With its reseller channel partners in mind, NetApp has simplified its FA2000 product line, reducing the number of SKUs from over 45 to about 10.

NetApp this week also announced a new FAS2040 storage system for midsized enterprise and distributed enterprise customers and announced significant price reductions for its FAS2020 systems.

“These changes came as direct feedback from partners,” says Todd Palmer, vice president of Americas Channels at NetApp.

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NetApp says the FAS2040 provides double the performance of existing FAS2000 series storage systems and in increased storage capacity of up to 30 percent.

The FAS2020 starts at $7,920 and offers multiprotocol support, including CIFS and NFS, according to NetApp.

The new product announcements come at the same time as some simple changes to NetApp’s channel partner program, such as changing its name from the VIP Program to the NetApp Partner Program. Palmer says the program now encompasses all the company’s partners, expanding beyond resellers to systems integrators and direct market resellers.

“Most of the changes we did do this year were all about making it easier to do business with NetApp,” says Palmer. For example, he says, a significant change was the launch of a new field portal in May that serves both internal employees and all channel partners.

A new online express campaign tool now provides marketing materials about products' value propositions and also offers live calculators. It also includes campaigns-in-a-box.

But perhaps the most important improvements have come in the form of greater alignment of the company’s sales resources, says Palmer, including increased account mapping between internal NetApp staff and partners and some tweaks to the program to make partner margins more predictable.