The enablement program will provide sales training, technical support and marketing resources for identifying and pursuing NetApp storage software opportunities among midsize customers with enterprise information technology needs. Leveraging the NetApp Competitive Advantage Team to help position NetApp solutions against a new breed of competitors in the marketplace, the program also educates NetApp partners about the data management challenges that can be addressed through FAS2000 and other NetApp solutions and services. The FAS2000 solutions, which include the FAS2020 and FAS2050, are designed to consolidate storage resources for improved simplicity, energy efficiency and processing time. The products can allocate data precisely where it is needed, providing adaptability for rapidly changing environments.

"The NetApp FAS2000 solutions are ideally suited for midsize enterprise businesses, and the products are a great vehicle that our partners can use to begin making inroads into the lucrative midsize enterprise space," said Robert Boulet, vice president of Arrow ECS' storage group. "Arrow ECS' NetApp enablement program will assist partners with selling the most appropriate NetApp solutions for each industry and subsector among midsize companies with significant enterprise needs."

In addition to educational information, Arrow ECS also provides partners with the opportunity to pretest configurations of the FAS2000 products to work within their customers' existing infrastructure at Arrow ECS&ssquo; Solution Center. Once tested, partners can demonstrate the configurations at the Solution Center for their customers as well. Arrow ECS' comprehensive partner enablement services also include presales technical support and order fulfillment management, business planning and marketing services, vertical market services, flexible financing and customized configurations to provide high-level support for all of its partners' business needs.

NetApp is also expanding its channel-only NetApp Select bundles for resellers with a new series of packaged hardware, software, and protocol offerings that make it easy for solution providers to offer competitive pricing while keeping profitable margins. The Select bundles provide pricing and configurations tailored for reseller partners and make it easy to order complete NetApp solutions designed to specifically address common customer concerns.

"The demand for enterprise storage solutions by midsize enterprises is growing, and the FAS2000 solutions are designed to enable partners to successfully pursue this market," said Leonard Iventosch, vice president, Global Channels, at NetApp. "NetApp is pleased that Arrow ECS is helping partners market and sell these solutions."