If choosy mothers choose Jif, then smart VARs choose one of these new storage vendors with a compelling technology and start showing it around. Two companies Storage Switzerland was briefed by at VMworld come to mind for VARs looking to replace a legacy storage vendor.

Gluster is an open-source software solution that runs on commodity hardware and can give VARs a very interesting play, especially for a customer who’s pounding you on price. And, they’ve just released a new module that provides scalable NAS for VMware environments.

Zetta is a cloud storage provider that seeks to provide a real enterprise file storage feature/functionality in a cloud solution. It’s being well received by users who’ve bought into the cloud concept, only to be disappointed with the cloud service providers that are available.

While neither of these solutions will compete head-on with your favorite three-letter storage behemoth, they can provide strong solutions for a large segment of midmarket customers that most VARs regularly call on.

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Understanding

They must understand a good partnering model and invest accordingly. This means they have to be comfortable working deals together (ask them), be willing to maintain the necessary communication and honor the “prime directive” — they won’t take a deal direct (and you won’t flip a deal to another vendor). Some storage vendors just don’t understand the value a VAR brings to the table. These are often vendor reps who have never had successful VAR relationship (go figure); but usually it means they don’t understand a key concept: that the promise of future business drives your relationship. If they’re more concerned about paying you for a deal they brought to the table than about making sure you bring the next one, you’ll probably have a tough time working with them in the long run.

Investment

Any good relationship requires investment. For a storage vendor, this should be a willingness to spend the money on effective training and to have enough coverage — sales and technical — to work joint deals with your team. It also means bringing their share of opportunities to the table for you both to work, usually through corporate lead gen activities, but also local events with you. For you, the investment is access to your calling base and your time, for training, prospecting and communication. My experience, and that of many VARs I’ve known, is that managing effective vendor partner relationships takes a good VAR rep more than an hour each day.

Commitment

It seems like every storage vendor channel VP I talk with says, “We’re channel-focused.” Right. It’s kind of like that old saying, “When it comes to your bacon and egg breakfast, the chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.” You need to make sure the vendor organization, not just the local rep, is more than just involved in working with you. One way to find out is to ask what percentage of deals it takes direct, as a company and in your geography. If they give you a number — or a range, but are specific about when they go direct and how they deal with their VARs when they do so — they’re probably OK. If they give a weasel-worded answer, like, “We’re committed to the channel” or “Our goal is to take everything through our VARs,” be careful. This may mean they’d like all their deals to go through VARs but aren’t committed to doing their part to make that happen.

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