8020 EUROPA SUPPLEMENT
Signature Solution Centers
Pioneering a new path to profitability
A challenge for all solution providers in the channel is their data, and run under different scenarios that emulate
defining exactly what a solution looks like for the client their own unique requirements.”
and then proving its viability and worth. “Under normal circumstances even the largest
This is also a challenge for vendors like EMC who have channel organisations would struggle to assemble the
a whole host of products which can be assembled to infrastructure and software to prove such a case. However
provide specific technology solutions but which by their with our Signature Solution Center program EMC’s larger
nature need to be integrated into a business process to partners are able to provide those facilities today.”
provide the end customer with a real world solution. EMC is working today with more than 30 of its Velocity2
The issue of defining these solutions gets more Signature Partners across EMEA to set up Signature Solution
difficult the larger the client and the more complex their Centers where clients can come in and do application, proof
IT requirements. Where can the client go to try out these of concept, migration and performance testing.
solutions and test integration with their own business Peter Yarwood explains what makes the Signature
processes and with real data. Solution Center special, “The investment in equipment,
EMC have been looking at this issue for some time and software applications, skills and people in setting up
have come up with a solution of their own to this problem, a Signature Solution Centre is considerable. So it is
the Signature Solution Center. important that that our Signature Partners get a real
Peter Yarwood, EMEA Commercial Sales Director, return on this investment.”
explains, “Customer solutions have been getting more “EMC is committed, with the partner, to make sure
and more complex over the last few years. No longer are that the Signature Solution Center draws the right level
you selling them storage, servers or networking where of chargeable business and does not just become an
the complexity is purely in calculating the capacity, expensive demonstration centre.”
performance and throughput.” “By aligning proven EMC solutions for consolidation,
“Today’s solutions are all about business process and backup and recovery, archive, security and content
are a combination of hardware, software and services to management with industry business applications from
enable business efficiency, agility and profitability.” Microsoft, Cisco, SAP, Oracle and VMware our Signature
“The issue is, how do you integrate a backup, storage Partners are able to offer their clients the ultimate in
and retrieval solution with Microsoft Exchange, SAP or testing facilities.”
an Oracle solution, and integrated to the client’s line of “We have worked closely with our Signature Partners to
business and meet their industry regulatory requirements.” calculate their investment and then bring that down to a
“The client will want to see it all in action and most daily charge rate for the facilities that would give them a
certainly want a proof of concept demonstration using return over two years.”
It is this commercialisation of the Signature Solution
Center that the Signature Partners and their clients have
rapidly bought into.
“We felt that the facilities had to pay for themselves
and that the end customers would see a value in a
facility where all the equipment, applications and support
resources were available to them to do their performance,
migration or proof of concept testing,” explained Peter.
“For the Signature Partners not only would their
investment have a pay back by usage but also it would
instil confidence in their clients that they could support
them through their implementation of these new solutions.”
An important factor in the Signature Solution Center
program is the alignment with another vendor technology,
as Peter Yarwood explains, “The EMC solutions are
never sold in isolation. They are always integrated with
a business application. We therefore require that when
setting up a Signature Solution Center our partners also
30 8020 EUROPA JUNE 2008
29-36 EMC Supplement.indd 2 13/6/08 09:47:50
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