Mark Cox

StorMagic signs on Arrow to distribute its ROBO-focused virtual storage solution in North America

StorMagic is looking to re-engage with the channel and build up a strong channel business for its sophisticated solution aimed and priced for SMBs and ROBO environments, which will include more strong Canadian partners.

Scality simplifies RING 5.0 software installation to facilitate channel installs

A reseller agreement announced last fall with HP led Scality to greatly simplify their software installation, which had previously required Scality to be involved because of the complexity.

Rubrik looks to redefine backup with converged scale-out platform with Apple-like experience

Rubrik sees itself as a threat to every backup vendor, with an offering that will focus on the mid-market at first, and will be sold 100 per cent through the channel.

EMC Federation Business Data Lake to be strong play for top partners

The Federation Business Data Lake greatly expands EMC’s converged Big Data offerings, and while only EMC’s more sophisticated partners will likely be able to sell it, it will be available to them.

Nimble adds net-new benefits to partners with first formal partner program

The three new partner tiers all have revenue and certification requirements, and most partners will not qualify, but all partners, including those not in a tier, will receive the benefits Nimble has been providing until now, as all the new benefits to the tiers are net-new.

CompTIA to unveil new ultra-simple business model assessment tool

Unlike previous CompTIA tools in this area, this one is focused on business models rather than financials, and is designed to be extremely simple to use

Splunk signs first North America distribution deal with Arrow

Splunk Light, a new product which is focused on the needs of mid-market companies, smaller than most of Splunk’s traditional customers, will require new partners focused on that area to sell it.

Huawei, DataCore partner on hyper-converged solutions

The DataCore-Huawei offerings are targeted at larger customers than the midmarket and lower end of the enterprise where other hyperconverged vendors have been most successful to date.

Nutanix unveils rigorous multi-hypervisor hyper-converged certification program

Nutanix aims to create the equivalent of a Cisco CCIE certification for the hyperconverged world, that will establish its thought leadership, with a demanding certification program that tests the ability to design solutions on multiple hypervisors.

Condusiv releases first fragmentation prevention solution for SANs

Condusiv’s Diskeeper 15 Server is the first fragmentation protection for SAN storage connected to physical servers. It prevents fragmentation in real time at the logical disk layer, increasing IO density so more data can be processed.

Equinix adds new global partner program in move to channel-friendly model

Equinix expects that the new program, designed to end channel conflict and properly reward partners, will attract new partners and significantly raise channel revenues.

Qumulo breaks stealth with data-aware scale-out NAS

Qumulo’s software, sold as 1U appliance nodes, integrates real-time data analytics directly into storage, to make data and storage resources much more visible. They sell only through the channel.

3D apps, desktop Linux support among VMware Horizon 6 innovations

VMware still trails Citrix in the virtual desktop space, and is trying to make up ground by emphasizing some of the new and enhanced features that are unique to Horizon 6.

ADTRAN greatly simplifies channel program with new pricing policies

ADTRAN has dumped product discount rules intended to ensure quality by limiting discounts to partners specializing in the area, while at the same time expanding training with free self-serve modules, and eliminating the deal registration revenue threshold.

Channel needs to walk fine line on innovation to win today’s SMB business

Today’s SMBs want to see evidence of innovation from their trusted advisors, but at the same time, solution providers should avoid falling into a false either-or trap – either you get on the cutting edge and change your business model, or you will be out of business soon.

Violin Memory redoes channel program in shift to partner go-to-market focus

Violin previously sold mainly direct in North America, and had an ineffectual partner program. Now the program has been greatly strengthened, as Violin looks to turn new sales over to partners prepared to commit to and invest in them.