(Page 2 of 2) "Perhaps most importantly, EMC VSPEX was designed with channel partners in mind -- many of whom offered counsel during the development process -- and will be sold exclusively through EMC's Velocity and VSPEX partners' channel programs," King said. "That, in turn, will allow SMBs to enjoy converged cloud infrastructure innovations that have mostly been relegated to larger companies."
King is not saying that EMC VSPEX is altogether unique. Indeed, there are other offerings that combine hardware, virtualization and software  technologies from multiple vendors. King specifically pointed to VCE -- which is co-owned by VMware, Cisco and EMC -- and vBlocks as examples.
Targeting SMBs
However, he added, those solutions exclusively or mostly target large enterprises. What's more, he said, though Dell's vStart 50, 100 and 200 systems target smaller businesses and are available through the company's PartnerDirect program, they consist entirely of Dell hardware components.
"In VSPEX, EMC, Brocade, Cisco, Citrix, Intel, Microsoft and VMware have created a mechanism that offers openness and flexibility that will be of value to SMB customers, and should provide ample market opportunities to the companies and their channel partners," King said. "If those efforts resonate in the market as we expect them to, it will not be surprising to see healthy, continuing growth in sales of these converged cloud systems and in the VSPEX partner community."
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