Docker is still finding its place in the enterprise, but its presence within such organizations is growing rapidly. It’s not only driving internal DevOps initiatives but also presenting a potentially lucrative opportunity for the channel.
The three-year-old container technology still isn’t a standard in the channel’s repertoire, but more partners are finding their way into the space. And Docker is looking to work with the channel to further its commercial offerings in the enterprise.
Docker unveiled a new tiered partner program aimed at driving sales of its commercially-available Docker Datacenter solution. According to the company, the new program provides a well-defined path for selling Docker’s services and solutions while also helping partners develop software-defined data centre expertise.
There’s a growing number of solutions providers around the world building Docker practices, the company’s announcement stated. The new program addresses the growing Docker partner ecosystem and provides two levels of partnership — Professional and Premier. Each level provides partners with a set of benefits that are also tied to a partners’ levels of expertise and the investments they’re making in their Docker practices.
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“We have developed the program so that partners are able to ramp up and very quickly achieve a win with their customers — often in the same time it would take other solutions to run a proof-of-concept,” said Alan Geary, senior director of channels and alliances at Docker, in a statement. “We are helping our partners build out a practice that complements what they do today, with an incremental opportunity for them to align their business with Docker’s sales cycle.”
Individuals can also gain new Docker sales, pre-sales, technical and consulting accreditations as part of the program. Training will be made available, and individuals who take the training and pass accompanying exams will gain the appropriate credentials, which can be used to show customers a solutions provider has the necessary skills on hand to sell and deploy Docker’s commercial enterprise products.
Additionally, Docker is also moving into distribution. The company signed a distribution agreement with Synnex, which will carry Docker products for resale and integration.
Besides helping partners develop Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) offerings, the program will also play a role in the development of DevOps practices.
“There has been increasing adoption of DevOps in businesses’ cloud environments, especially in the enterprise,” said Rob Moyer, vice president of software and cloud services at Synnex, in a statement. “Providing Docker’s Container-as-a-Service to Synnex solution providers who serve commercial enterprise-level organizations gives them a distinct advantage by offering a cost-efficient solution with minimal interruption and downtime while being able to continually develop and enhance their clients’ applications. It also gives them another opportunity to secure recurring revenue streams by providing services to their clients.”