Datera, the software-defined storage vendor, is joining the HPE Complete program to expand the reach, support and services for its data-services platform.

By joining with HPE Complete, Datera will be able to offer customers and channel partners deeper service and support for its flagship product, Marc Fleishmann, the president of Datera, told Channel Futures. The partnership will launch on Feb. 4 with HPE Complete beginning to resell the platform at that time.

Datera’s Marc Fleishmann

“That means that as partners we will get the global reach and support of HPE,” which will add value for the company’s customers and channel partners, said Fleishmann.

Datera’s two-year-old data services platform is a software-defined storage product which runs on servers and helps bring the cloud experience to private data centers, he said. Under the partnership, it will be called HPE Datera Complete.

The next release of the Datera Data Services platform, which will arrive in February, will add support for HPE servers and will begin to integrate with Amazon and Google public clouds to use them as archives and targets, said Fleishmann.

HPE Complete brings together HPE and third-party vendors and their products to create partnerships that give customers and channel partners HPE’s technical help and wide reach, while offering products and services not directly available from HPE. The HPE Complete Datera offering provides the enterprise performance of flash storage arrays on a software-driven platform that delivers automation and agility, HPE said.

Marty Lans, HPE’s general manager for storage connectivity and HPE Complete, said the partnership with Datera will bring a lot to his company as well, including the ability to scale such capabilities.

HPE’s Marty Lans

From the channel perspective, the partnership will offer customers the benefits of a combined product offering on the strong back of HPE, said Lans. The partnership was inspired by customer requests, he added.

“Our customers came to us and said, ‘We like you guys working together'” to offer the platform on HPE hardware, he said. “And our channel partners get full opportunities as if it were an HPE channel deal.”

Through the HPE Complete partnership, HPE helps with the support for Datera’s platform to give customers deeper assistance, he said.

“They get all the support and information and things from HPE. When we work with a smaller company like Datera, they can be rather limited in some cases in their own support capabilities. The channel partners like [the HPE Complete partnerships] because they get a fully baked solution.”

Greg Tinker, chief technology officer for SereneIT, an Atlanta-based Datera channel partner, said Datera joining HPE Complete is wonderful news for the channel.

“The inclusion of Datera in the HPE Complete program provides the channel with the confidence for a go-to market solution leveraging industry-leading, software-defined storage in conjunction with the industry-leading server platform,” said Tinker.

“Customers are seeking differentiated business value from their storage infrastructure,” he said. “Datera goes beyond advanced data-optimization services and provides a data-services platform, enabling cloud orchestration, data mobility and the ever-evolving robotic process automation — weaving AI into IT services.”

By partnering with HPE, Datera provides the channel with the support required to provide a …

… comprehensive software-defined solution for the modern hybrid-IT world, he added.

Analyst Chris DePuy of the 650 Group, agreed.

“The partnership means that HPE customers get another option to choose from when buying a storage system, while at the same time can be given comfort that they are buying from a well-regarded brand,” said DePuy. “We see this as a win-win-win arrangement between all parties — HPE, Datera and the channel.”

At the same time, the deal will offer new opportunities for partners because Datera’s software-defined storage system gives HPE partners another way to architect storage systems for customers.

“HPE has its own hyperconverged infrastructure offering, but the Datera system is different because it is a storage-oriented system that can be built out separately from the computing system,” said DePuy. “This allows the channel to engage with customers for both types of scenarios — where customers want hyperconverged or where customers want software-defined storage.”