EMC Corporation has announced significant enhancements to the EMC Velocity Solution Provider partner programme that will make EMC’s industry-leading cloud computing and big data technologies and solutions available to more customers – particularly in the rapidly growing mid-market segment. 
With a continued emphasis on ensuring that Velocity Partners are exceptionally well prepared to sell and/or service EMC products and solutions, customers can be confident they are working with the industry’s most competent solution providers to support their business requirements.
The following programme changes are effective immediately:
* New target products rebate for premier and signature partners – provides top Velocity partners with a predictable income stream via rebates paid on sales of targeted EMC technologies that align to the company’s key mid-market initiatives.
Eligible products include EMC VNX and VNXe unified storage, EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain backup and recovery solutions, and server Flash caching solution EMC VFCache. This rebate is paid from the first sale and is in addition to – and can be combined with – EMC’s existing performance-based Specialty rebate.
* Changes to Velocity specialty requirements focus on fortifying selling capabilities – the  programme no longer requires partners to earn an implementation certification to achieve a specialty.
While EMC encourages partners to become services-enabled, removing this requirement from the reseller  programme now allows pure-play resellers a more direct path to achieving Velocity Specialties, where benefit opportunities accelerate. For partners who include services in their business model, EMC has strengthened its Velocity Services offerings.
There is no longer a revenue requirement for partners to achieve a Specialty.
Three Specialties are now required for Signature (top tier) partners worldwide, reflecting the most advanced level of competency required of the top tier partners in positioning and selling a broad range of EMC’s technologies.
* EMC Isilon Partner  programme integrated into Velocity  programme – former Isilon partners can now become eligible for Velocity benefits on other EMC products, and existing EMC resellers can become eligible to earn benefits from selling Isilon – all within the integrated Velocity programme.
* More products eligible for financial benefits in Velocity Specialties – to help partners align their portfolio with the growing demand for cloud and big data solutions, the following products are now eligible for financial benefits within the Backup and Recovery Specialty: EMC Mozy cloud backup, EMC Atmos object-based cloud storage platform, and EMC Centera content addressable storage.
EMC Isilon scale-out network attached storage platform is also now eligible for benefits within the Consolidate Specialty.
* Amplified demand generation – more market development funds (MDF), more qualified leads – EMC is doubling its investment in demand generation funds,  programmes, and resources to develop highly qualified opportunities for partners and accelerate revenue growth.
Velocity services invests in enhanced tools, offerings, and resources to accelerate services enablement with partners:
* Expanded library of online and video-instructor-led services training provides a more convenient and efficient way for partners to access EMC’s industry-recognised EMC Proven Professional technical training.
* New online labs allow partners to more efficiently and effectively hone practical implementation skills on EMC technology in a proctored virtual environment.
New offering in the EMC Co-operative Services portfolio provides partners EMC guidance on their solution design, as well as post-implementation review. As with all EMC Co-operative Service offerings, the partner maintains full control of the customer relationship, and has the depth of EMC expertise in the background to ensure quality implementations.
“The improvements to the Velocity Solution Provider Programme and Velocity Services programme have been made with one objective in mind: to help customers thrive in an IT environment that is undergoing wholesale change,” says Philippe Fossé, VP of EMEA Channels, EMC Corporation.
“This means accelerating the journey to the cloud, harnessing the power of big data and enabling IT departments to more effectively manage, protect and analyse their data. Our  programme is designed to help partners optimise their offerings in these key areas and provide their customers with solutions that make a profound impact.
“This announcement is another milestone in our mission to provide the most simple, predictable and profitable partner experience. It is an approach that is proving highly successful, with more than half of our storage revenue now derived from the channel. This is clear evidence that organisations are increasingly relying on EMC partners to help them transform their businesses and drive growth.”