Cooperative Spirit

Last fall, I was named an honorary member of the Intel Board of Advisors for North America, a group of about 15 Intel Premier Providers who are supposed to represent the needs of Intel's larger solution provider community. I teased Intel channel chief Steve Dallman that he would never allow me into a real meeting, so imagine my thrill when his team proved me wrong.

Seeing the board in action was a revelation, all the more poignant because of the delicate balance Intel weighs between the interests of mega-OEMs such as Dell or Hewlett-Packard and the system builder ecosystem. Some tension was obvious throughout last month's meeting; despite the efforts of Intel's top executives, especially COO Paul Otellini, to trumpet the influence of the channel at virtually every opportunity, the Premier Providers as a group feel that they don't get enough visibility in the company's branding campaigns.

Still, one gets the sense that the relationship between Intel and this group is highly organic,not to mention productive. Rather than offering up finished programs for feedback, Intel's team lets these partners set the agenda. One great example of a new Intel initiative born of their suggestions is the channel team's year-old alliance effort, which teams up Intel's roughly 300 Premier Providers with strategic third-party vendors.

The board also has a real impact on product development. When Intel Director of Product Marketing Gordon Dolfie briefed them about DDR motherboards planned for early next year, they pointed out that this would be disruptive to government and education purchasing cycles. The result: Intel has adjusted certain road maps. And when a subset suggested chassis changes related to high-performance computing, Dolfie took notes that will be used to create additional channel-only components.

I could reveal more, but that would mean betraying a trust,one Intel and its board takes seriously and one that has clearly paid off for both sides. I challenge other vendors to be as open with their channel partners.