EMC To Lay Out New Initiatives At Annual Conference

Among the initiatives are a new unified ISV program, tweaks to the company&'s Velocity channel program, sharper segmentation and a focus to get more partners to increase their certifications under a reinvigorated authorized service network program.

EMC Software Group President Dave DeWalt said the changes are all part of an effort by the company to increase its partner ecosystem. EMC simply cannot meet its sales growth objectives without partners and its ultimate goal is to drive the amount of partner-influenced software sales from the current level of 70 percent up to 100 percent, he said.

DeWalt said the unification of the ISV program represents a major step forward in allowing partners to get consistent training, support and assistance for the full breadth of the EMC software product line from a single source. “It just makes it easier for partners to integrate, sell and support all of our products across the board,” he said. “I think this is going to be received very positively by the partner community.”

Ed Mackin Sr., president of Mackin Imaging Systems, an EMC document-imaging solution provider and distributor, said he is anxious to get more details on the EMC changes. “I want to know what all this really means. The benefit of being out there at the conference is sometimes you get as much information over a cup of coffee or a beer as from the sessions,” he said.

Mackin Imaging Systems&' EMC business was up double digits in 2005 compared with 2004, Mackin said.

Mackin said he has been surprised at the strength of the EMC partnering effort. “We have gotten tremendous support,” he said. “It has been a terrific relationship and I&'m pleasantly surprised. I never expected to be treated this good by a $10 billion company.”