EMC has been struggling to build its channel business for some time, says Colin McNamara, Director of Data Center Practice for Cisco channel partner Nexus IS, EMC’s VSPEX announcement is a big step forward, he says, but it needs more.

“Now for EMC to be successful they have to partner with Cisco, which has built much of its success hinged on its channel strategy,” he told Wikibon’s Stuart Miniman in an interview webcast with theCube, live from the EMC VSPEX event on Siliconangle.tv (see full video below).

He and Don Hoppock, director of advanced computing at Ingram Micro agree that VPSX is a major opportunity for the channel, in part because it provides flexibility to use any combination of several vendors’ systems.

Reference-based solutions, McNamara says, “Create less confusion in the design cycle. We can use VSPEX as the starting point and solve the customer’s problem faster, and for customers it makes sure that the infrastructure we design isn’t a science project.”

However it does not by any means eliminate channel services, it just changes their nature and focus. Now instead of needing to bring a top storage expert, compute expert, and network expert, “you need engineers that can design across the spectrum. We are investing in training our engineers in cross-platform solutions.”

That makes Ingram Micro, which provides certification courses in products for several leading vendors, a vital partner, he says.