Rancher Labs, a provider of container management software, on Tuesday launched its new Platinum Partner Program and recognized five charter members: BoxBoat Technologies, CloudOps, Redapt, Root Level Technology and RoundTower.

Coming on the heels of record growth in the first half of 2019, the program is an “important next step in expanding Rancher’s enterprise go-to-market [growth] in the face of massive adoption of their solutions,” the company said. In 2016, it launched its first formal partner program, the Rancher Partner Network.

Peter Smails, Rancher’s vice president of marketing, tells us the new program is a specialization within the company’s existing partner community.

Rancher Labs’ Peter Smails

“Rancher now has four types of go-to-market partners — consulting, reseller, MSP and platinum,” he said. “Platinum partners all have a deep bench of Kubernetes expertise and have completed multiple Rancher enterprise customer consulting engagements over the past 12 months. Additionally, platinum partners must have a minimum of two certified technical champions who have completed Rancher certification. As a result, platinum partners have access to lead and opportunity-sharing programs, joint marketing funds and options for co-branded content.”

Partners are increasingly recognizing the “enormous opportunity” to help enterprises on their Kubernetes journeys, and as a result have invested heavily in training and specialization around Kubernetes, Smails said. The platinum program helps them capitalize by creating new sales opportunities and increasing awareness, he said.

Partners can help enterprises address the challenge of deploying and managing Kubernetes across their entire multicloud infrastructure, from data center to edge, according to Rancher.

“Rancher certification certainly can help these partners address any questions regarding depth of competency around containers and Kubernetes,” he said. “We are looking for partners with a deep bench of Kubernetes expertise and are focused on delivering consulting services to enterprise customers.”

Platinum partners must co-host five hands-on Rancher Rodeo training classes each calendar year.

“Rancher is a key partner for us because their solutions greatly simplify Kubernetes management,” said Tim Hohman, BoxBoat‘s CEO. “Rancher creates new revenue opportunities for us as we enable our customers with cloud-native DevSecOps solutions to address their Kubernetes management challenges.”