Citrix heralds SMB push with new partner programme

Vendor giant pushes partners to take advantage of SMB demand for virtualisation

Virtualisation giant Citrix has become the latest vendor to turn its attention to the SMB market with the rollout of a new partner programme.

The Citrix Solutions Advisor SMB Programme is designed to give partners products and incentives to help them capitalise on the growing demand for virtualisation from smaller businesses.

To qualify for entry, partners must stump up $300 (£191) in annual membership fees and be certified to sell Citrix's SMB-focused VDI-in-a-Box product.

Further partner accreditations will be needed to take advantage of the vendor's lead generation scheme and to get access to demonstration units.

Partners can also earn up to 10 per cent extra margin when they close registered deals.

The programme was first announced at Citrix's partner conference last October. Around this time, rival virtualisation player VMware also announced that it would be pushing partners to make more of the SMB market's appetite for server virtualisation.

Tom Flink, vice president of worldwide channel and marketing development at Citrix, said: "This programme lays out a cohesive collection of services, marketing and sales tools and training, discretely designed for service providers.

"We feel this offering meets the high standard of our other programmes and solidifies our commitment to new and existing Citrix partners."

Siaron van Wetten, director of channel marketing and programmes for EMEA at Citrix, said: "For a solutions provider selling to a subset of customers relatively new to the world of desktop virtualisation, it is crucial that their sales teams [are] knowledgeable about the needs [of] SMBs.

"Once certified, SMB specialists will have the skills and knowledge needed to help their customers navigate successfully through the early steps of virtualisation."