Dimension Data Veteran Chris Wolff Joins Dell To Accelerate The IoT Channel Charge
Dimension Data veteran Chris Wolff has joined Dell to help drive the company forward with new Internet of Things (IoT) channel partnerships.
Wolff has left her post as the SVP of Dimension Data's Group Cisco Alliance, after 18 years with the company, to become Dell's head of global OEM and IoT partnerships, according to her LinkedIn profile.
"Dell's capacity, expertise and methodology accelerates Future Makers' time to dream to revenue,’ said Wolff’s LinkedIn profile. "Partners play a [critical] role in bringing those game-changing ideas to fruition."
During Wolff’s time at Dimension Data, she worked closely with one of the channel player’s top partners, Cisco, to provide strategic guidance between the two companies’ strategies in areas where they were making joint investments.
A Dimension Data spokesperson confirmed that Wolff had left the company to "help Dell develop their IoT practice."
"Chris held a number of roles in her 18-year career with Dimension Data, and embraced our passion for exploration and innovation and was a strong and inspiring leader in the company," said the spokesperson.
Dell did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Wolff said in a Linkedin post that in her position at Dell she would work to develop programs and strategies that help technology partners – including Intel, and VMWare – as well as ISVs, channel partners and systems integrators, make IoT "smarter at the edge and in the core."
Wolff, who was on CRN’s "Women of the Channel 2017: Power 30 Solution Providers" list, joins Dell as the company funnels more investment into IoT; Dell recently pledged $1 billion to its IoT initiative in the next three years and announced a new Dell Technologies IoT Division.
Dell’s revamped IoT business will be headed by VMware Chief Technology Officer Ray O'Farrell, and will build on the company’s portfolio around IoT gateways and its EMC PowerEdge C-Series servers to enable IoT applications.
According to Dell, Jason Shepherd will remain in his position as director of Strategy and Partnerships for Dell's Internet of Things business and run the partner program within the new division.
Brian McGlynn, co-founder and COO of Davra Networks, a Dublin, Ireland-based Dell partner, praised Dell’s recent innovations in IoT.
’The new IoT System Integrator Partner program is another key piece of the Dell IoT Strategy,’ he said. ’A strong VAR channel is something Dell is focused on building and this new program is a result of many months courting system integrators.