VMware helps partners monetise the cloud

Vendor offers extra rebates and discounts to channel as it launches its Cloud Credits Purchasing Programme

VMware has unveiled a pair of partner programme incentives which it hopes will encourage its partners to cash in on the cloud.

At its Partner Exchange (PEX) event last week, the virtualisation vendor revealed its Cloud Credit Purchasing Programme (CCPP) and extra incentives in the hope of making the channel more money from the cloud.

The CCPP, which is set to launch this month, will allow customers to pre-purchase vCloud suite credits from VMware partners, which are redeemed on consumption of the services.

Speaking to CRN, VMware's UK channel boss Ed Dolman explained how the programme will benefit the channel, claiming that it will help its partners monetise the cloud.

"Any solution provider can talk to any customer in the UK; it allows them to build a deal for [customers] to prepay those credits around public cloud consumption and that customer can then spend them with any UK [VMware] cloud provider," he said, adding that vCloud credits will appear as an SKU which will be available through distribution later this month.

On top of its CCPP, VMware revealed its plans to introduce additional upfront discounts on its vSphere with Operations Management SKUs.

The offers, which will last for a limited time, will see an additional five per cent discount paid to resellers, taking the total paid out to partners to 15 per cent. Partners can earn an additional 10 per cent rebate on top when selling the SKU to new customers.

Dolman added that although the customer bonus rebates are a new concept for the vendor, it has already paid $42m (£28m) globally back to partners, which he claims highlights the vast white space in the market.

In 2012, revenue through VMware's vCloud service provider programme grew 89 per cent globally, and Dolman claimed the UK was one of the best-performing regions, trailing only the US.

He said: "We have seen vCloud service provider taken up by a good mix of true service providers such as Colt, and smaller, innovative ones like Skyscape, as well as solution providers such as Computacenter, Kelway and Softcat; they all built their managed service platform on our technology.

"The UK was an early investor and there is huge momentum in the programme."