VMware: Partners will reap rewards of Dell EMC deal

VMware president Carl Eschenbach says partners will greatly benefit from the combined sales forces of the trio

VMworld Europe 2015 kicked off today in Barcelona with the virtualisation giant extolling the virtues of the EMC/Dell mega deal for the vendor and its partners.

Yesterday it was announced that Dell completed a $67bn takeover of VMware's parent company EMC, with VMware set to remain a public company within the enlarged group.

When quizzed by CRN at a Q&A following the keynote address, Carl Eschenbach (pictured), VMware's president and COO, said the combined sales teams of the three companies will be the biggest advantage for VMware's partners following the deal's completion.

"For VMware, I think about our partners and about not just having a VMware sales force driving our platform into the market, but now having an EMC and Dell sales force[s] driving VMware solutions into the market," he said. "The one thing I can tell you about VMware, is we always partner with our partners to fulfil transactions; not partner-led, but partners are our sales force. I think they are just going to get the benefit of that many people selling VMware into the market."

Eschenbach also said the complete package created by the three vendors would be a clear benefit to VMware's partners.

"If you look at our partner ecosystem today, our solution providers, our service providers and our distributors - a lot of them already have agreements with both Dell and EMC," he said. "I think when you combine all of these together and you look at our solution providers, they can now deliver a turnkey solution from world-class infrastructure providers like EMC and Dell, combined with VMware.

"So think about the whole space of converged infrastructure and hyper-converged infrastructure; being able to get the entire turnkey solution from a single provider. That simplifies the engagement from our partners, and allows them to leverage this new agreement."

Phil Croxford, VMware's UK channel chief, also said he felt the deal will prove hugely positive for VMware and its partners.

"Staying still was never going be an option, as you know with all the Elliot Management stuff, and I think this is a great option," he said. "We are now the only publicly traded entity within the world's largest private technology company. It's a fascinating place to be and they will be hugely invested in making us successful.

"It's the best of both worlds; all of that resource and backing behind us, but we will still have the same management structure and are as independent as we have ever been, so it's very positive."

Michael Dell appeared during the keynote speech via video link to the 2,500 partners at this year's event, apologising for not attending in person owing to "a busy couple of days".

"Still I did not want to miss this opportunity to say how excited we all are about our plans to unite Dell and EMC," he said. "From converged infrastructure, to digital transformations, hybrid-cloud, mobile and security, our company will deliver the cutting-edge solutions you need to win in the data economy.

"The possibilities before us are incredible, and VMware leads the way as an amazing source of innovation for our cloud-based connected world. Dell and VMware have been close partners for a long time, and I look forward to working with my good friend and partner Pat Gelsinger, the entire VMware team and VMware's powerful ecosystem."