ST. JOHN’S N.F.L.D. – VMware Canada is making a specific push towards the mid-market space in Canada with a new cloud channel program.
Called the VMware Cloud Credits Purchasing Program, it targets solution providers who do not have an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering but have customers who are interested in it.
“When there is an opportunity for managed services or a hybrid cloud instead of walking away you can now leverage pre-paid cloud credits. It provides predictive budgets for your customers on a prepaid SKU list. It basically works like a voucher card,” said Bruce Trotman, the newly appointed channel account manager for distribution at VMware Canada.
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The VMware cloud credits are available in blocks of 1,000. They last 12 months and can be utilized at any time. Under the program, solution reporting is done at distribution or by VMware Canada staff. The only caveat is that the cloud credits transactions must be in local currency (Canadian and U.S. dollars).
The cloud credits can be used for services from a select number of cloud providers such as RackForce, Peak Hosting, BlueLock, Savvis and EarthLink.
“More customers are looking to expand into the cloud services from Amazon Web Services or Microsoft. This keeps you in the game. For the channel, cloud credits bring an additional revenue stream that you may not have a focus on. In the past, these solution providers would have needed to build out a data centre and with cloud credits from VMware it gives them profitability and creates a best-in value practice for customers,” Trotman said.
This past March, VMware Canada introduced the Advantage+ Opportunity Registration promotion. This initiative provides channel partners with up to five per cent of additional discounts for selling vSphere with Operations Management products to the mid-market.
Trotman added that for the Canadian market the subsidiary defines the mid-market space as 250 seats or less.
The offer will end on Sept. 15 and can be used with other partner incentives. For example, VMware offers standard program margin of 10 per cent under Advantage+. Couple that with 10 per cent bonuses for a new customer or first time sale and the new five per cent accelerator for vSphere with Operations Management and a solution provider could earn 25 points on a sale.
There is also a 15 per cent discount promotion on the new vSphere Data Protection solution from VMware. That promotion ends also on Sept. 15 and is designed to protect virtual machines and applications against data loss.