PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
A number of tech firms have announced new partner programs for resellers.
Lenovo has revealed its first partner program for cloud and managed service providers (MSPs) following the transition of the IBM System x server business to Lenovo. Effective immediately, the Lenovo Service Provider Program promises service providers ‘competitive prices, unique financing plans and the ability to choose infrastructure from a large and diverse product portfolio that best meets their needs’.
Those who qualify will be eligible to purchase systems at a discount from distributors, defer payments for up to 120 days and access a trade-in products for certain products, as well as co-marketing funds.
“Managed services spending is expected to triple in the next few years, and with the recent integration of the IBM System x portfolio, Lenovo is well positioned to offer beneficial programmes to new and existing providers,” said Wilfredo Sotolongo, vice president Enterprise Business Group, Lenovo EMEA.
For those MSPs interested in learning more about the new Lenovo Service Provider Program, email wburns@lenovo.com.
SanDisk, meanwhile, has announced a new Enterprise Reseller Partner Program for North American, EMEA and worldwide partners. The program provides added support, resources and rewards to qualified SanDisk value-added resellers (VARs) of the company’s enterprise solutions.
The vendor says it created the new program to help enable VARs to develop and nurture new business opportunities and close deals faster. It’s available for SanDisk Commercial Business Channel partners which resell select SanDisk hardware and software data center solutions, including CloudSpeed SATA solid state drives, Optimus SAS SSDs, FlashSoft caching software and PCIe application accelerators, among others.
"Flash technology is transforming the datacenter by delivering better performance and increasing operational efficiencies," said Ken Oberman, vice president of worldwide business channel sales at SanDisk. "Our channel partners play a critical role in bringing SanDisk’s trusted enterprise storage solutions to a range of customer environments. This program is part of SanDisk’s strategic effort to provide resellers with a host of resources to help expand their opportunities."
Benefits include a web partner portal with tools and assets, access to a series of education and training programs, and rewards including marketing development funds, a deal registration program as well as a ‘Volume Incentive Rebate’ for resellers hitting certain volume-based goals.
For more information or to become a member of SanDisk’s new Enterprise Reseller Partner Program, visit enterprisechannelpartner.sandisk.com or contact businesspartners@sandisk.com.
Elsewhere, Tech Data Europe’s enterprise arm Azlan has launched an engagement program for managed services providers (MSPs) using HP’s Converged Infrastructure solutions as delivery platforms.
The program targets MSPs using HP servers, storage, networking infrastructure and software solutions as a foundation for their services platforms.
Azlan will provide MSPs with dedicated support teams and resources, plus access to special promotions. The program is now being rolled out in the UK, France and Sweden, with other Western European countries due to follow within the next few weeks.
Stephen Cant, director of the HP Enterprise Group at Azlan, stated, “We have already identified more than 2,500 HP partner organisations across Europe that are active as managed services providers, or are developing the capabilities to move into this fast-growing area of the market.
"As these partners transition from business models that are primarily focused on selling products to ones that are more focused on the delivery of managed services for enterprises and mid-sized customers, they will need a different kind of support and engagement with their value distribution partner.
“Our program is designed to offer specific skills and resources that will enable MSPs to build the resilient and fully-converged systems that will support managed infrastructure, platforms, storage, backup and the other services, for which demand is now growing quite rapidly and significantly.”
More information can be found at www.azlan.co.uk.
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