The intelligent data management startup has also expanded their distribution network, signing on Lifeboat to complement original distribution partner Synnex
Krishna Subramanian, COO of Komprise
Campbell CA-based data management vendor Komprise has announced a new strategic reseller agreement through which IBM will resell Komprise Intelligent Data Management software on their price lists. This includes both perpetual and subscription licenses, and inclusion in both the Ready for IBM Storage and Ready for IBM Cloud validated solutions directory. Komprise has also expanded their distribution network, signing on Lifeboat for both the U.S. and Canada earlier this month.
Strategic partnerships are a key element of Komprise’s go-to-market strategy, and they partner with many of the storage OEMs, through technology integrations. They had worked with IBM previously, but only with the IBM Cloud Object Storage component – Cleversafe before its acquisition.
“In terms of a full relationship across IBM, this is very much a new relationship,” said Krishna Subramanian, COO of Komprise. “We had been working with IBM Cloud Object Storage, but IBM saw that their customers buying their Cloud Object Storage were also buying us, so they wanted to resell us. In particular, this reseller relationship came about because we are both selling to large health care and financial organizations, and these have relationships with IBM and would prefer to transact everything through IBM.”
The technical component of the relationship includes a validated ROI-driven data management solution that combines Komprise with IBM Cloud Object Storage. It also unites existing NAS with the cloud object storage is a hybrid solution, which Komprise says cuts costs by 70 per cent without any changes to users or applications.
“We go where the customer takes us,” Subramanian said. “It’s never a one size fits all. Sometimes on- prem is the right answer and sometimes cloud, and we are able to move and manage their data across all of their storage.”
This IBM agreement is significant for Komprise because while they have technology partnerships with many storage OEMs, and are resold by cloud vendors in their marketplaces, this is their first resell deal with an OEM around hybrid, as opposed to pure cloud.
“We have always started with technology integrations with our strategic partners, and then meet in the channel,” Subramanian said. “We do have resell relationships with both AWS and Google, but IBM is the first major hybrid vendor where we have done this.”
Subramanian also stressed that while the solution is focused around the IBM Cloud Object Storage integration, the resell relationship is broader than that.
“The resell relationship is for all of IBM, including Global Services, their systems resellers, and cloud resellers, although cloud is where we have seen the most transactions,” she indicated.
Subramanian also pointed out that part of the deal includes the right for the IBM customers to also leverage Komprise’s migration capabilities at no additional cost.
“Komprise does NAS migrations, to bridge file and object storage, and facilitate the movement of cold data,” she said. “IBM asked if we could help them move this data, and so we have priced it so that one license includes all our capabilities. Customers do not have to pay extra for the migration abilities.”
Komprise sells entirely through partners, and until now their distribution has been entirely through Synnex. They have now augmented that by signing on with Lifeboat Distribution, a boutique operation which started out as a software specialist, but has broadened out as the market has evolved to include other areas like cloud, while maintaining a focus on emerging technologies.
“With this expansion we now have one broadline distribution and one specialty distributor,” Subramanian said. “In the last year, we have expanded our sales, with a director of channel sales [Zach Edwards] a head of worldwide sales, and new regional sales teams on in east, west and central U.S. The central team did a lot of deals with Lifeboat, which led to this broader relationship.” It includes Canada as well.
