Robin.io Strengthens Kubernetes, App Management Offering With New Channel Push

‘We want this to be a win-win. We’re not just looking for partners. We want to qualify their interest in a joint approach to the market,’ says Mehran Hadipour, vice president of alliances at Robin.io.

Robin.io, a developer of Kubernetes storage and data management and application automation technology, unveiled its first formal partner program to give a wide range of technology and channel partners the tools to better take advantage of its cloud-native capabilities.

Robin.io develops software focused on deploying cloud-native infrastructures, with a focus on facilitating data management in Kubernetes containers for enterprise-class applications like SAP or telecom applications that are hard to run on Kubernetes, said Mehran Hadipour, vice president of alliances for the San Jose, Calif.-based company.

“We had a partner program in the past, but it was more opportunistic,” Hadipour told CRN. “But given our focus on our new cloud-native storage product, we want to make it easier for partners to get on-boarded.”

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Robin.io’s new partner program is aimed at helping on-board partners looking to build solutions as a way to increase their sales and margins in such markets as container management, multi-cloud management, artificial intelligence operations and DevOps, Hadipour said.

This includes working with channel partners of the company’s OEM partners like Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Supermicro and Quanta Cloud Technology, he said.

Robin.io is doing so with new partner joint marketing, social media outreach, qualification and certification programs, sales support and co-selling programs, and account planning and sales engagement help, he said.

“We’re offering improved margins beyond the hardware partners sell, OEM-qualified solutions, attractive TCO for customers, the ability to drive additional revenue including cloud-native application delivery automation, a land-and-expand sales model and additional services opportunities,” he said. “And we are expanding our relationship with Google.”

Helping customers work with containers is increasingly important but is challenging, particularly with stateful legacy applications, said Tapasvi Kaza, chief technology officer of VivSoft, an Ashburn, Va.-based government-focused solution provider and Robin.io channel partner that specializes on Kubernetes and machine learning.

“Legacy applications were not designed for stateless,” Kaza told CRN. “They’re hard to manage as a single snapshot. We’re betting everything on Kubernetes. What Robin does really well is the life-cycle view of solving Kubernetes issues. It focuses on management as things change.”

Robin.io has been a very supportive partner, especially in challenging environments like the Department of Defense, Kaza said.

The most important thing Robin.io does is its life-cycle management for applications, Kaza said.

“Different users with life-cycle management issues need a variety of tools,” he said. “But to sustain life cycles in day-to-day operations, you need something like Robin.”

Robin.io is now recruiting new channel partners, looking for those with a focus on hyperconverged infrastructure, composable infrastructure or strong cloud-native infrastructure experience, along with a focus on application and solution-selling, Hadipour said.

“Our approach is to help partners get higher in their customers’ stacks,” he said. “We bring them into our program and train them how to go after repeatable business. We want this to be a win-win. We’re not just looking for partners. We want to qualify their interest in a joint approach to the market.”