2023 Partner Program Guide: 5-Star Cloud Platform And Infrastructure Vendor Programs

As part of the Partner Program Guide, CRN designates some vendor channel programs as 5-Star Programs. Here are the 5-Star Programs among cloud platform and infrastructure vendors for 2023.

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The CRN 2023 Partner Program Guide offers the information solution providers need to evaluate the channel programs operated by the IT vendors they work with or are considering partnering with. The guide is based on detailed applications submitted by vendors – more than 300 this year – outlining all aspects of their partner programs.

As part of the Partner Program Guide, CRN designates some programs as 5-Star Partner Programs because they provide the most comprehensive lineups of incentives, resources, training, services and benefits.

Here we provide snapshots of the 5-Star designees in the Cloud Platform and Infrastructure space. Details of every vendor’s partner program can be found here.

Slide shows in the 5-Star Partner Program Guide series running this week include companies that provide products and services in cloud platforms and infrastructure, devices and peripherals, data storage and backup, networking and unified communications, security, software, and systems and data center, in addition to 5-Star partner programs operated by distributors and emerging vendors. While many companies provide products and services that span multiple technologies, we’ve assigned each vendor to the slide show for the technology category in which they are most prominent.

11:11 Systems

Program Name: 11:11 Systems Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Channel Chief: Koorosh Khashayar, VP, Global Channels

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: We expanded our in-depth training to incorporate our Managed Security offering including a new Security Specialist certification course. We also added new security-focused marketing content and resources to the 11:11 Systems Partner Portal. In addition, we created a partner development team dedicated to nurturing new partners in our partner program.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=1

Amazon Web Services

Program Name: AWS Partner Network (APN) Program

Year Program Established: 2012

Channel Chief: Ruba Borno, VP, Worldwide Channels & Alliances

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: The past year we have worked to improve the digital experience as well as clearly define partner profitability awareness and enable the journey for partners to identify where they are located in the partner profitability framework and how to move through it.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=14

Fastly

Program Name: Fastly Global Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2022

Channel Chief: Emily Friedberg, Group VP, Global Partnerships

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: We have made many enhancements to our partner program this year including adding: partner-only pricing and packaging, new products available for resell, new channel headcount, dedicated channel account managers for strategic accounts, dedicated channel marketing personnel and budget, new program branding, and better communications to our partner community.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=94

Google Cloud

Program Name: Google Cloud Partner Advantage

Year Program Established: 2019

Channel Chief: Kevin Ichhpurani, VP, Global Partner Ecosystem & Channels

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: 2022 highlights include expansion to regional specialization, introduction of Consumption Packs (pre-approved SOWs, budgets, project proposals, and contracts to quickly launch projects for common workloads), and ISV solution-level differentiation launches for Google Cloud Ready for Distributed Cloud Edge, Sustainability Solution and BigQuery.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=107

HYCU

Program Name: Global Partner PACE Program

Year Program Established: 2020

Channel Chief: Bogdan Viher, Head of Worldwide Channels

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: Our main changes focused on additional certifications created to support our partners’ resell efforts along with tech and support related to our MSP partners. We also focused our efforts around R-Score ransomware protection and recovery, allowing our partners to provide readiness services to their own customers.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=116

LogicMonitor

Program Name: LogicMonitor Partner Network

Year Program Established: 2019

Channel Chief: Michael Tarbet, Global VP, MSP & Channel

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: We launched our Channel 2.0 program to better align our sellers with our partners to help drive growth, certifications and rewards with our partners. We also invested in building the global GSI team, which in turn has grown our European channel team and presence, as well as our APAC presence.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=154

Sherweb

Program Name: Sherweb Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2010

Channel Chief: Jim O’Driscoll, VP, Sales

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: Sherweb continued to expand its cloud marketplace with products and solutions selected to meet the needs of partners and their clients. Our new managed services help partners offload resource-heavy activities (example: helpdesk and MDR functions) to Sherweb experts, allowing them to focus on generating revenue and reaching more customers.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=248

Virtana

Program Name: Virtana Partner Select

Year Program Established: 2012

Channel Chief: Steve Hershkowitz, Chief Revenue Officer

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: We changed our program to focus on 10 strategic partners instead of all. We moved from transactional to relationship-based, focused on the value our partners receive by partnering with Virtana to solve client challenges. We also partnered with a key distributor to bring products and solutions to their partner community.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=298

VMware

Program Name: VMware Partner Connect

Year Program Established: 2020

Channel Chief: Ricky Cooper, VP, Head of Worldwide Partner and Commercial Organization

Most Significant Changes To Partner Program Over The Past Year: VMware created a new flexible point system, simplified tiering and paths to progression, a business model orientation, and more self-service and automation to improve partner efficiency and profitability. A new self-service dashboard provides better visibility into program progression, incentives earned, competencies achieved and other telemetry for managing their VMware business.

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2023-details.htm?c=299