Dell Technologies closed the sale of its software unit, which included Quest and SonicWall, to Francisco Partners and the private equity arm of hedge fund Elliott Management earlier this month. At the time, Dell Technologies executives said the company would continue to work closely with both Quest and SonicWall.

At the Dell EMC World conference in October, Chairman and CEO Michael Dell reinforced his commitment to the channel, but was also blunt about the business units the company had sold off. "If it's not No. 1, we sold it," he told a roomful of partners in response to a question specifically about the software business.

Dell bought Quest for about $2.4 billion in 2012.

Dell put its software unit on the block, along with other assets, after it cemented its agreement to acquire EMC last year. The sales helped to offset the cost of the $58 billion acquisition and also reduced duplication of technologies gained in the acquisition.

Dell EMC is preparing to launch its new, unified Dell EMC Partner Program at the start of its fiscal year Feb. 1. Channel Chief John Byrne is expected to have many aspects of the plan in place next month.