VMware establishes what the channel can expect from it in the near future
VMware is investing in its partners in Australia by growing their capabilities, in certifications, and practice capabilities, according to VMware channels and alliances senior vice-president, Dave O’Callaghan.
He said the company sees customers needing flexibility, speed, and agility, and hence wants to work more closely with its partners to provide just that.
“We want to set the message that what the customers are looking for is agility. From our perspective, we want to address the software defined datacentre that drives the flexibility and speed that companies need to adapt to. That’s what we will be drilling on at the Partner Executive Summit,” he said.
The one-day A/NZ Summit, being held in Sydney today, has been repositioned from the previous partner exchanges, which had a mixed crowd of technical and executive. This first Partner Executive Summit deals specifically with the channel, while the company's VMworld event iahsa more technical focus.
VMware A/NZ channels and general business director, John Donovan, said the rapid transformation in business practices is something the company’s seeing in Australia just as much as it is seeing in the US. The Australian partner community is just as challenged as many of their customers are on how they can help prepare for IT and business transformations.
“Now we have this mobile Cloud world with Big Data analytics and so on. We’re also moving from client servers to living in a mobile world. So at the Partner Executive Summit, we’ll be focusing on the role the partner has in taking a leadership role in using IT as a business transformation.”
O’Callaghan said that since the channel is core to VMware’s business, it will be strengthening on three initiatives it’s currently got in place. They include
- The software-defined enterprise that builds upon the compute virtualisation through network and storage virtualisation with operations and automation in the stack.
- Its End User Computing (EUC) mobility component that provides the mobility sitting next to the software defined datacentre.
- The hybrid Cloud environment that encompasses the vCloud Air infrastructure and the partner network that leverages its partners’ strengths in the Cloud.
“So we focus on the agility of the datacentre, the mobility of the unified communication, and the capability to move it around the world in the Cloud. We’re very strategic to our customers and partners in supporting them at every step of the way,” he said.
O’Callaghan also highlighted the company’s added investment into deal registrations of its resell routes, the technology partner route, and its services value channel.
“The more that the channel invests in this, the more they will be rewarded. We will continue to be a channel-centric company,” he said.
Donovan added consistency is very critical to its A/NZ operations as over the past few years, many software and hardware companies have changed their strategic positioning and/or their go-to-market models.
“From a partnering perspective, our focus will remain even though we will add to it with the development of new technologies. So they can expect our long-term investments in technical, sales and services enablement even though we evolve and adopt these technologies,” he said.
