Compellent Launches The Elevate Partner Program OverseasApril 26, 2005
Company Opens Office In Amsterdam To Recruit And Develop Business Partners in Europe, United Kingdom, For Its All-Channel Model
Minneapolis, April 26, 2005 — Compellent Technologies, a provider of modular, affordable storage solutions distributed exclusively through a select national network of business partners, today announced it has opened an office in Amsterdam to selectively recruit and develop channel partners to sell Storage Center, its storage area network (SAN) product, throughout Europe.
Unlike other SAN vendors who tap resellers for distribution but ultimately compete with them via direct sales, Compellent has no direct sales force and focuses all of its resources on helping partners sell and close deals. With its unique "all-channel" model, and a powerful, innovative storage product offering, Compellent has rapidly developed a North American network of more than 60 business partners in a highly competitive marketplace.
“Compellent is now recruiting channel partners in Europe who have a trusted and consultative relationship with their clients and understand that storage solutions are designed, not procured,” said Dennis Johnson, sales and marketing executive vice president for Compellent. “Storage grows at a rapid rate and customers deserve storage solutions that can grow affordably as their business grows.”
The ideal Compellent business partner is focused on providing solutions instead of products and serves as a trusted advisor regarding their client's technology decisions. Compellent has built its product and structured its entire business to maximize the success of its channel partners, and is dedicated to helping partners build a successful storage practice.
Compellent provides dedicated technical resources (Storage Architects) in the field to work directly with business partners, an international 24x7 hardware and software maintenance organization for world-class customer support; a Webbased online product configuration tool (Quote Center) that enables partners to rapidly design and quote customized storage area networks online in minutes; and certified sales and technical training both in person and on the Web.
Elevate Partner Program Overview
The Elevate Partner Program specifically addresses a business partners’ biggest challenges — eroding margins, direct competition from storage manufacturers, and the inability to generate ongoing professional services revenue – through an all-channel strategy that enables partners to grow a stronger, more sustainable business. The program’s components include:
Channel-Focused Strategy Without A Compellent Direct Sales Force
Unlike other manufacturers who tap resellers for distribution but ultimately compete with them via direct sales, Compellent has no direct sales force. Compellent limits the number of business partners in each geographic market and focuses all resources on helping partners control and close deals.
Differentiated Partner Offerings Through Unique Service Opportunities
Business partners capture high value service revenue by combining their own planning and management services with Compellent’s fully integrated hardware and software offerings to provide customized, differentiated solutions to their customers. Compellent does not offer direct professional services, eliminating services competition business partners often face from other manufacturers.
One Program For All Partners Through Level Pricing And A Level Playing Field.
Compellent provides all business partners an equal opportunity to differentiate themselves through their own value added capabilities. Instead of assigning partners to artificial tiers that limit their ability to engage new customers, Compellent offers all partners one price from which they determine how to define, build, and implement a total storage solution customized to client needs.
Repetitive Revenue Opportunities Through A Modular, Scalable Architecture
Compellent offers a highly modular product that scales from entry-level to enterprise on a single platform without requiring forklift upgrades or costly integration fees. Business partners continue to sell additional products and services throughout the lifecycle of every customer as their storage requirements and businesses grow.
About Storage Center
Storage Center builds on its Dynamic Block Architecture to deliver a scalable, open-systems hardware platform that is designed to allow businesses to mix and match disk drives, controllers and enclosures; an integrated foundation of core storage capabilities providing functionality previously available only in high-end systems; a suite of software applications that can optimize utilization, automating replication and speeding data recovery; and a single, intuitive, centralized management interface streamlining storage administration.
About Compellent
Compellent delivers affordable, modular storage solutions exclusively through business partners that provide companies of all sizes enterprise storage capabilities without big system costs or complexities. For more information, visit www.compellent.com.