Storage iSCSI vendor LeftHand Networks has claimed it is profiting from Dell’s recent acquisition of EqualLogic, having recruited 145 partners from its rival since the $1.4bn (£711m) deal was announced.

In November 2007, LeftHand claimed it had been approached by a number of EqualLogic’s partners, as they were aware that Dell is notorious for not being channel-friendly, and has previously gone direct with other acquisitions it has made.
Half of the 145 partners have been recruited in EMEA, according to the vendor. Larry Cormier, vice president of marketing at LeftHand, said: “LeftHand has seen an increase in partners due to Dell’s acquisition of EqualLogic. This has created a number of new opportunities for LeftHand and has opened up new windows of opportunities for our partners, with better margins and more solutions.”

Jason Beeson, storage solutions manager at distributor Hammer, said: “EqualLogic is a really good product for Hammer. Dell has proved itself as channel friendly and is still working on it. Many of Dell’s partners’ have stayed with them, because EqualLogic’s products are easy to add value to.”

LeftHand claimed it has also seen an increase in its VMware reseller base since developing its strategic relationship with the virtualisation giant.

Cormier added: “EMEA is about four-to-six months behind the virtualisation curve, compared with the US; however, IDC predicted that 60 per cent of EMEA companies are planning to implement virtualisation some time soon.
“SMEs and branch offices that could not afford a physical SAN before are now embracing virtualisation, so LeftHand’s partner base in this area has really grown.”

LeftHand has recently added two new resellers to its books ­ Virtualise IT and Union Solutions.
Henrik Housen, EMEA marketing director at LeftHand, said: “If a partner comes from a VMware software background, it can offer LeftHand as a storage solution to its customers. If the partner is a traditional fibre channel storage VAR and already offers that, then it can sell iSCSI as a compliment to existing fibre channel.”

LeftHand also plans to recruit more Citrix and Microsoft resellers as the vendors extend their virtualisation offerings.