For a company that made its bones as the direct-sales champion, Dell seems to have a lot of happy channel partners these days. At the Dell Storage Forum this week, Dell channel management executives described how former EqualLogic channel partners are now selling servers, storage, desktops, laptops and security products, now that EqualLogic is fully integrated into Dell, which acquired the New Hampshire storage firm three years ago.

“We expect we’ll see the same with Compellent partners,” said Bob Skelley, who came from EqualLogic and is now Executive Director, global Certified Partner Program & Channel at Dell. “They’re excited about the opportunity.” He and Michael Beach, Executive Director, Sales Operations at Dell and former Compellent sales exec, were interviewed in the Cube this week at the Dell event.

Dell now has 2,500 certified Preferred Partners globally, with 10% qualified at the highest level, Premier, Skelley said. In fact, Dell’s channel business today would rank as #350 in the Fortune 500 list if it were a stand-alone company, he noted.

Dell will aggressively bring its “Fluid Data Architecture” storage portfolio to customers and channel partners, with an emphasis on how the products all work together seamlessly, he and Beach noted. This is a core part of the transformation of Dell into more of a thought-leader and a serious enterprise player, they explained.

Beyond Dell’s core vertical markets – government, healthcare and education – channel partners bring valuable specialized knowledge of other markets. “In the Southeast, we have a partner who understands the railroad industry,” Beach said. “They offer hosting and data center services to these customers. This is where the channel partners shine, they can look at all the technologies and offer (the right mix).”