IBM Recruits 150 Partners For Dynamic Infrastructure Effort

IBM has enlisted some 150 channel partners to its effort to upgrade solution providers' business and technical skills under the Dynamic Infrastructure Specialty Program, IBM said Tuesday. The company also said it's expanding the Dynamic Infrastructure initiative to midsize company markets.

IBM launched the Dynamic Infrastructure effort in February, offering IT products and services for next-generation data centers and information technology embedded in everything from company supply chains, to "smart" energy grids, to traffic management systems.

As part of that initiative, IBM launched the Dynamic Infrastructure Specialty Program to help channel partners move beyond selling and installing IT products to providing higher-value consulting services in such areas as virtualization, information management and energy efficiency.

Twenty-five solution provider partners have completed the Dynamic Infrastructure Specialty Program training and certification process, said Bruce Maule, director of business partner programs. Among the 25 are Futuregen Co., Key Info Systems, Mainline Information Systems, Meridian IT, Sycomp and ThinkASG. Maule said another approximately 125 partners are in the training and certification pipeline, putting IBM within range of its goal of certifying 150 solution providers by the end of the year.

Distributed Systems Services, a Wyomissing, Pa.-based solution provider and IBM channel partner, was certified in virtualization/consolidation and business resiliency practices through the IBM program. That already fit with DSS's business focus. "Everything they are doing in the Dynamic Infrastructure offering, we were a natural fit for," said John Bunting, vice president of sales at DSS.

DSS is particularly focused on the midmarket and, given IBM's decision last year to leave most mid-market business to its channel partners, Bunting said being certified puts his company in a good position when IBM has sales leads.

IBM is also offering the approximately 200 channel partners in a business continuity technology program it began two years ago the chance to move to the Dynamic Infrastructure Specialty Program, given the overlap between the two. But Maule said there are no plans to cancel the business continuity program outright.

IBM continues to identify products and services within its portfolio that fit the Dynamic Infrastructure vision. Tuesday the company said it is expanding the Dynamic Infrastructure offerings with products and services, some from the IBM Express Advantage line, specifically geared toward midsize businesses. Those include Power 520 and 550 Express servers, System x3400 M2 and x3500 M2 tower servers, and a new version of the IBM System Storage DS5000 with self-encrypting disk technology.

The company is also adding a security systems certification component to the Dynamic Infrastructure Specialty Program that will allow program participants to sell IBM's Internet Security Systems (ISS) technology.