Accelerating Software Readiness, ‘Dramatically’ Growing Influence With ISVs
Intel Global Channel Chief John Kalvin said the chipmaker is increasing investments to ensure a broader range of software is ready for new processors as soon as they launch in a bid to help channel partners deliver Intel-based solutions faster and with greater confidence.
In an exclusive interview for CRN’s October cover story, Kalvin said this is part of a directive from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger to “dramatically” ramp up the number of independent software vendors who join Intel Partner Alliance, the new partner program that consolidated multiple partner programs and brought together several different types under one umbrella when it launched in January.
[Related: New Intel CTO Greg Lavender Talks ‘Developer Reboot,’ Making ‘More Sophisticated Software’ ]
“For Pat, he’s driving a broad recognition across Intel that if we win with software, then we’re going to make it easier for our ecosystem of partners to deliver solutions around Intel, and so he’s challenged us with, ‘Hey, grow that influence with ISVs dramatically,’” said Kalvin, whose title at Intel is vice president and general manager of global scale and partners.
Kalvin said Intel has historically delivered when it comes to ensuring software works properly on the company’s processors, but Gelsinger believes there is more work the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company can do to ensure software is ready when new silicon products are released.
“Pat wants to pull forward that readiness, so that it’s closely aligned or ‘day zero’ [with] our new products and technologies that come out [so] that the ecosystem of software is ready to take advantage of that right away,” he said.
But Kalvin said software readiness is just one part of the equation when it comes to the expanding body of work Intel is doing with ISVs. Intel is also ramping up its go-to-market efforts with ISVs, which means “co-marketing, co-selling programs and connecting them with the rest of our ecosystem of partners,” and Kalvin said his partner organization will work closely with the the newly formed Software and Advanced Technology Group led by Intel CTO Greg Lavender on both aspects.
All this work will serve to benefit Intel’s vast network of partners, which includes value-added resellers, system integrators, managed service providers and cloud service providers that fall under the Intel Partner Alliance Program, according to Kalvin.
“It gives them confidence and then [faster] time to solution, because now they don’t have to be working upstream to motivate us to go get that work done if they need some optimizations,” he said. “We’re trying to do as much of that pre-work as possible to accelerate [their solutions].”
In his interview with CRN, Kalvin talked about why Intel’s partner organization is ramping up engagement with ISVs, how Intel’s new software readiness plans different from its previous approach and how the partner organization will work with to benefit partners. 1 23… 5NextRELATED TOPICS: