Profile of a Compellent Business Partner

The ideal Compellent business partner is focused on providing solutions instead of products and serves as a trusted advisor regarding their client's technology decisions. We are seeking partners with one or more of the following competencies:

1. Systems Integrator - Designing, selling, and supporting a system /application solution, NOT necessarily just storage.
2. Storage-Driven Application Focus - Selling and / or implementing solutions that drive storage requirements - i.e. the analog to digital makeover in document management, CRM, e-mail, x-rays (diagnostic images / PACS), photos, videos, etc.
3. Systems Infrastructure - Supporting and servicing server and network platforms with technical expertise (e.g. MSCE, NCE) in at least one major OS (Windows, Netware, UNIX, Linux, MAC o/sX)

We expect our partners to perform to mutually agreed objectives in their first year and experience continued growth in following years.

Partner Responsibilities

Partner Owns Client Relationship - The partner's sales organization must understand how to make a strategic solution sale and understand that storage systems are designed, not simply procured. The Partner will own the customer relationship and be responsible for assessing, designing, implementing and optimizing the solution, including training.

Post Sales Support - A post-sale service organization is not a requirement as Compellent can provide that resource through our other partners, our national hardware and software maintenance contract, and our Compellent Copilot program.

Competitive Offerings - If the business partner candidate sells competitive products, we expect that the partner will position Compellent as the primary or exclusive offering in certain environments - or agree to a revenue and unit commitment for continued partnership.

Resources - A Partner does not have to make a substantial commitment of financial resources in order to be successful. Compellent will supplement their technical team with Compellent's storage architects and business development team to aid in the knowledge transfer of product and technology skills. We expect our partners to acquire or have access to a demonstration system and have designed attractive purchase plans to make them affordable.

Certification - We require that sales personnel, systems engineers and support personnel (if the business partner elects to support the product) complete Compellent Certification on how to position, sell and support our products. Compellent will provide training materials, configuration and quotation tools, and sales collateral through our Business Partner Portal. End user satisfaction will be measured through third-party surveys.

Accounts Payable - Compellent will finance the inventory and accounts receivable from an end user for a nominal fee. After collection of the receivable, Compellent will pay the partner.

Technical Expertise

Compellent requires that the business partner have a general knowledge of IT environments, applications, and technical expertise in one or more operating systems. In-depth storage experience is not required.

Training is available through the certification programs for sales personnel, systems engineers and support personnel for the Compellent products.

Next Steps

• Establish mutual interest in a partnership and confirm applicability of existing sales, products and technical infrastructure
• Complete Nondisclosure Agreement
• View webcast ("product offering" and "partner program")
• Arrange for live technical presentation of our products
• Complete Partnership Agreement
• Schedule partner-led Compellent Customer Council (C3)
• Determine demonstration strategy and begin training and certification of personnel
• Register end-user prospects to secure preferred pricing

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