2020 Partner Program Guide: 5-Star System/Data Center Vendors

CRN designated the partner programs of these IT system and data center companies as 5-Star.

All Systems Go

While cloud computing is all the rage, data centers and the hardware systems at their core remain at the heart of IT operations for many businesses and organizations. And the IT vendors who manufacture and sell these systems, including Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM, operate partner programs on which thousands of solution providers and strategic service providers rely.

With the accelerating pace of change in the IT industry, solution providers need all the training, financial resources, and sales and marketing assistance they can get.

The 2020 Partner Program Guide offers the information solution providers need to evaluate the channel programs operated by the IT vendors they work with or are considering partnering with. The guide is based on detailed applications submitted by vendors – more than 230 this year – outlining all aspects of their partner programs.

As part of the Partner Program Guide, CRN designates some programs as 5-Star Partner Programs because they provide the most comprehensive lineups of incentives, training, services and benefits.

Here we provide snapshots of the 5-Star designees in the system and data center space. Details of every vendor’s partner program can be found here.

Other slide shows in the 5-Star Partner Program Guide series running this week will include companies that provide products and services for networking and unified communications, cloud, software and applications, security, devices and peripherals, and data storage and backup. While many companies provide products and services that span multiple technologies, we’ve assigned each vendor to the slide show for the technology category in which they are most prominent.

APC by Schneider Electric

Program Name: APC Channel Partner Program

Year Program Established: 1991

Partner Program Tiers: Elite, Premier, Select, Registered

Channel Chief: Shannon Sbar, VP, Channels, North America

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=13

CyberPower

Program Name: CyberPower Channel Partner Alliance

Year Program Established: 2016

Partner Program Tiers: (Not specified)

Channel Chief: Scott W. Koller, VP of Channel Sales

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=66

Dell Technologies

Program Name: Dell Technologies Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2017

Partner Program Tiers: Titanium, Platinum, Gold, Authorized

Channel Chief: Joyce Mullen, President, Global Channel, Embedded and Edge Solutions

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=71

Eaton

Program Name: PowerAdvantage Partner Program

Year Program Established: 2009

Partner Program Tiers: PowerAdvantage Certified Partner, PowerAdvantage Authorized Partner, PowerAdvantage Registered Partner

Channel Chief: Herve Tardy, VP, GM, Distributed Power Quality Division

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=79

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Program Name: HPE Partner Ready Program

Year Program Established: 2002

Partner Program Tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver, Business

Channel Chief: Paul Hunter, Head of Worldwide Channel Sales

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=100

IBM

Program Name: PartnerWorld

Year Program Established: 1999

Partner Program Tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver, Registered

Channel Chief: David La Rose, GM, IBM Partner Ecosystem

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=104

Intel Corp.

Program Name: Intel Technology Provider Program

Year Program Established: 1980

Partner Program Tiers: Platinum, Gold, Registered

Channel Chief: Greg Baur, VP, GM, Global Scale, Partners

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=113

NEC Corporation of America

Program Name: NEC Smart Partner Program for Solution Integrators

Year Program Established: 2004

Partner Program Tiers: Smart Partner Triple Diamond, Smart Partner Double Diamond, Smart Partner Single Diamond, Smart Partner Solutions Integrator

Channel Chief: Paul Kievit, SVP, Head of NEC Enterprise Business

Partner Program Details: /partner-program-guide/ppg2020-details.htm?c=135