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EMC CEO Joe Tucci has had it with competitors that bully and threaten to cut off those partners that do not stick with a single-vendor end-to-end technology stack.
Partners say that bullying is at a fever pitch with the biggest vendors attempting to get them to commit to a single, integrated end-to-end technology stack. They say the shifting competitive landscape including Oracle buying Sun; Cisco moving into the server market with its Unified Computing System; Hewlett Packard buying 3Com and IBM continuing its software buying binge have all contributed to a "my way or the highway" pressure in the sales trenches.
The demand for vendor exclusivity has been building over the last several years. A CRN special report last year titled Vendor Exclusivity: Don't Lock Yourself In reported on how solution providers are dealing with the high pressure tactics from vendors.
Tucci, by the way, is not the only top industry executive speaking out against partner bullying. Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell last year scoffed at rivals demanding vendor exclusivity.
Tucci, for his part, said the "next wave of IT, whether it is big, medium or small, is choice. I just can't say that word and then say take that choice away."
