Dell said today that its Cloud Services & Solutions Certification for PartnerDirect channel partners will allow them to provide cloud services and solutions to customers based on both Dell technology and their own technology services.

 This new certification, available now in North America, in Europe April 12, and soon worldwide, is the result of many months of thoughtful collaboration with Dell’s partners and industry analysts to ensure it met the needs of many different types of cloud computing offerings, without over complication.

Recent research by Dell Cloud Business Applications and Techaisle* showed that customers are looking for a trusted IT partner who has evaluated the right cloud applications for their businesses. SMB Nation reported on this earlier this month, and had a sit down with Bill Odell, senior director, marketing for Dell Cloud Business Application, at the Small Business Summit in New York City. When I spoke with Odell, regarding Dell’s cloud solutions, he noted that the goal is to provide SMBs (and their partners) with a complete solution that lowers TCO. He added that because Dell is focusing on the cloud, that surely does not mean that they are pulling out of the hardware business that it has made the brand a worldwide household name.

“Dell is also making it easy for partners to demonstrate their infrastructure-related skills by accepting their membership in channel programs of recognized vendors in technology areas of security, networking and virtualization,” Anurag Agrawal, CEO, Techaisle, said in a media statement.

The Cloud Services & Solutions Certification is comprised of three primary pillars in providing cloud services and solutions:

• Cloud Builder – The Partner that operates as a Cloud Builder will offer all the necessary services to design and develop a cloud infrastructure for their customers.
• Cloud Provider – A Cloud Provider will operate a cloud networking operating center (NOC) enabled with Dell technology to provide cloud services to their customers. These include: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS).
• Cloud Service Enabler – A Cloud Service Enabler acts as an aggregator or broker identifying, securing and integrating the appropriate set of cloud technologies and services from multiple sources and operates the resulting cloud for their customers through a set of managed services.

In addition to receiving Certified (Preferred or Premier) Partner level pricing and existing Preferred or Premier Partner benefits, partners who provide or wish to provide cloud services and solutions to their customers will receive additional benefits such as:

• Preferred access to Dell’s current and future cloud services and solution offers
• Attractive financing options to provide alternative acquisition options
• Participation in cloud-focused marketing campaigns and access to co-Marketing funds
• Partner-to-Partner Eco-System: Representation as a Certified Cloud Services & Solutions provider in the Find-A-Partner tool
• Engagement by Dell account teams for co-selling/joint opportunities through the Find-A-Partner tool