A Toast to AMD’s New Partner Program

Talk about a potentially awkward moment. Last week in a Boston bar, The VAR Guy was taking interview notes on his Intel-based notebook. Sitting across the table was David Kenyon, VP of worldwide channel marketing at AMD. The VAR Guy was in the right place with the wrong silicon. But the conversation was a good one. Here’s a recap.

Kenyon described AMD’s efforts to launch the AMD Fusion Partner Program, positioned as the company’s “first global partner program designed to provide its channel partners with tailored tools and resources to help them gain sales traction based on their unique business models.”

Sounds wonderful. But will Fusion deliver the goods? Partners can begin to decide for themselves by visiting http://www.amd.com/fpp. You’ll notice that the partner program includes a range of marketing and sales tools for channel providers, e-tailers, retailers, commercial solution providers, consumer solution providers and commercial volume resellers.

Two Blogs Worth Tracking

Like a growing number of channel chiefs, Kenyon plans to leverage his own corporate blog to keep partners engaged. Smart move. But partners should also lend an ear to Margaret Lewis, director of AMD commercial software and solutions. Lewis has extensive expertise developing AMD’s software partner relationships. And as her blog reveals, Lewis also has an intense focus on virtualization.

Together, messaging from Kenyon and Lewis should help channel partners to more effectively identify new opportunities and trends in desktop and server virtualization.

AMD’s Recovery?

No doubt, AMD has suffered through some difficult times in recent quarters. The company’s stock hit a 52-week low of $1.62 back in November 2008. But since that time, shares have rallied to roughly $5.69 as of Sept. 30, 2009.

R&D also has continued. Only days ago, AMD introduced the Six-Core AMD Opteron processor with AMD Chipset platform. According to AMD:

“This new server platform, along with the AMD platform specification code-named “Kroner,” enables advanced performance, the benefits of unified processor and chipset technology, and furthers AMD’s commitment to energy efficiency.”

The next big test for AMD comes Oct. 15 when the company is scheduled to announce quarterly results. The VAR Guy will be watching.

Follow The VAR Guy via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; Twitter; and via his Newsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center.