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VMware Adds New Partner Programs

VMware announced new programs and other initiatives for its partner network at this week’s VMware Partner Exchange 2015. The conference highlights the latest products around VMware software-defined data center, end-user computing and hybrid cloud solutions. A big emphasis at this year’s conference is “business transformation in the mobile cloud era.”

The new VMware Partner Professional Services Program will enable consulting partners to sell and deliver their own services. Partners will have access to experienced software-defined data center architects and experts at no cost as well as customer-focused labs along with training discounts, the company said. Available to a limited number of pilot partners in the first half of fiscal 2015, the program is expected to expand in the second half of the year.

VMware also announced that its VMware vCloud Air Network Program will expand to include managed services opportunities for vCloud Air Network service providers, enabling partners to use VMware vCloud Air as their core infrastructure while providing differentiation through their managed services. This gives partners more flexibility in how to build and offer cloud solutions. The new managed services model will be available in the second quarter to qualified service providers.

VMware Partners Make Announcements

Arrow Electronics announced it was selected as an aggregator in the VMware vCloud Air Network Program in the United States and Canada, in addition to current availability in Europe. The global IT distributor will offer the complete vCloud Air Network Program framework as part of its ArrowSphere marketplace that allows service providers and hosting partners to buy VMware products that meet their subscription-based business models.

In addition, OnApp announced that its Web and mobile portal for VMware vCloud Director is available free for a six-month period, ending Aug. 1, 2015. This includes free deployment, configuration and 24/7 support. OnApp for vCloud Director offers intuitive and rebrandable cloud management and provisioning for VMware-based service providers, as well as global reselling capability.

EMC Signs Distribution Agreements

EMC announced the availability of the EMC VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged infrastructure appliance that delivers compute, storage, networking and management powered by VMware EVO:RAIL and EMC software. The appliance enables customers to go from power on to provisioning virtual machines in less than 15 minutes, said the company.

The solution targets midmarket customers and may be used for infrastructure consolidations, virtual desktops in large remote or branch offices and managed service providers. The VSPEX BLUE offering will initially be available through a select few leading distribution partners including Arrow, Avnet, Networld, TD Azlan and Tech Data.

CloudMSP Inks Distribution Deal with Zynstra

CloudMSP, a specialty value-added distributor of cloud and information technology solutions, is the first North American distributor of Zynstra’s enterprise-class hybrid IT for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Zynstra has a 100-percent channel model. CloudMSP’s North American partners, including MSPs, VARs and telecom agents, can offer their SMB customers enterprise-class IT without the enterprise cost, in time to meet the end-of-support deadline for Windows Server 2003 and Small Business Server, said the company. With Zynstra’s subscription-based model, businesses can upgrade their critical IT infrastructure without an up-front capital expense.

Infinio Partner Program Brings Storage Acceleration to the Midmarket

Infinio, a provider of storage acceleration for virtualized data centers, announced the multi-tiered Infinio Channel Partner Program for value-added resellers (VARs), distributors and consultants. The company will work directly with partners to qualify opportunities, present the technology and help close sales.

Program benefits include a co-selling strategy that speeds sales cycles, joint marketing activities to position partners as thought leaders and in-depth technical training. The program also provides a framework for solution providers—that are now selling virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), storage, VMware and ancillary solutions such as data protection—to help customers solve storage performance problems.

Partners can expand their revenue opportunities by working with companies that want to improve the performance of their existing environments, and companies that are creating new data center environments, said Infinio.