NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) today announced the NetApp GetSuccessful^TM Partner Enablement Program to help partners maximize strategic opportunities and distinguish themselves with their customers. The program is a new benefit of NetApp’s current VIP Partner program and complements the Authorized Professional Service Provider and the Virtualization Specialization programs announced earlier this year. GetSuccessful empowers our channel partners to successfully sell and position NetApp solutions through videos-on-demand (VODs), solutions kits, and face-to-face workshops allowing partners to focus on providing customers value-add solutions and services.

The GetSuccessful Partner Enablement Program is composed of three elements to assist partners:

• GetSuccessful Essentials – video-on-demand series highlighting the core differentiators of NetApp storage solutions
• GetSuccessful Solution Enablement – best practices, tools, and resources to best develop and maintain a NetApp solution practice
• GetSuccessful Workshops – hands-on training sessions for sales and marketing as well as technical functions focused on the core components of building a successful solution practice with NetApp.

The program is built to provide partner-centric assistance to channel partners and help them sell to potential customers’ audiences, including executive, sales, marketing, technical, and service decision-makers. The GetSuccessful Partner Enablement Program elements span from a Web-based training path with downloadable learning videos to a series of informational training kits and tools and in-person face-to-face workshops, all designed to get the right information to the partner efficiently--at no charge. Partners can easily use the information to quickly train new personnel and streamline their field sales education process.

“Our customers have complex business problems to solve that go beyond simple technology challenges and NetApp is empowering us with the ‘know-how’ to deliver the value-add they need,” said Dan Sottile, senior vice president, North American Sales, Long View Solutions. “The GetSuccessful Partner Enablement Program will help us build upon NetApp’s Authorized Professional Service Provider program and our Virtualization Specialization status and find new opportunities to work with our customers at a deeper and more rewarding level.”

“NetApp gets that we want to provide solutions to our customers, not just sell products, and we don’t have time to attend long-winded classes to do it,” said Mark Teter, CTO of Advanced Systems Group. “The GetSuccessful Essentials program is more than just the standard enablement program with nice brochures--it’s fast, downloadable and to-the-point. Best of all, it complements our current knowledge base, allowing us to better meet the needs of our customers.”

“NetApp is committed to helping our partner community not only maximize opportunities to solve their customers’ data storage needs but also help them do so strategically with innovative programs like GetSuccessful that make a difference,” said Pat Linehan, senior vice president of Worldwide Sales at NetApp. “The GetSuccessful Partner Enablement Program helps our channel partners become experts on more than just our products, but also on key technologies and services opportunities their customers care about day-to-day. Our partners should be in the field focused on customers and GetSuccessful was created to allow this to happen.”

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