Climb extends Scale Computing relationship

The Broadcom acquisition of VMware has been used as a moment for rivals to encourage partners and customers to consider alternatives.

That process is continuing, despite Broadcom talking up the positives of the move, with the channel being encouraged to get into a position where it has options to put in front of customers.

Against that backdrop, Climb Channel Solutions has extended its partnership with Scale Computing.

Scale is being pitched as a viable VMware alternative for those looking to avoid licence and price changes and for partners keen to spark up a fresh vendor relationship.

The distributor has been given the nod to take the vendor’s portfolio across EMEA, tapping into the existing disquiet after the Broadcom move.

Scale is being aggressive in its attempt to go after VMware’ s channel and customer base, running a Rip and Replace promotion that will provide a 25% discount for those looking to make the leap to its alternative software and services.

“The announcement by VMware has created a huge amount of uncertainty across the market and has left partners and customers in a position where they are having to migrate quickly to VMware alternatives. We believe that we offer a major upgrade from VMware,” said Jeff Ready, CEO and co-founder of Scale Computing.

Dale Foster, CEO of Climb Channel Solutions, said the VMware deal had created a ripple across the market that it could tap into. “At Climb Channel Solutions, our job is to pivot and adjust to help our partners solve the challenges they face, which is why this extension with Scale Computing is so critical right now,” he said.

Others in the market have also been promoting themselves as VMware alternatives, with DataCore recently publishing its Transition guide and associated blog post to encourage partners to consider alternative options.

It provoked partners to consider questions about the predictability of their revenue streams, the dangers of refreshed competition with other resellers and navigating through the changes that would come in programmes, sales organisations and go-to-market strategies.

Despite its talk of investment and positive changes for the channel, the narrative around Broadcom has been clouded by changes to the VMware channel programme and the decision late last year to roll out decent-sized redundancies.

From a Climb perspective, the Scale move is not an isolated one, and the distributor has been bolstering its portfolio over the past few weeks by deepening its relationships with vendors. At the end of last month, the distie indicated that it was extending its tie-up with data privacy player Kiteworks.

“This agreement reflects our commitment to the UK market, where there is growing demand for a robust solution to protect file and email data communications, both within and outside of the organisation,” said David Byrnes, vice-president of worldwide channels at Kiteworks.