Opportunity Knocks: New Veritas Partner Programs

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company also unveiled an opportunity registration initiative and introduced a program to make it easier for Microsoft-authorized solution providers to resell Veritas storage software without having to be Veritas-certified.

Maintenance renewals have long been a sore spot for Veritas solution providers, who say they have no way to be a touch point for clients after the initial software sale.

Pat Edwards, vice president of sales at longtime Veritas partner Alliance Technology Group, Hanover, Md., said his company recently made its first-ever renewals sale. "We've been waiting for this for years," he said.

Veritas had limited renewals sales to a group of about a half-dozen solution providers, but now has opened the program to all of its Veritas Enterprise Authorized Elite and Premier Partners, company executives said.

Under Veritas' opportunity registration Program, Veritas Enterprise Authorized Elite and Premier Partners, as well as Windows Authorized Partners, can fill out a registration form online and then are rewarded with financial incentives, said Julie Parrish, vice president of Americas field and channel marketing at Veritas.

After the solution provider fills out the online opportunity registration form, he or she receives an automatic tracking number, said Parrish. The deal is then reviewed, and the partner receives an approval or denial e-mail for each opportunity registered. After the opportunity is closed, the partner faxes the purchase order to Veritas before placing the order with a distributor to confirm it will receive the margin enhancement. "We have received nearly 150 submissions for review already," she said.

The registration lasts for 90 days and can be extended if needed, Parrish said. In closing a registered deal, solution providers can earn a 5 percent to 10 percent bonus discount, she said.

Edwards called the new opportunity registration program a nice step in the right direction for Veritas.

"It enables their partners to make more money," he said. "[Opportunity registration] has become more a necessity than a nicety."

Under Veritas' new Windows Authorized Partner program, solution providers that focus on Microsoft Windows environments can become authorized to sell Veritas' software and support for Windows without going through a separate Veritas certification process, executives said.

Software in the program includes NetBackup for Windows enterprise-class data protection software and Storage Foundation for Windows online storage management tools for heterogeneous enterprise environments.