Money doesn’t grow on trees, as parents everywhere are fond of saying, and all this cash apparently flowing into the cloud services market has to come from somewhere – namely, internal IT funding. Enter the emerging converged infrastructure (CI) market, as the big vendors trip over each other to simplify IT architectures. And the channel is playing a critical role in helping them get there.

Proof positive comes in the form of today’s IBM PureSystems announcement, which sees Big Blue joining competitors like HP, Oracle and Cisco in offering solutions for combining server, storage, networking, and management into one highly-automated architecture. IBM specifically claims to have 150 applications already optimized and ready to deploy on the infrastructure.

It’s telling that one of IBM’s central boasts around PureSystems is that it already has over 600 systems integrators (SIs), value added resellers (VARs), and managed service providers (MSPs) have already come aboard. Prominent examples of PureSystems services partners include Avnet Technology Solutions and Datatrend.

In short, IBM says that PureSystems represents a way for channel pros to move from simple product resale into the more lucrative services field – customers need consulting help with design and implementation, after all, and managed services providers have ample opportunity to upsell cloud services, too.

This is a common channel story across the converged infrastructure landscape, and while the market may not quite be there yet, VARs and SIs are gearing up even as their vendor partners ready their offerings. Of course, there’s some resistance: As Wikibon analyst Stuart Miniman pointed out earlier this week, plenty of channel pros have come up with their own playbooks when it comes to deploying simplified IT architectures, and so far, they’ve scoffed at what the big guns have come up with.

The cure for that, Miniman says, is to loop channel partners in on the design process. Going back to IBM PureSystems, ISVs themselves have submitted data on application requirements, and IBM has a pretty good idea itself, but the channel needs to have its feedback on the topic heard if Big Blue is serious about developing this partner ecosystem.

“IBM PureSystem looks solid, but not even IBM can make a dent in delivering this without strong support from the channel,” Miniman told me in an e-mail.

That’s going to prove true as the CI market continues to mature. These vendors are going to work on automation, integration and all that good stuff, but the actual task of implementation is going to largely be left to the channel. And in the channel, it’s only going to be those service providers who can actually assist in operational transformation that are worth partnering up with.