NetApp enhances partner program for faster cloud deployments

NetApp said today that it is enhancing its partner program by integrating service providers into its offerings, a move that's intended to help its resellers help their customers move to a cloud-computing environment. In a statement, the company explained:

Enterprise data centers today are increasingly evolving to a hybrid model that blends traditional in-house IT with application and infrastructure services delivered externally via the cloud. Effective immediately, the NetApp Partner Program for Service Providers, which was developed in recognition of this change in IT consumption patterns, supports best-of-breed providers as they build and deploy enterprise-class cloud services on NetApp. It offers a range of go-to-market benefits to connect them with enterprise customers.

For the service providers, it means they can build their cloud offerings on NetApp storage and data management products and access NetApp's technical, service, marketing and sales tools. For resellers, it means being able to offer cloud services without having to invest in the infrastructure and resources to make that offering.

To illustrate the power of the partnerships, Rackspace - a NetApp partner - this week announced a distribution agreement with Ingram Micro "to bring managed hosting and cloud computing offerings to the distributor's growing base of North American channel partners through the new Seismic Cloud Conduit Program."