2: Dell Plans To Buy EMC For $67 Billion, Merge Channel Programs

Dell intends to move forward with a single channel program and become at least 35 percent of its partners’ businesses after closing its planned $67 billion acquisition of EMC.

Dell has integrated the channel programs of eight acquired companies into PartnerDirect since 2007, and intends to make EMC the ninth. Both Dell and EMC’s partner programs have three tiers, and each acts as a single program overseeing a wide range of business units.

Partners doing less than one-third of their business with Dell will also be pushed to do more as the company focuses on the channel to take market share from its biggest competitors.