VMware introduces its new Partner Program

VMware has announced a fundamental transformation of its partner program landscape, re-imagining the way the company does business with and for its partners to deliver simplicity, choice and innovation.

VMware has unveiled VMware Partner Connect, a new, dramatically simplified and flexible program that will go live early next year. The program will enable partners to do business with VMware in a way that aligns to their business models. VMware Partner Connect will empower partners with flexibility to meet customers’ needs, making VMware technologies and services opportunities more accessible. Partners will have an enhanced experience that recognizes and rewards them based on the value they bring to customers, creating a clearer path to profitability.

Jenni Flinders, vice president, Worldwide Channel Chief, VMware, says, “VMware is introducing a new way of partnering; we have listened to feedback from our partners, and VMware Partner Connect will be our singular partner program for any business model. With this new program, we are making it very simple for partners to co-sell and co-invest with us, as they align to next-generation VMware technologies and drive superior value throughout the customer journey.”

VMware Partner Connect will offer three tiers - Partner, Advanced Partner, and Principal Partner. Principal Partners will be the most capable partners to help customers identify and implement ideal VMware solutions as evidenced by achievement of Master Services Competencies across different strategic IT priorities. Partners achieving Principal status will earn comprehensive rewards including deployment and consumption incentives and prioritization for joint-business planning and co-selling opportunities with VMware.

VMware will expect all partners in the new program to demonstrate basic capabilities through the achievement of VMware Solution Competencies. These competencies focus on developing partners’ selling skills, architecture proficiency and deployment expertise. As partners invest and expand their level of capability and meet sales and/or consumption thresholds, they will have the opportunity to earn greater rewards, including enhanced front- and back-end margin as well as deployment and consumption performance incentives.

In advance of the program launch, VMware will help partners prepare for the new program by providing support, resources and education.

As customers seek more flexibility, faster innovation, increased efficiencies, and lower costs from modern technologies, VMware Master Services Competencies empower partners with greater knowledge, skills, and tools to address digital transformation initiatives across industries. VMware Master Services Competencies give customers access to validated and certified partners with the resources, knowledge, skills, and tools to successfully deliver services for next-generation VMware technologies.

VMware has announced the new VMware Cloud on AWS Master Services Competency. This competency joins four other Master Services Competencies offered by VMware, and gives partners the capability to offer professional services for VMware Cloud on AWS, along with the benefits of priority engagement, greater investment alignment for supporting customer deployments, digital badges and demand generation, and significant education discounts.

VMware’s full portfolio of solutions helps customers drive digital transformations from core datacenter, to cloud, to devices and edge/IoT. This opens up numerous opportunities for partners to accelerate their growth and expand into new practices areas.

To help ignite opportunities for hyperconverged infrastructure, VMware is offering a new HCI Partner Sales Incentive, available only through partners. For a limited time, customers who have not yet deployed VMware vSAN in their environments can purchase three nodes of vSAN licenses for the price of two.

Additionally, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a long-standing VMware partner, is making it easy for customers who want to build their own hybrid cloud with the new HPE vSAN ReadyNode. This easy-to-order solution is built on the HPE ProLiant DL380 and certified under the VMware vSAN all flash 6 specifications. The HPE vSAN ReadyNode removes complexity with a preconfigured server that features an optimized balance of CPU, memory and network, as well as I/O controller and storage for data management and data analytics using popular platforms like Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database.

For VMware NSX, partners who achieve the Network Virtualization Master Services Competency will now earn increased rewards for completing product deployments.