Dell announced yesterday that it has completed its US$1.4 billion acquisition of SAN vendor EqualLogic and rolled the vendor’s partners into its PartnerDirect partner program, also unveiling a new certification.
As a provider of high performance SAN solutions designed for virtualization and ease-of-use, Dell said EqualLogic furthers the vendor’s goal of simplifying IT.
“Virtualization and iSCSI are two keys to simplifying IT,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell, in a statement. “Enterprises are creating data and consuming power at an exponential rate, driving up IT cost and complexity. Together with our PartnerDirect channel, we’ll use iSCSI and virtualization to make storing and processing data easier and more affordable for our customers.”
Seeking to preserve and build on EqualLogic’s pre-existing channel program, Dell also announced that EqualLogic’s U.S. partners have been enrolled into Dell’s PartnerDirect program, with other geographies. The partners are also now eligible for Dell’s newest certification – Enterprise Architecture.
Dell says it modeled its certification requirements and benefits on EqualLogic’s channel program and included access to Dell’s full server and storage product lines.
“The channel is critical to our go-to-market strategy, and we are committed to our partners’ continued success,” said Bob Skelley, director of Dell’s Americas Channel Group, in a statement. “This is just the beginning. Dell will continue to innovate and differentiate to earn the business of our channel partners.”