Anniversary discount for Dell partners

Vendor offers five per cent off for its enterprise products between now and the end of the year

Dell is giving some of its partners until the end of the year to take advantage of a five per cent discount which it is offering in order to celebrate the fifth birthday of its PartnerDirect programme.

The discount is only available to western European partners who have invested in Dell's enterprise solutions in the last five years, and will apply to orders placed between now and 31 December.

Dell claims the anniversary discount, the estimated worth of which is $10m (£6m), is aimed at proving its commitment to the channel, and comes as it announces a variety of other channel incentives. Dell claimed during its European Solutions Conference in Madrid that its EMEA channel sales are now bigger than its direct business.

The five per cent discount applies only to Dell PowerEdge, Compellent, EqualLogic, PowerVault, PowerConnect and Force10 products.

At its second EMEA Dell Storage Forum, taking place in Paris this week, Dell announced new storage training courses for partners. Courses around VMware, Compellent and EqualLogic technologies have all been updated.

Andreas Schuetze, director of Dell's EMEA channel marketing and programmes, said that investing in partners is key.

He said: "Nearly five years on from the launch of PartnerDirect in EMEA, we continue to enhance the programme and invest in the partners that have contributed to the significant growth of our channel business in the region.

"By bolstering the resources at our partners' disposal, we aim to ensure they have everything they require to build their storage businesses and strengthen their core expertise in Dell solutions."