption.
The virtualisation giant introduced desktop virtualisation and business continuity competencies to its partner programme 18 months ago, and is set to announce several more later this month.
They will include a virtualisation business-critical applications competency, as well as others focusing on enterprise management and Infrastructure-as-a-Service. These are set to be rolled out towards the end of this financial year.
Speaking to the press at the firm's VMworld partner conference in Copenhagen yesterday, Andy Hunt, vice president of EMEA partners and inside accounts at VMware, said: "We have introduced a competency model to help partners move beyond infrastructure virtualisation."
Partners will be encouraged to help VMware develop these competencies and the requirements needed to attain them.
Furthermore, partners that acquire technology competencies will receive back-end rebates whenever they close deals in the area in which they have chosen to specialise.
"This is part of our Solutions Rewards programme," added Hunt. "For example, when a desktop virtualisation partner sells a desktop solution, they get a 10 per cent back-end rebate."
VMware is particularly keen for partners to develop skills in business-critical application virtualisation, he added, because this is a common issue that often stops end users moving more of their IT into the cloud.
"[Typical customers] are faced with this desire to continue the journey to the cloud, but business-critical applications require a little more thought and we want partners to take their customers over this hump and accelerate them on this journey," he explained.
"Over the next 12 months, focusing on virtualising business-critical applications will be a critical skill that our partners will need to develop."