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The channel chief said PureSystems' pre-configured architecture would accelerate the sales cycle for partners and reduce the amount of time solution providers have to spend on routine system configuration and implementation chores. "That's really a big positive for partners, how to reduce the time-to-value for their clients," Hennessy said.
That resonated with Turner at Datatrend, who said the PureSystems' architecture will allow his company to focus on higher-value system planning and design services. "I think there's a pent-up demand for this because everyone is tired of re-inventing the wheel," he said, pointing to such mundane tasks as installing virtualization software and building disk drive arrays.
"The systems really manage themselves," Turner said. "There's some pretty sophisticated application monitoring." He said the PureSystems go beyond other converged infrastructure products, citing Cisco's Unified Computing System as an example, which he said is largely focused on the hardware layer.
Turner said the most unique aspect of PureSystems is the "patterns of expertise" capabilities that ISVs and channel partners can use to capture and embed their own IT expertise within the systems.
Vormittag Associates Inc., whose S2K Enterprise ERP applications run on IBM's Power line of servers, is among the 125 ISVs whose software has been certified to run on the new PureSystems. VAI has been testing the PureSystems servers since November and their architecture "certainly makes deploying cloud systems easier," said VAI sales vice president Joe Scioscia in an interview.
Altogether more than 500 reseller, ISV, MSP and systems integration partners have received some PureSystems training, according to Hennessy. IBM is certifying partners' technical and sales personnel to work with the products -- though he declined to disclose how many have completed the certification -- and the vendor will be supplying marketing support and lead-generation services. "We have a big job to do in terms of partner support," Hennessy acknowledged.
IBM is also planning workshops to help partners sell and deploy the PureSystems, Hennessy said, and developing a product demonstration Website for partners.
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