FalconStor launches first specialist partner programme

Data protection vendor FalconStor has launched a specialist programme with distributor Zycko to help its flagship partners sell its new Continuous Data Protection solutions to the SME market.

“We have a whole host of technology but it takes a long time for [channel partners] to get up to speed, they need something simple and easy to manage,” explains Thomas Barrett, vice president northern Europe for FalconStor. “[Partners] can compete in the standard backup space and be a ‘me too’ or they can go to their customers and show them a different way.”

Barrett believes that its 'different way' allows its channel to offer a truly enterprise product delivered exclusively through the channel. The CDP offering is available as either a software only image for a VMware’s ESX server or as a prebuilt appliance using hardware from Dell. The solution has connectors to allow it to support major ERP and databases including SAP, SQL and Oracle and starts at a 3000 euro base price with a 1500 euro per Terabyte pricing structure for data.

The FalconStor CDP solution supports direct attached, internal storage, networked storage over iSCSI or FC across both physical and virtual server environments. The software protects Windows, Linux, Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX operating systems and offers a range of disaster recovery options such as physical-to-virtual recovery and recovery across a WAN.

Although FalconStor has distribution relationships with Hammer and Northamber, it has chosen to work exclusively with Zycko for the new specialisation and has named Atlanta Technology, C-Ways, Savenet, Qdos IT, and Vissensa as its first set of specialist partners. However, Barrett confirms that if the programme is successful, other partners are likely to join.

Barrett envisages the CDP model as a natural stepping stone for channel partners heading into bigger accounts, a view shared by Simon Kelson, managing director at Atlanta Technology, “We have long provided FalconStor’s backup and disaster recovery solutions to many of our clients.  However, our customers who would fall into the small-to-medium sized business bracket often have completely different DR requirements than larger businesses. FalconStor has therefore given us a new way to address the needs of the smaller client or those located in branch or remote offices, and we’re more than pleased to have something new to take to them.”