Despite its off-and-on-again relationship with the channel,
it wasn't until two years ago that Dell got its first real channel business
when it bought EqualLogic, acquiring an iSCSI storage line and a
channel-only business model. Celebrating its second anniversary with the
company that's slowly branching out from its direct roots, the EqualLogic business
unit has recorded a strong track record of success and is very optimistic about
the future.
"We continue to grow revenue faster than the overall market," says
Travis Vigil, worldwide manager for Dell EqualLogic, and the future looks
bright. "We're seeing a lot of signs that this growth and momentum in the
market will continue."
Indeed, Dell leads the iSCSI market with more than 33 percent revenue share in
a market that grew more than 24 percent year-over-year, according to a new
study released this week by Forrester Research. Even more impressive,
EqualLogic product revenue increased 31 percent year over year.
Since the acquisition, the group has added almost 12,000 new customers and more
than 240 partners. EqualLogic's channel was an important part of the deal,
Vigil says.
"One of the key driving factors for the acquisition was the strong channel
focus," he tells Channel Insider. EqualLogic’s channel program has served
as a template for other channel programs Dell has created, "to have a
better, more collaborative relationship with the channel overall."
Vigil says there are three key trends driving the growth: the success of iSCSI
and 10Gb/E technologies, and the desire for unified data.
"iSCSI is ready for prime-time storage," Vigil says. Industry
analysts predicted the market would grow 46 percent in 2009, according to
Vigil, and instead it came in at a very healthy 88 percent. It currently
represents approximately 20 percent of the overall storage market, and it's
doing really well in server virtualization applications, he adds. There is room
for both iSCSI and Fibre Channel, but for the short term, Dell sees iSCSI being
preferred.
EqualLogic announced
the move to 10 Gigabit Ethernet last month in an effort to help customers
who are looking to drive down costs, says Vigil. The 10GbE market is growing at
40 percent quarter over quarter, almost three times the rate of FC host bus
adapters. And 10GbE is only going to make iSCSI better, and Ethernet will be
the basis for a Unified Fabric, he adds.
Formerly the channel chief at EqualLogic, Bob Skelley is now global director of
Dell's Enterprise Architecture Channel. At the time of the acquisition, he brought
320 partners with him to Dell. By the end of the year, there will be more than
650 partners in North America and over 1,000 globally.
A focus on quality, not quantity, was key to growing the channel, according to
Skelley.
"First we had to establish a very strong training and enablement program
within Dell," he says.
Outside of recruiting, the company spent "a ton" of money on
training. Today the company offers e-training, face-to-face instruction,
three-day boot camps, Webinars and customized training, and it's all free.
"It led to just incredible traction and uptake," he adds. Last year
the company trained over 165,000 people, including repeats for different
courses. "That's been a very big win for us, and a very big
investment."
Skelley is also a big believer in channel incentives that range from point
reward programs to new account incentives. Demand generation has also been
critical. Dell has done more than 1,000 weekly partner sessions over the last
year, generating over 41,000 leads, up 23 percent year over year.
It's also critical to listen to partners and ensure they are in sync, he says.
"We're always looking for more and different ways to engage the channel
and grow with Dell,” he says. “We're always piloting and looking at new
programs we can bring to the channel."
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