EMC Enters A New Arena
EMC—historically a large enterprise player—created its first SMB-focused channel program, called Velocity.
Formed in part to provide smaller businesses access to the Hopkinton, Mass.-based vendor's brand of products via a combination of compatibility, product design and lower price points, Velocity offers solution providers two partner levels. Tier-one partners must garner $130,000 in hardware or $30,000 in software yearly sales, while tier-two partners need $65,000 in hardware or $15,000 in software yearly sales. EMC also offers partners discounted software for personal use, dedicated sales and marketing support and presales technical assistance.
Many partners were surprised by EMC's overwhelming involvement in the channel, claiming that typically when big players enter the arena, they're mostly all talk and no action.
"I was fearful when EMC bought Dantz [in 2004]," said former Dantz partner and now EMC partner Harold Mann, president and founder of Mann Consulting, San Francisco.
"I thought bigger was going to mean less personal. But [EMC] worked really hard to be aggressive with resellers. They actually call you and meet you. There's a human presence," Mann said.
Another EMC partner, Creative Associates, on board with the vendor for approximately five months, applauded its efforts. "You see everyone who talks partnerships, but the delivery is not always there," said Mitch Feather, vice president at the Madison, N.J.-based solution provider.
"And then there are some vendors that we have longstanding relationships with; there is a lot of response [on their part] and a lot of mutual trust. When they have needs, they reach out to us. When we have needs, we reach out to them," Feather said. "With Insignia, this is what we felt from the get-go." Feather added that the attraction to the EMC Insignia line was the growing need for good SAN products for the SMB arena.
The EMC Insignia product line consists of software and hardware designed for simplified and cost-effective data protection and storage. Backed by EMC's reputation in enterprise-class offerings, the line has encouraged small-business interest and access.
Insignia includes storage hardware such as the EMC Clariion AX150, priced starting at $5,600; eRoom SMB Edition collaboration software, priced starting at $495 for five users; RepliStor SMB replication software, priced starting at $995; and Retrospect, EMC's software answer to data encryption, priced starting at $99 and $199 for a three-seat license for the Mac and PC, respectively.
Solution provider ACS, which has been an EMC Velocity partner for eight months, deals almost exclusively with SMBs and the majority of its customers have between 20 and 100 PCs. Richard Brooks, director of business development at the Easton, Mass.-based company, which was named to this year's CRN Fast Growth list, said ACS has performed dozens of implementations since signing on with EMC.
EMC's reputation has attracted many of those customers, Brooks said. "It really, really comes down to partnering with an enterprise. [EMC's] suite of services are very competitively priced," he said. "But it's taken an enterprise-level solution to the SMB space and [the small business] feels like they're getting more value."
According to Brooks, EMC also has proactively scouted clients for its higher-end offerings.
"We were one of the first partners in this area," Brooks said. "[And] 20 to 100 PCs don't need several terabytes of data. But EMC, through marketing efforts is helping us get out in front of the AX150 clients, where I traditionally don't get to those clients. ... [It's] quite impressive," Brooks added.
What grade do these partners give EMC? "Let's put it this way: I've been really surprised by how strong EMC is supporting the channel," Mann Consulting's Mann said. "This also comes at a time when a number of manufacturers are competing with the channel."