EMC to partners: Sell RSA and VMware, or else

Partners will be expected to gain accreditation from EMC 'federation' when new Business Partner programme launches

Resellers hoping to grace the upper echelons of EMC's new partner programme may have to forge ties with its subsidiaries VMware, RSA and Pivotal as the vendor overhauls its channel strategy, CRN understands.

Last year EMC outlined its plans to scrap its Velocity programme in favour of a new Business Partner programme, but has remained tight-lipped about the new requirements, which are set to come into play in 2015.

According to one well-placed EMC channel source, resellers will have to demonstrate closer ties with EMC-owned firms VMware, RSA and new big data startup Pivotal to qualify under the new-look programme.

To achieve the new Platinum status - which is set to be the equivalent of now-top-level Signature status - resellers will have to become accredited with all three of the other EMC subsidiaries, the source claimed. The ability to work across multiple EMC brands may also be a consideration for partners on lower tiers, they added.

Further details about the overhaul are expected to be unveiled at its Partner Summit event in Las Vegas next month.

The quartet of companies make up what EMC refers to as its federation.

The storage giant snapped up security vendor RSA in 2006 and since then the vendor has grown its own channel presence, claiming last year that 80 per cent of its UK business goes through resellers.

VMware was bought by EMC two years previously in 2004 and now has more than 500,000 global customers and 75,000 partners.

The virtualisation giant teamed up with its owner EMC and General Electric last year to fund new big-data firm Pivotal. The company is headed up by former VMware chief Paul Maritz (pictured, centre) and was branded as a "billion-dollar business in the making" at its launch last year.

EMC was not available to comment and said it would update CRN in due course.