Overland Unveils Certification Program for VARs

Overland Storage, Inc. announced continued marketing momentum resulting from its 2008 North America Partner Summit, which took place last week in Chicago. The summit provided nearly 70 channel partners with information on the company’s strategy, vision and new channel program initiatives, including a certified VAR program as well as the creation of a Partner Council to address ever-increasing demands for tiered data protection.

The new certified VAR program, which is slated to launch on July 1st, is designed to ensure that channel partners have the appropriate skills and resources to sell and support Overland’s broad portfolio of disk- and tape-based appliances. Opportunities to certify sales professionals and storage architects will be supported by a series of training webcasts, which will be held every two weeks starting in July to cover a diverse range of product and data protection topics. Current Platinum and Gold partners will be required to complete the credentialing process by the end of 2008.

According to Ravi Pendekanti, vice president of worldwide marketing for Overland Storage, the Partner Summit was an excellent opportunity to share the strategic steps Overland is taking to add more value to its channel partner relationships. "We are extremely pleased to introduce new channel marketing programs that will help our partners drive revenue growth of high-margin, innovative disk- and tape-based solutions," he says. "In addition, we were thrilled to reward and recognize top performers who have made major contributions to our business growth over the past year."

The top channel performers were recognized in the following categories:

• Outstanding Disk Contribution from a Direct Marketer: CDW;
• Highest Percentage Growth, Direct Marketer: Insight;
• Fastest Growing Reseller Partner, Platinum, U.S. Western Region: Media Recovery;
• Highest Overall Revenue Contribution, Platinum, U.S. Western Region: IoDynamix;
• Outstanding Disk Contribution, Platinum, U.S. Western Region: Media Recovery;
• Outstanding NEO 8000 Contribution, Platinum, U.S. Western Region: Media Recovery;
• Fastest Growing Reseller Partner, Platinum, U.S. Eastern Region: HorizonTek;
• Outstanding Disk Contribution, Platinum, U.S. Eastern Region: HorizonTek;
• Outstanding NEO 8000 Contribution, Platinum, U.S. Eastern Region: HorizonTek;
• Fastest Growing Reseller Partner, Gold, U.S. Western Region: Western Scientific;
• Highest Overall Revenue Contribution, Gold, U.S. Western Region: StoreHouse Technologies;
• Outstanding Disk Contribution, Gold, U.S. Western Region: Sanity Solutions;
• Outstanding NEO 8000 Contribution, Gold, U.S. Western Region: BlueLine Services;
• Fastest Growing Reseller Partner, Gold, U.S. Eastern Region: MCPc;
• Highest Overall Revenue Contribution, Gold, U.S. Eastern Region: GTSI;
• Outstanding Disk Contribution, Gold, U.S. Eastern Region: Mercury Storage;
• Outstanding NEO 8000 Contribution, Gold, U.S. Eastern Region: Bay Pointe Technology;
• Fastest Growing New Reseller Partner: GC Micro;
• Outstanding Disk Contribution, New Reseller Partner: Enterprise Information Systems.

At the gathering, Overland also discussed common product themes that will guide the direction and development of future disk- and tape-based solutions. The company is building and strengthening its product offerings with continued focus on leveraging data deduplication, data movement and product integration, enhanced ease of use, broader connectivity and increased scalability.

According to John Zammett, president of HorizonTek, a Huntington, N.Y.-based solution provider and three-time award winner at Overland’s 2008 Partner Summit, the annual event was an excellent opportunity for company executives and partners to share top-level business strategies for 2008 and beyond. "Overland continually reinforces its commitment to the channel through proactive communications and doing whatever it takes to help its channel partners succeed," he says. "After participating in the summit, we are even more focused on solving our customers’ tough business problems with Overland’s tiered data protection products."

W. Curtis Preston, renowned storage expert and vice president of GlassHouse Technologies, delivered an insightful keynote presentation detailing the latest issues, technologies and solutions that should be considered when selling best-in-class data backup and recovery solutions. "It was invigorating to participate in the interactive exchange of new marketing and sales ideas at Overland’s 2008 Partner Summit," adds Cindra Stolk, president of Federal Edge Inc., a Riverside, Ca.-based provider of leading-edge data management, backup and disaster recovery solutions. "I left the conference feeling recharged and well-equipped with effective tools to assist us in selling and supporting Overland’s best-of-class disk- and tape-based appliances."

Overland Storage, Inc.