Avnet and VMware team up on End User Computing Practice

Duo hopes new project will help channel cash in on desktop transformation market

Avnet and VMware have teamed up on their first major project since they began working together last year in the form of an End User Computing Practice (EUCP).

The pair hopes the new UK-based initiative will drive VAR business. The EUCP is open to both new and existing Avnet resellers, and is set to combine VMware's Horizon Suite products with Avnet's SolutionsPath programme. The duo claims the practice was created to help the channel generate new business in the growing desktop transformation market.

Avnet claims the practice will do this by providing resellers with access to technology, specialist knowledge and its multi-vendor network. As well as learning how to deliver VMware technology, those using the EUCP will have access to other Avnet-certified vendors' tech, including that of EMC, NetApp, F5 Networks, IBM, Riverbed and Cisco.

VMware's UK channel director Ed Dolman said: "Avnet has gained a well-deserved reputation for opening up opportunities in high-growth markets through the training and support it provides its partners, including its SolutionsPathmethodology.

"We consider this initiative to be a powerful value proposition as we seek to attract new partners who want to enter the desktop transformation market but currently lack the relevant skills."

Avnet and VMware both added that the market as well as the BYOD trend has created new challenges for end users who struggle to manage multiple devices securely and cost effectively.

End-user computing (EUC) forms one of three of the core strands of VMware's strategy – alongside the hybrid cloud and the software-defined datacentre – and last year the firm picked 12 resellers to push its EUC products to market.