Violin: IPO chaos has not detuned our channel

Flash firm's new channel boss fires gun on partner recruitment drive

Violin has insisted the spate of bad press following its IPO flop has not put the channel off working with it as it begins its hunt for more partners.

Last September, Violin's entrance to the stock market suffered a shaky start after shares traded for much less than it had hoped, leading the firm to oust its then-chief executive Donald Basile a few months later. Earlier this year it announced it was cutting its global headcount by a fifth and in its first quarter of 2015, which ended 30 April, Violin's net loss widened to $30.1m (£17.9m) compared with $28.5m the year before, on sales which slumped 27 per cent to $18.1m.

But the firm insists its channel is still a top priority as it unveils two new partner bosses.

Andrew Perry will take the reins as global vice president for channel sales and Christian Putz will lead the partner business in EMEA after former boss Vince Blackall - who only joined last August – left to do the same job at Pure Storage last month.

Putz told CRN that top-level instability has not put off partners.

"If we reflect back on all that negative press we had around the IPO and all those changes, partners still stick to us because the instability wasn't really that dramatic in terms of day-to-day engagement," he said. "Everyone appreciates the new management and the new way we communicate with partners.

"The positive feedback we get from analysts in the meantime is confirming those partnerships and there is very strong demand for becoming a Violin Memory partner. I see it as really positive and I'm looking forward to engaging with more of those in the field."

Violin's new global partner programme will come into force on 1 July and was designed with partners' feedback in mind. The new scheme offers resellers a new deal-registration programme, enhanced sales and training support and market-development funds, among other benefits.

The flash firm currently has between 35 and 40 partners across EMEA and Putz said he is hoping to boost this figure but has no specific target in mind.

"We are not measuring ourselves on the amount of partners we have – we are committed to our established partners and quality [not] quantity is a high objective for us," he said.