Storage Management Software: IBM

Top-notch channel support made IBM the clear leader in the storage management software category, but Big Blue faced some tight competition in technical areas of the 2005 CRN Channel Champions Survey.

Solution providers rated IBM’s Tivoli software best in predictive capabilities and reports. And it rose a solid 4.4 points above Veritas Software, the runner-up on technical criteria, in the all-important area of reliability. Veritas edged into first on scalability and multivendor support, while Hewlett-Packard led in price/performance.

Solution providers said they were not surprised by the close contest in technical satisfaction because all the vendors support heterogeneous storage environments.

“It’s more a matter of what the customer is trying to accomplish,” said Phillip Hice, director of technical services at Computer Configuration Services, Irvine, Calif. “I may walk into a customer site and upgrade any of the applications. We can sell any of them.”

While solution providers rated IBM’s Tivoli one of several premium storage management offerings, they gave the company an unqualified first place over its competitors in channel areas.

IBM Tivoli came out on top in all nine channel areas with an average rating of 77 points, putting it a solid 4.1 points ahead of Computer Associates International, the runner up in channel-program satisfaction. IBM Tivoli was particularly strong in consistency of channel programs, where it led by 5.2 points for its widest margin of victory in the survey. IBM also came up big in vendor support over the life cycle of a project and managing channel conflict.

IBM offers its solution providers a wide range of training, rewards them with the best margins and protects its partners’ sales, said Kevin Hoffman, vice president of sales at Hoffman Technologies, Sacramento, Calif. “I’m pretty comfortable with my IBM sales reps,” he said. “They’ve brought me into a lot of deals.”

Nearly 75 percent of IBM Tivoli’s storage management sales go through solution providers, said Michael Gerentine, worldwide director of channel strategy for IBM Tivoli. He said solution providers that offer value-added services can join the company’s Value-Added Plus program, which gives them 20 points of margin for enterprise deals and 30 points for midsize business deals.