Dell Computer Corp. has launched a new channel program to support its public cloud offering.
Called the Dell Cloud Partner Program, the Round Rock, Tex.-based PC vendor plans to deliver its public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) through an ecosystem of channel partners. Dell also has gone a step further to support the channel by axing its in-house multi-tenant public cloud IaaS.
Dell’s strategy is to be a single-source supplier and offer potential customers the choice of vendors and technology through the channel. Its Dell’s belief that this strategy will provide customers with the freedom from lock-in to a single platform or pricing model. Nnamdi Orakwue, vice president of Dell’s Cloud said many customers plan to expand their use of public cloud, but in order to truly reap the benefits, they want a choice of providers, flexibility and interoperability across platforms and models, the ability to compare cloud economics and workload performance, and a cohesive way to manage all of it. The channel partner approach offers increased value to Dell’s customers, channel partners and shareholders, as part of our comprehensive cloud strategy to deliver market-leading, end-to-end cloud solutions.
The Dell Cloud Partner Program currently has three initial channel partners in North America: Joyent of San Francisco; ScaleMatrix of San Diego; and ZeroLag of Los Angeles. No Canadian-based partners have been announced as of yet.
Joyent has a high-performance cloud IaaS offering for real-time Web and mobile applications.
ScaleMatrix has a branded hosting platform called TruCore Performance Cloud that leverages enterprise hardware, storage and security.
ZeroLag combines VMware-powered on-demand cloud infrastructure with professional services and custom-designed solutions.
The Dell Cloud Partner Program will expand to new partners and beyond IaaS, as determined by customer demand.
Also part of the Dell Cloud Partner Program is the newly acquired multi-cloud management platform, Enstratius. Enstratius manages both single and multi-cloud environments. Enstratius currently supports more than 20 public and private cloud platforms, including OpenStack, VMware, Rackspace and Windows Azure.
Dell gets social with the channel
Dell Global Commercial Channel group will be offering more social media training for its certified PartnerDirect solution providers.
The PartnerDirect social media training program, which is entering phase two began on May 2012. The company also launched a dedicated PartnerDirect technical community on the Dell TechCenter. This community is open to all registered Dell partners and enables them to connect with each other, the Dell Channel team and other Dell team members.
Dell is also preparing to launch new brand training for partners this summer. The training will cover key branding elements such as logos and imagery.
These new courses extend Dell’s training beyond the current partner certification program, which recently announced an expansion with four new software-related competencies launching in the fall. Dell encourages training for channel partners and offered more than 200,000 free sessions last year.
