Storage giant, EMC, will require all "Signature Partners" to purchase through distributors, rather than buy directly under new changes to its program. The arrangement will start from January 1, 2011.
The five Australian signature partners are Fujitsu, Thomas Duryea, Dimension Data, Infront Systems and L7 Solutions. Aside from individual exceptions, the signature partner was the last class of partner that was able to source product directly from EMC.
Westcon datacentre lead, Tony Heywood, claimed the value proposition from the changes would be lower transaction costs and create a more efficient supply chain – allowing EMC to instead focus on the technology side of the equation.
Additionally, signature partners would be better able to leverage Westcon’s partnership with Cisco as a datacentre play.
“I’ve built a structure to handle the anticipated additional supply,” Heywood said. “It increases our value to the vendor as we help smooth the transaction management, allowing EMC to focus on the sale of technology.”
Under the changes the partners are also able to purchase EMC products through its other distributor, Ingram Micro.
Thomas Duryea CEO, Andrew Thomas, said he did not expect the changes to have a negative impact on either his overall business or EMC transactions. He said prices were not expected to increase for his customers as a result of the changes.
“Where done well, the disties add value,” he said. “They can take a lot of complications out of the mix and provide back-up credit.”
But L7 Solutions general manager for managed services, Glenn McAtee, was less enthused. He said the company was not aware of the changes and that it would make doing business more difficult while reducing profit margins.
“We do have to buy through distribution from time to time and we find that whole supply chain very unreliable,” he said. “It would be quite a significant thing for us.
“One of my key customers is a big EMC client and has had quite a few issues with EMC through distribution.”
An EMC spokesperson confirmed the changes to the signature partner classification, but could not comment on specifics at time of press.
