SAN FRANCISCO — EMC has introduced its first partner classification that crosses the borders of its Federation of companies, announcing a Federation Ready Credential that will allow top partners to sell, consult on, and deliver the Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud, the groups converged cloud offering.

Introduced at VMworld 2015 here, the credential is a step toward Federation-wide partner program integration. The stated plan is that while Federation members will retain separate partner programs, going forward, there will be greater integration of those programs where it makes sense to do so.

The Federation Ready Credential is open to solution providers who are both Gold or Platinum in EMC’s partner program, and Enterprise or Premium status partners with VMware. Partners must have an EMC solution center built to the company’s standards, must stand up an FEHC implementation in that solution center, and must have at least one engineer go through specific training around the FEHC offering.

“Our Gold and Platinum partners have these solutions centers, so for many, it’s just a matter of the training, and of standing up the Enterprise Hybrid Cloud,” said Scott Millard, vice president of Americas channels at EMC.

Since its introduction, partners have been able to sell FEHC, but the new credential introduces the ability for partners to implement and deliver consulting services around the cloud stack. Members will get early access to Federation-wide technical, sales, and marketing resources, and for the first time, the companies are introducing Federation-wide partner account managers who will be tasked with making it as smooth as possible for partners to navigate the delivery of cross-Federation solutions. The group of companies also intends to introduce a unified deal registration system for partners selling the FEHC offering.

Millard said the company has a dozen or so partners in place around the world who have piloted the program, and expects that community to grow in short order.

FEHC is perhaps the broadest selling of four (so far) Federation-wide solutions the companies have introduced, and the first to have a specific pan-Federation certification or partner credential put around it. Millar said the companies still aren’t entirely sure how the credential will expand to embrace other present and yet-to-be-announced Federation solutions, or whether there will be separate recognitions for those offerings, but Millard said the move to create commonalities across member partner programs “is only going to grow as we announce new solutions.”

“We plan on applying the same approach and process,” Millard said. “We have a lot of effort going on internally to bring the Federation members together, and we’re doing the same thing with our partner communities.”