Storage M&A helps Scale partner numbers

Storage vendor claims to have 60 partners signed up to UK partner programme

Scale Computing claims the recent run of mergers and acquisitions in the storage channel has helped it to accrue more than 50 partners over the past 12 months.

The SMB-focused company specialises in unified, scale-out storage devices, and cites Dell EqualLogic, HP LeftHand and EMC's VNXe portfolio as its main competitors.

The firm embarked on a partner recruitment drive last year, and claims its efforts have been buoyed by the fallout of some of the larger storage vendor M&A deals that have taken place recently.

"We launched an email campaign aimed at [attracting] Isilon resellers that were not part of the EMC channel and did not want to become part of it in the future," explained Jason Collier, chief technology officer at Scale Computing. "That resulted in a bit of an influx of new partners."

Collier claims the firm's products have also proven popular with UK VARs servicing the healthcare, education, manufacturing and local government verticals.

However, the firm is now curtailing its recruitment activities and concentrating on helping more of its lower-tier VARs move into the upper echelons of its partner programme.

"Our focus now is on partner development," added Collier. "This includes offering additional training on the products, more market development funding and other channel support mechanisms."