StorMagic and Mako Networks deployed a jointly engineered edge infrastructure offering last week that channel partners can resell to distributed retail accounts. The collaboration pairs highly available local infrastructure with secure, cloud-managed networking.
The team-up pairs StorMagic’s SvHCI hyperconverged infrastructure software with Mako’s networking platform. The companies are initially targeting convenience stores, fuel retailers and quick-service restaurants. These locations often lack on-site IT staff but still depend on local applications to process transactions and keep stores running, StorMagic CEO Susan Odle told Channel Dive.
“All of the applications … running in those environments need to be available 24/7,” Odle said.
The companies expect partners to tailor the technologies to specific customer environments rather than follow a prescribed deployment model.
“We want to be able to hear from partners the problems that they’re solving and how we can best support them in their efforts,” Odle said.
In one configuration, StorMagic can run its virtual witness — a virtualized third component that lets two physical servers provide high availability without adding a physical server — on a Mako virtual machine. If one physical server fails, the other keeps the applications running. Mako supplies the networking layer around those workloads, including remote visibility, security, management and network redundancy.
“What we’re building is an environment where that can be more easily deployed [and] supported,” Mako CEO Jason Kubasak told Channel Dive.
StorMagic and Mako take different routes to market, but partners remain central to the joint offering. On StorMagic’s side of the alliance, partners register opportunities through the company’s portal, maintain the customer relationship and transact according to the terms of existing partner agreements.
“The channel partner owns the deal with the customer,” Odle said.
Mako runs both direct and partner-led sales motions. The company takes point on managed network services in the U.S. oil and gas industry, while supplying partners with the underlying technology, support services and software licensing in other markets.
Partners also decide how managed services fit into a Mako deal.
“If the partner chooses to deliver the managed services themselves … they can do that,” Kubasak said. “For those that want to incorporate Mako managed services, that’s a service they can … buy and resell if they want to.”
The joint offering hits the market as VMware customers consider moving to alternative platforms. Odle said migration urgency has risen as customers move from evaluating options to preparing actual cutovers.
Organizations needed time to plan after Broadcom acquired VMware three years ago and made major changes to product bundling and partner programs. Now, VMware customers are moving into the migration stage, a trend Odle expects to continue through next year.
“Customers are pulling the trigger to say, ‘Okay, I need to purchase now because I need time to have the migration complete … well before my contract actually expires,’” Odle said.
Mako’s side of the alliance encompasses networking and security capabilities for distributed, multi-site environments. Kubasak said the company’s platform can segment access for brands, individual retailers and third parties using the same infrastructure. Mako's approach to PCI compliance can reduce the work required to build and maintain a compliant environment.
“We’re making that process quite a bit simpler, eliminating a lot of steps,” Kubasak said.
Both vendors want to give partners the tools to sell and support integrated edge environments. The joint offering should improve uptime and create additional margins for partners.
“We meet in the channel, and the partner is leading the solution overall,” Odle said.
