Jonathan Arms, Dell Global Alliance Manager
At VMware’s Partner Exchange event in Las Vegas, Dell and VMware announced a strategic partnership to offer an end-to-end VDI solution for the mid-market.
This announcement is centered on a Desktop Virtualization solution that consists of VMware Horizon View, Dell Active Infrastructure , and Dell Wyse P25 thin clients. It will be sold through Dell PartnerDirect and through the two-tier distribution model commonly used by Dell Wyse’s channel community. The main impetus behind this new, integrated offering with VMware is to make it much easier for Dell and VMware channel partners to offer VDI solutions to their mid-market customers that are easy to order, configure, deploy, and manage. As such, one of the obvious key elements for the program’s success is motivating and enabling our channel community. To that end we will be unveiling a number of enablement and incentive programs and activities for our channel partners.
Dell Wyse and VMware have historically relied on the channel community to deliver our solutions. VMware solutions are fulfilled 100% through the channel as was the case when Wyse was a stand-alone company. Although the dynamics have changed slightly with Dell’s acquisition of Wyse, the significance of the channel remains the same – it is the primary route to market for integrated desktop virtualization solutions and products, especially in regards to End User Computing / Cloud Client Computing within Dell.
For this reason Dell and VMware have adopted a number of enablement programs and activities designed to inspire resellers to promote this end-to-end solution by making it both profitable and easy to order and deploy. Channel enablement programs include a variety of incentives and opportunities for our partners, including discounts based on competency levels, additional P25 zero clients based on deal sizes, quota retirement via closely related products, a vastly simplified ordering process that includes configuration templates and automated tools, and more.
Our agreement with VMware also includes joint marketing and go-to-market initiatives that we plan to roll out throughout the upcoming calendar year. These activities will include jointly architected webinars, roadshows, elevated Dell presence at upcoming VMware VForum and Knowledge Series events, co-hosted roundtables, and collateral.
This joint Dell/VMware plan also includes additional training for our common channel partners as well as joint development per specific use case environments, not unlike the current Dell offerings for Mobile Secure Desktop and AlwaysOn Point of Care, both of which serve as key parts of this partnership offering today.
This heightened level of partnership between Dell and VMware should make it clear to all that the path to future success for both companies in desktop virtualization and cloud client computing is one that in large part we intend to travel together.
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