UPDATED 08:01 EDT / FEBRUARY 05 2013

EMC Announces Overhaul of Velocity Channel Partner Program

On February 5, 2013 EMC announced a major revision of its Velocity Solution Provider program designed to give its channel partners globally a more predictable and profitable relationship. The transformation includes a new Target Products rebate, refinements to the Velocity Specialties requirements and benefits, integration of the EMC Isilon partner program, increased demand-generation opportunities, and expanded services offerings, tools, and resources. Its intent is to make EMC’s Cloud and Big Data technologies more available to more mid-market customers. The changes take effect immediately.

EMC’s continued objective is to accelerate the customer journey to Cloud Computing, grapple with Big Data, and help IT departments store, manage, protect, and analyze their most valuable asset – information,” said Fred Kohout, VP of Global Channel marketing at EMC. “The changes we’ve made to the Velocity Solution Provider program are focused on helping partners optimize their offerings in these key areas so they can best support customer requirements.”

The new Target Products rebates for Premier and Signature Partners are designed to provide these top Velocity partners with a predictable income via rebates on sales of targeted EMC products that align with key mid-market initiatives. Target products include EMC VNX and VNXe unified storage, EMC Avamar, EMC Data Domain backup & recovery systems, and the EMC VFCache flash caching system. Rebates are paid from first sale and are in addition to, and can be combined with, EMC’s existing performance-based Specialty rebate.

The program no longer requires partners to earn an implementation certification to achieve a Specialty. While EMC encourages partners to become services-enabled, this allows pure-play resellers a more direct path to Velocity Specialties. EMC has also strengthened its Velocity Services offerings to support partners that include services in their business model. Additionally:

  • The revenue requirement for achieving a Specialty has also been removed.
  • Three Specialties are now required for Signature partners worldwide.

The Isilon partner program is now integrated into Velocity, making Isilon partners eligible for Velocity benefits on other EMC products and allowing EMC resellers to earn benefits from selling Isilon.

The list of products eligible for financial benefit under Velocity Specialties has been expanded. Specifically, EMC Mozy cloud backup, Atmos object-based cloud storage platform, and Centera content addressable storage, are now eligible within the Backup and Recovery Specialty, and EMC Isilon scale-out network and attached storage is now eligible for benefits within the Consolidate Specialty.

EMC is doubling its investment in demand-generation funds, programs, and resources to develop highly qualified opportunities for partners and accelerate revenue growth.

Velocity Services is investing in enhanced tools, offerings, and resources to accelerate services enablement with partners. Specifically:

  • An expanded library of online and video instructor-led services training provides better access for partners to EMC’s Proven Professional technical training.
  • New online labs provide partners with the opportunity to hone practical implementation skills on EMC technology in a proctored virtual environment.
  • Additions to the EMC Cooperative Services portfolio provide partners with guidance on solution designs and post-implementation review. The partner maintains full control of the customer relationship and can draw on EMC expertise in the background to ensure the quality of implementations.

With the high level of flexibility and range of options EMC is providing us through the new Velocity Program, our customers will have even more access to EMC’s broad portfolio of innovative products and services,” said Gregg Pruett, Senior VP of EMC channel partner CompuNet Inc. “There’s a massive market opportunity, and the enhancements EMC announced today provide us with more choices to resell and deliver services – enabling us to better focus on the growing demand for services as the market expands for cloud, Big Data, and Trusted IT environments.”


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