Varrow

Once a year I attempt to recall the happenings (here to) of the last 12 months specifically in the VAR space. If I had an inkling of smarts I would start this post Jan 1st and work forward, contributing as the events occur. But more times than not my inner laggard wins the race pushing me to the end of year countdown to complete.

Suffice it to say, its been quite a year from our partners perspective. Advancements in data mobility and cloud management have pushed our customers and Varrow to look at IT differently. Our customers are coming to the realization that not all workloads can be serviced in house. Which is why we are seeing quite an interest stir in managed services, cloud offerings, and general trusted advisor type partnerships. With the ever thin IT staff whittling away and the increasing project demand, to stay nimble, our customers must have an IT service provider they can rely on. We are that provider.

So revel in the year, hold hands with our successes, there’s no stopping this train, this industry we are in. Here are but a few memories from the glorious 2011…

• Varrow Managed Services - MS was derived out of customer need, point blank. Taking the skill and resourcefulness of our engineers, bundle it together with our VMC (Varrow Managed Cloud) and you have a packaged monthly operational expense. That of which you control or we control, internal or external to your data center. Mighty appealing to many. From full on data center management to Backup-As-A Service, were setting trends in not so obvious areas. Bring it.
• VMware vSphere 5 released - Perhaps one of the most profound releases of the year, VMware released their latest flagship Cloud Infrastructure Suite, vSphere 5. Although not without its troubles, namely around licensing, VMware was quick to respond to the community in a fair manner. With over a 140 new features such as Storage Driven Profiles, Storage DRS, and Auto-Deploy, clearly VMware is the leader in a space that has no boundaries. With no lack of innovation and the social media presence to move it, its extremely easy to get fired up. Viva la VMware!!!
• EMC VNX/VNXe released - A release close to my heart was that of the 5th generation midrange array from EMC, VNX/VNXe. From sub-10K up, this titan of tin brings the speeds and feeds to tackle the most demanding workloads. With a 4 channel 6G SAS backend and Intel Quad 5600 Processors this array has tipped the Law’s of Moore. Pair that with industry setting benchmarks and easy to bundle software suites and the winner is clear in this space.
• Varrow Madness Augural Release - As far as I know this was one of the largest partner events in the area (Southeast). The brainchild of our marketing director, Varrow Madness brings together Tech, College Hoops, St Patty’s and community sharing pundits. Sure to be out done in 2012 (More Info Here), you’ll want to be at this event. Price? Free.
• Accolades Galore - We aren’t much for bragging but there is something to be said for a company that continues to impress. Although we are not naive to the fact that rocket ship growth is not sustainable, we take all such awards in stride. But perhaps the award that makes us most proud is that of the EMC Services Quality Award. This is based on solicited customer feedback on the quality of the partners service engagement. We hold our own feet to the fire on the output of these surveys. It’s important to provide this level of interaction as it gives us the ammunition we need to constantly improve. It’s a win win for Varrow and for our customers. 
  • 2011 Tech 200 Designation
  • Fastest Growing Company in 2011 (NCTA 21)
  • CRN Fast Growth 100 List
  • Triad Fast 50 Numero 1, year 2
  • EMC Velocity Services Quality Award (ASN)
  • Everything 500 VAR 500 List
  • VMware Business Continuity Partner of the Year
  • VMware VCDX and vExperts on staff (Jason Nash and Me)
• Varrow Private Customer Community - Using enterprise microblogging client Yammer, Varrow has extended private invitations to their customers and partners. This means has allowed all to share in a closed community approach. Look at this great write-up here on how we are using this approach to further extend our value to our customers.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity - Big move in this space across the healthcare vertical specifically. Countless hours have been spent developing DR strategies namely around VMware’s Site Recovery Manager (did you see the VMware BC Partner of the year?) Although there is obviously more to this than a single product, focusing on dependencies and recovery process’ is key to your success and where we excel. We have a strong history in this space and would welcome the chance to assist.
• Data Mobility - Frame lock is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Products like EMC RecoverPoint and VPLEX are enabling data mobility in a manner that is far from the data center of old. Whether its to address an approaching storm (Disaster Avoidance) or migration from aging hardware, both are tuned to addressing very different use cases. Varrow by far has excelled in this space. Don’t believe me? Check out the handy work of yours truly here.
• EMC VMAX takes a foothold in Healthcare - Foreseeing our customers needs for top tier enterprise frames accelerated by the explosion of data growth in the healthcare industry, Varrow made significant investments in top tier VMAX talent. Whether your in need of a VMAX resident engineer to get the ball moving or design services to fit your business needs. We are there to help. With numerous implementations under our belt, the time is now to “frame ground” for the future.
• Double Occupancy - I have no official count, but I dare to say we have grown our internal workforce times 2. From accounting to sales, to pre-sales to engineering, our roots have taken hold and we’re growing. But no matter how much we grow, our family remains tight and our passion runs deep. We’re at an acceptable cruising altitude and looking to take it to the next stratum. If you are exceptional at what you do around the space we operate in, we should talk! Although we love our partners (Cisco, EMC, VMware, Citrix) and celebrate their success, you CAN make a difference at a reseller : )

Well there you have it. Although far from comprehensive, I have offered you a quick view into the exciting world of a valuable reseller, that’s us Varrow! Thank you EMC, VMware, Cisco and Citrix for giving us the chance and means to grow. We hope our symbiotic relationship continues to blossom throughout 2012 and beyond.

And our customers, Thank You for trusting in our abilities, challenging us day to day, and allowing us to strengthening our relationships. You are the reason we are where we are. Happy Holidays my friends see you on the other side : )

http://blog.virtualtacit.com/post/14876554647/battle-ponderings-a-year-in-review-2011