Stratus Technologies Targets VARs with New Partner Program

Stratus Technologies has a new VAR program that allows OEMs, and machine and solution builders to develop and deliver edge computing-based offerings.

The program presents an accessible way for VARs to bring zero-touch edge computing to their customers, the company said. Furthermore, it lowers the barrier to developing products, services or automation solutions that converge OT and IT.

Stratus Technologies offers VARs platform pricing, embedded services, training and certification as they incorporate edge computing to differentiate their solutions. The company says it also delivers low-risk implementations for customers, and helps to create new business and revenue sources.

More Opportunities for VARs

Aric Prost is the company‘s senior director of OEM business. He said his company’s partner program previously cater to VARs.

Stratus’ Aric Prost

“We had partnered with new VAR customers in the past 36 months and saw more opportunity for partnership within that type of customer based on great synergies and feedback … and customers implementing modern control architectures and edge computing to facilitate digitization initiatives that are accelerating in industry,” he said. “We also saw an opportunity in the market to develop a service model that fit both our strengths, the needs of VARs and what their user customers are asking for at an accelerated pace as a result of the pandemic.”

As part of the program, Stratus offers training, certification and accreditation services to help partners successfully sell edge computing services. It also offers platform support through the company’s global network of systems engineers.

Furthermore, the program provides co-marketing opportunities to support business development and edge computing awareness.

“[The program] gives our VAR partners opportunities to save significant time in design and deployment while creating a practical path to digitization and the edge, while improving the reliability of the VAR’s solution,” Prost said.

VARs can integrate Stratus platforms to deliver new edge capabilities. Additionally, teams can save time in setting up and deploying solutions with plug-and-play integration to existing architectures.

COVID-19 Related Challenges

The program addresses the challenges VARs face from the COVID-19 pandemic, Prost said.

“Challenges include regulations about capacity in plants/production environments, which can be addressed with improved predictive maintenance, alerts, AI and installing highly available or redundant systems that don’t interrupt production or require a person to switch over,” he said. “Partners are also seeking greater visibility into their supply chains and manufacturing processes to identify solutions to unforeseen problems like shortages of supplies. Machine learning and AI are areas that can help solve these problems. They’re applications that use edge computing as part of the solution.”

The program also ensures that VARs can buy the platforms for a reasonable price.

Stratus offers two edge computing platforms. It built the ztC platform for critical equipment and distributed control architectures for continuous availability in harsh environments. The ftServer platform is built to handle heavier workloads for critical business applications and data.

Michele Vario is OEM and business development manager at Wonderware Italia.

“Stratus is a visionary in meeting the needs of machine builders who need to develop new offerings for Industry 4.0 environments and IIoT technology,” he said. “Stratus edge computing gives us the ability to bring our
customers there.”