EMC Heats Up Channel Partner Program, Cloud Opportunities
Business IT provider EMC (NYSE: EMC) has been moving steadily toward greater integration with the channel, and its EMC World 2012 conference has given the company an opportunity to not only unveil a host of cloud-based products and services but also turn the heat up on its partner program.
The company announced 45 vendor and channel partner solutions have achieved “EMC Certified Solution” status, which validates the solution for performance, scalability and interoperability with EMC’s Information Intelligence Group products.
The solutions are tested by both EMC Proven Professional Certified Architects and an independent third-party organization. Wave Technology Solutions, Nantian Software and Trinity Technologies were among the 45 partners receiving certified solution status.
In addition, EMC launched Velocity Solution Provider Practices, a designation that recognizes advanced levels of capability within the Velocity Solution Provider Program, at both EMC World 2012 and its first annual Global Partner Summit this week.
The Velocity Cloud Builder Practice “enables and reward partners who achieve advanced, end-to-end capabilities to successfully design, build and manage cloud infrastructure based on EMC technology,” according to the company. Meanwhile, the Cloud Provider Practice enables Velocity Solution Provider partners with capabilities to design, build and operate branded IT-as-a-Service cloud offerings based on EMC technology.
EMC partners also got a new channel-only piece of hardware with the VNXe3150, an extension to the company’s VNX family of unified storage solutions, which is optimized for companies building virtualized, private cloud environments
There was time for some high-fives as well: The company gave out Americas’ partners awards for innovation in solution development and best practices in implementation, and the first President’s Award for Customer Satisfaction, which recognizes partners for delivering high levels of customer satisfaction in a services or solution implementation, was presented to IT services and business consultancy firm Capgemini.
