Fujitsu and NetApp to Align EMEA Channel Strategy

Fujitsu announces its joint EMEA channel strategy with NetApp.

Building on their recently extended global partnership, the new, aligned program delivers benefits to channel partners, enabling them to offer customers a range of integrated storage solutions from both companies, adding value and opening up new business opportunities. Fujitsu and NetApp have been partners for ten years and the extended agreement intensifies the relationship through new activities including joint research and development, technology and product integration and close collaboration on services.

The three major components of the program are all designed to maximize potential sales through the channel. Partners will have access to a shared portfolio of pre-tested and pre-defined products and services that meet the integrated storage needs of business customers. All of Fujitsu Technology Solutions’ products and services are available for sale via the channel.

Fujitsu channel partners will benefit by being able to provide NetApp’s FAS product lines alongside Fujitsu’s ETERNUS storage systems, as part of Fujitsu’s range of Dynamic Infrastructures data center technology products and solutions. Partners in the NetApp channel can now resell the Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S2 Data Protection Appliance, opening up new customer opportunities with mid-market companies looking for efficient data protection.

To simplify certification, the partner programs of both organizations are now more closely aligned. The NetApp Silver Partner Level will be integrated into the Fujitsu SELECT Server & Storage program, making it easier for channel partners to achieve certification, with all training now available from a single source, the Fujitsu SELECT Certification Center.

The strategy will be supported by joint demand and lead generation programs, which will create sales prospects for the channel, particularly to provide combined server and storage solutions to new and existing customers.

Hans-Dieter Wysuwa, Senior Vice President Corporate Channels at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, says: "This new chapter in Fujitsu’s global partnership with NetApp opens up exciting possibilities for our EMEA channel partners. As customers today look to ensure their IT responds faster and more flexibly to business needs, the EMEA channel is perfectly positioned to meet this growing opportunity through its skills, knowledge and the technology strength of our comprehensive product and services portfolio. We’re already NetApp’s largest global partner, having sold 15,000 storage systems over the last ten years, and our aligned channel strategy deepens our focus, making it simpler for our resellers to help their customers increase the value that they get from their IT investments."

Program roll-out will begin in Germany and will then be extended to cover the entire EMEA region within the next six months.

 
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