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Tag: disaster recovery

  • New Software Competencies Enable Dell Channel Partners to Capitalize on End-to-End Solution Offerings

    New Software Competencies Enable Dell Channel Partners to Capitalize on End-to-End Solution Offerings

    MUMBAI: Dell today announced improvements to its channel partner programs, including software-specific enhancements to its PartnerDirect program through four new software competencies, as well as new service provider and referral programs.

    The enhancements highlight Dell’s commitment to enabling channel partners to sell end-to-end solutions through one simple program, and increase the scope and revenue potential of their partnerships. Partners selling a mix of Dell hardware and software can now achieve Premier status through a mixed competency, while an advanced competency offers a path to Premier for partners specializing in a single line of business. The KACE, AppAssure, and SonicWALL partner communities had been transitioned earlier in the program’s lifecycle and fit well into the four software competencies introduced today.

    Historically, the Dell PartnerDirect program has focused on enabling and promoting hardware sales for Dell partners. Over the past year, Dell has launched an aggressive strategy to build scalable enterprise software offerings into its solution portfolio in the areas of datacenter and cloud management, information management, mobile-workforce management, and security and data protection, with the objective of becoming a full service, end-to-end IT solutions provider. Today, Dell’s software division is one of the largest software companies in the world, with a US$1.2 billion business selling into 90 percent of Fortune 1000 companies and supported by 6,000 dedicated software employees worldwide.

    Dell Software PartnerDirect Competencies

    The enhanced program features customized requirements and revenue thresholds for software partners to achieve Premier and Preferred Partner status. The software competencies will allow Dell to better serve the needs of its combined channel partner community, including software- and hardware-focused partners, as well as partners selling a combination of both.

    PartnerDirect competencies provide specialized learning paths for channel partners to validate and distinguish their expertise, leading to increased profitability and competitive advantage.
    The new software competencies announced today are as follows:

    •    Security: Includes identity and access management, as well as network, endpoint and email security

    •    Systems Management: Includes client management, performance monitoring, Windows Server management, virtualization and cloud

    •    Data Protection: Includes enterprise backup/recovery, virtual protection, application protection and disaster recovery

    •    Information Management: Includes database management, business intelligence/analytics, applications and data integration, and big data analytics.

    Dell Software partners can now take advantage of vital PartnerDirect benefits including:

    •    New paths to Premier status to drive even greater revenue potential, including a blended competency for partners selling Dell’s end-to-end hardware and software offerings

    •    Rewards for training and sales achievement through Dell Partner AdvantEdge

    •    Marketing and Market Development Funding for lead generation

    •    Concierge-level, white glove support from the Certified Partner Resource Desk

    •    Free or low-cost, high value online and instructor-led training

    “Today’s announcement marks a fresh beginning for Dell, and is the perfect opportunity for partners to take advantage of both our hardware and software capabilities. We are very excited to bring to partners in the region a tremendous array of new benefits to expand their revenue potential and the scope of their customer relationships. It is a huge win for all of us to be part of a single program with end-to-end solution offerings and endless possibilities,” said Barrie Sheers, Vice President & General Manager, Software, Dell APJ.

    The four software competencies are now available to all Dell PartnerDirect partners, providing training against the new competency requirements and learning paths. The competency training provides rich, role-based curricula allowing partners to drill down and learn more on those areas of greatest interest. The training is currently available in English. Japanese, Korean and simplified Chinese versions will be available in February 2014. 

    Market Opportunity

    The Dell PartnerDirect software enhancements announced today empower Dell’s channel partners to take advantage of tremendous market opportunities in this growing space. Recent findings that illustrate the opportunity for partners in areas such as systems management, cloud technology, data protection and access management include:

    •    Gartner reports that in 2012 IT operations management software grew 5 percent and generated $18 billion in revenue[1]. Gartner also found that the enterprise distributed system backup/recovery software market was valued at $4.4 billion in 2012, and it is projected to grow to $6.8 billion by 2017, for a five-year compound annual growth rate of 9.0 percent.[2]

    •    Harvard Business Review found that 85 percent of businesses expect to use cloud technology moderately to extensively in the next three years.[3]

    •    IDC found that the identity and access management market was $4.4 billion in 2012, growing at a five-year CAGR of 9.4 percent.[4] Dell has grown 27.1 percent and is 8th largest IAM vendor.

