New VAR As Great Lakes Computer Forms Dell Business
New VAR As Great Lakes Computer Forms Dell Business by UCStrategies Staff
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Great Lakes Computer is a solution provider which has now reinvented its Dell business into a new company called Optio Data. Great Lakes Computer established itself 27 years ago, and is now in competition with the new Optio Data.
The vice president of sales at Optio Data, Jeff Stevens, said that the move increases confidence in Dell's direct team, enabling it to work better and more closely with the company. Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Oracle platforms are also sold by Great Lakes Computer.
Stevens said: “This [spinoff] allows our organization to be pure from a Dell perspective. If I'm Dell, which has a traditional direct model, how confident will you be working with a partner and worried they're not going to flip [an opportunity] over to HP? Part of the reason we commit to Dell, as a manufacturer, is if you bring us into an opportunity or work jointly, we have to make sure Dell wins. This way, if Dell doesn't win, Optio Data doesn't win.”
According to Stevens, the strengthened confidence in Dell's direct sales is of utmost importance in the SMB and education markets which are served by Optio Data.
In addition, Stevens stated: “I can guarantee that months or years from now [we will compete with Great Lakes]. We will try to win. We did that intentionally so that there's no [misrepresentation] in the marketplace. We don't want customers to wonder if it's Great Lakes or Optio, HP or Dell. They're completely separate organizations and this allows each organization to grow and market and do what each entity does best.”
In 2009, Great Lakes became a Dell Partner, and grew faster than HP, IBM or Oracle. Stevens added: “From just a sheer percentage, when you go from zero to any transaction, you [grow]. But, 30 people on our staff should tell you we're much bigger than [a company with a small base]. If we didn't feel this would be a successful venture and that there was enough momentum behind this business unit, we wouldn't have made the decision to spin off.”
Optio Data is now a Dell Premier Partner with a 60,000-square-foot-warehouse, logistics and integration center provided by the vendor. Core competencies in private cloud infrastructure, data management and technology integration, as well as specializations in Dell's PowerEdge rack and blade servers, PowerVault, EqualLogic and Compellent storage products, AppAssure backdrop software, CommVault disk appliances and Dell Power Connect, Force10 and SonicWall networking equipment are all included.
It is over the last two years that Dell acquired a number of those products, and a more complete stack was formed and integrated; this is why Optio Data was released, according to Stevens.
Stevens said: “As they have been acquiring partners, as a reseller, you bring in not just an EqualLogic array, but Force10, Compellent, Quest [Software]. As a company, we have an entire solutions stack within the Dell corporate umbrella now. This allows us to focus on the stack, and we can talk to any Cisco stack customer about Force10. We can take that [Dell] portfolio and bring it to any corporation.” (CY) Link