To Our Valued Partners,
As we work through the remaining steps of the Dell + EMC combination, we are enthusiastic about the business opportunities the proposed transaction promises. Dell Technologies will become an enterprise technology powerhouse with a combined global channel business that will exceed 45% of total revenue. You have hopefully read the update notes on the deal progress over the past few months, and understand where we are in the transaction timeline. Today I have another important update to share with you.
Earlier this morning Dell named John Byrne as the Global Channel leader for the future combined company. John will assume this role effective the completion of the deal and will report to me.
John has been at Dell for a year and was most recently Global Vice President of Sales Strategy, Planning & Channels, where he focused on optimizing our route-to-market strategy, which also included overall ownership of the channel business. In the role he had responsibility for all facets of Dell’s Go-To-Market efforts, including channel strategy and enablement, managed the relationships with global systems integrators and distributors, and drove the team responsible for implementing our most rigorous Integrated Sales Planning process in many a year.
Prior to joining Dell, John has enjoyed a successful +25 year career including executive positions at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) such as SVP & GM of their Client and Graphics Business Unit, Chief Sales Officer leading the global Sales and Marketing teams. At AMD he also managed the company’s channel and sales team, leading its partner program throughout his tenure. Earlier in his career he founded and sold two channel companies based in Europe, and brings a deep understanding of the needs of both the vendor and our partners.
John’s experience adds to the already strong channel DNA in both Dell and EMC, and I firmly believe we are well-positioned to create the industry’s-best channel sales and programs teams. The channel leadership team will include experienced executives from both Dell and EMC, in North America and globally. We are committed to making sure the new team includes the best from both companies with key leaders having important roles in the new company.
I could not be more excited about John’s position and wanted to introduce him to you and let you hear from him directly. Please join me in welcoming John into this role.
From John:
As I step into this new role, I’m excited for the enormous growth opportunities our new combined company will offer you, our partners. It’s my goal, along with my team, to not only have the industry’s best Channel sales team but to build the best partner program based on Simplicity, Predictability, and Profitability. We’ll have an award winning product portfolio and breadth to help you solve your customers’ business challenges. Over the next few weeks and months as I move into this position, I’m looking forward to meeting with each of you to solicit ideas and feedback as we work together to create more customer value than any other solutions provider in the industry.
I firmly believe our combined partner communities will play a critical role in the future success of Dell Technologies. In this spirit I am sharing decisions which we expect will take effect once the combination is finalized.
- Dell and EMC will continue to maintain separate deal registration and partner programs for 2016. Effective February 1, 2017, we will move to a unified partner and deal registration program.
- From the closing until February 1, 2017, to protect partner accounts and deals, we plan for our teams to cross check all existing deal registrations to ensure that we are aligned with the partner of record. If multiple partners have the same opportunity registered, we will have rules of engagement in place to mitigate any possible adverse impact to partners and customers.
- We plan for your assigned partner facing resource from both Dell and EMC to remain in place for 2016. We will coordinate our joint approach to ensure that we are all aligned as we work through the unified coverage model for 2017.
I also wanted to take a minute to thank you for your continued engagement in Dell’s channel program and for your confidence and business as we continuously work to increase the level of partner satisfaction. I am thrilled to share that in the last year, Dell’s channel partner satisfaction scores achieved their highest-ever rating. We appreciate this vote of confidence and pledge every day to earn your trust and business.
We look forward to expanding and growing our businesses together — it’s going to be fun.
Regards,
Marius Haas John Byrne
Disclosure Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements, which reflect Denali Holding Inc.’s current expectations. In some cases, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “confidence,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “will” and “would,” or similar expressions. Factors or risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results we anticipate include, but are not limited to: (i) the failure to consummate or delay in consummating the proposed transaction; (ii) the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied or that required financing for the proposed transaction may not be available or may be delayed; (iii) the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is delayed, is not obtained, or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; (iv) risk as to the trading price of Class V Common Stock to be issued by Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction relative to the trading price of shares of VMware, Inc. common stock; (v) the effect of the announcement of the proposed transaction on Denali Holding Inc.’s relationships with its customers, operating results and business generally; and (vi) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions. Denali Holding Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
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