Computacenter the chosen one for EMC

UK's largest reseller the only British firm to achieve dizzying revenue requirements for EMC's new Platinum partner tier

As expected, Computacenter is the only UK reseller that has made the cut for EMC's intimidatingly exclusive new Platinum partner tier.

The corporate reseller and services giant announced today it is one of only two partners in Europe to gain the elite badge, which as CRN revealed last summer requires partners to generate a whopping $65m (£43m) in annual EMC product and services revenues.

Platinum is the highest tier of EMC's new Business Partner Programme (BPP), which EMC said is designed to ensure a "clear path to profitability" for partners who invest in EMC technology.

Computacenter said it made the grade by exceeding its sales targets – claiming its EMC solution sales grew 95 per cent over the past two years – and achieving a number of qualifications for its specialists, consultants, data scientists and cloud experts.

EMC's move from its old Signature programme – which contained no revenue requirements – to the new BPP caused consternation among smaller partners facing demotion under the new regime. EMC later defended the move, saying it needed a programme that suited global partners.

Russell Poole, head of partner business UKI at EMC, said in a statement: "Our Platinum solution provider partners are elite partners, providing exceptional solution centres and expert-level certification.

"As both the commercial and the public sector look to redefine themselves and capitalise on our technologies such as flash storage and hybrid cloud computing, it's crucial our mutual customers have access to partners with leading-edge expertise and resources."

Kevin James, director of services and solutions at Computacenter, added: "This Platinum partner status is testament to the strength of our relationships, both with our customers and with EMC. We look forward to maintaining this momentum enabling our customers' users and businesses to succeed in the third platform of social, mobile, analytics and cloud."