    [1] Gartner “Market Share Analysis: IT Operations, Management Software, Worldwide, 2012” by Laurie F. Wurster, Federico De Silva, Matthew Cheung, 3 May 2013
    [2] Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery Software” by Dave Russell, PushanRinnen, 5 June 2013
    [3] Harvard Business Review, “How the Cloud Looks from the Top: Achieving Competitive Advantage In the Age of Cloud Computing” 2011
    [4] IDC, “Worldwide Identity and Access Management 2013–2017 Forecast” Doc # 241685, June 2013

  • Remote Access Solution is imperative for disaster recovery

    If a disaster recovery plan does not include remote access, “business as usual” is virtually impossible, warns business continuity expert Tim Clark, partner with The FactPoint Group in a new white paper on the subject. The goal in disaster recovery is to keep core business functions operating under all circumstances. For this reason, says Clark, remote access is key to disaster recovery, because typical business disruptions keep employees and other users away from the office and the local area network (LAN).

    “The inability to operate normally or provide access to critical resources can hurt revenue, damage a company’s reputation, or mar the corporate brand,” says Clark. “This is why it’s so important for enterprises to anticipate and plan for potential disasters, and why responsibility for disaster planning requires the involvement and commitment of both technology and business sides of an organization.”

    According to the paper, one technology has emerged as the leading solution for remote access: SSL VPNs, because of their inherent security, granular access controls and ease of use. With an SSL VPN, all users can access network resources from any Web-enabled system. The specific benefits of an SSL VPN for disaster recovery outlined in the white paper are:

    · SSL VPNs are clientless
    · They work from any Internet browser
    · They operate at the application layer (not the network layer)
    · SSL VPNs enable fine-grained access controls
    · They have strong end point security

    ·SSL VPNs provide strong encryption

    To meet the requirements of a disaster recovery plan, the SSL VPN must also be able to scale quickly and easily, advises Clark. With a disaster, whether something as critical as the avian flu or something as basic as a snow storm, the number of remote users can instantly spike by the hundreds or thousands. The solution should have adequate capacity plus failover capability to ensure it can handle the increased traffic and have no downtime.

    SSL VPN market leaders, such as Aventail, are making it easier for companies to prepare for such spikes. Earlier this month, Aventail launched its Spike License Pack, which works like an insurance policy toward any future eventuality requiring an instant increase in remote users. In addition to being an ideal part of a company’s overall disaster recovery plan, the Spike License also works for companies that experience seasonal spikes, such as accounting firms during tax season or retailers during the holidays.
    To access a complimentary copy of the white paper, “The Remote Access Imperative in Disaster Recovery” by Tim Clark of the FactPoint Group, go to: www.aventail.com/disasterrecovery.

    About The FactPoint Group

    The FactPoint Group ( www.factpoint.com) is a boutique market research and consulting firm in Silicon Valley specializing in the early adoption of new technologies. The FactPoint Group has been producing world class research, analysis, and consulting since 1993 and continues to help enterprise software vendors and enterprise customers sell and use new technology solutions. Tim Clark is co-founder and partner at FactPoint. Recently, his research has focused on disaster recovery, utility computing, network security, sensor networks, open-source licensing, enterprise blogs and wikis, and Web services. Previously, Clark was senior analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix and Net Market Makers. Before becoming an analyst, Tim was a reporter and editor for 24 years, working as senior editor and columnist for CNET’s News.com, where he covered e-commerce and Internet security.

    About Aventail

    Aventail is the best-of-breed remote-access company. Aventail delivered the first SSL VPN solution in 1997 and today is a market leader, delivering the easiest to use and control remote-access solution. Aventail Smart SSL VPN appliances provide users with transparent, clientless access to more applications from more devices via any network environment. For network managers, Aventail delivers a single secure access gateway for all users, internal and external, to all network resources with complete security. With more than two million end users around the globe, Aventail is the SSL VPN of choice among mid to large-sized organizations worldwide, including AT&T, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chicago Housing Authority, DuPont, Radiology Ltd, James Richardson International, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Overlake Hospital, IBM Global Services, and hundreds more. For more information, go to www.aventail.com.