IBM “Open Distribution” of Storwize V7000 entices uncertified partners

News Will Garside 2011-03-22 14:00

According to Avnet's Tom Corrigan, of the 40 Storwize V7000 units it has already sold, almost 50 percent have gone

50 percent of initial sales go through non-IBM partners for flagship SMB storage platform

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has released details of its channel model for its new Storwize V7000, which is available through an “open distribution channel” that includes uncertified resellers.
According to Tom Corrigan, IBM storage business manager at distributor Avnet, of the 40 units it has already sold almost 50 percent have gone through uncertified IBM partners. Avnet (NYSE: AVT) handles around 80 IBM “managed partners” plus an SMB-focused community in excess of a 1000 partners. Corrigan believes that “given that we can configure a solution at less than £20,000 [the V7000] gives our [SMB] partners an opportunity to make money.”
Corrigan also confirmed that deal registration has been extended to uncertified partners. “There can only be one deal registration, so if an SMB gets an approved deal reg and an established partner comes in later, IBM will support the partner that came first.”
However, uncertified partners tend to need more support from Avnet which extends presales, configuration and technical expertise around solution design. Effectively, the units are shipped out to SMB partners in an almost pre-configured state, with ongoing hardware and software support handled directly by IBM.
Certified IBM partners may well be disheartened that the vendor has decided to go to an open distribution model for such a key product, which according to IDC figures would suit 60 percent of the addressable UK marker. However, Martin Bruce, mid-range disk sales leader at IBM (UK) defends the vendor’s position: “IBM is big in the datacentre and to be [a partner] in the datacentre space you need accreditation and controlled distribution products [but] we didn’t want to limit ourselves [with v7000].”
Bruce contends that the lower end of the mid-market is served by partners who have traditionally not focused on IBM and that the open distribution model of v7000 can change that perception.
Logicalis has been one of the first larger IBM partners to sell v7000 units and Joe Mellor, the firm’s storage sales leader believes that the strength of the product is allowing it to carve out business from existing “IBM accounts” and new logo wins. “This is the ultimate storage products for the SME but our larger customers have been asking to talk to about us [V7000] as well.”
IBM could not confirm if more products would be joining the open distribution model but Bruce believes that SME customers are becoming more vendor aware: “There is a flight to brand in buying behaviour, in times like these, they tend talk to brands they can trust.”