VMware 2015 Annual Report Download - page 8

TableofContents
Content Collaboration
AirWatchbyVMware’sContentLockerprovidesaleadingenterprisefilesyncandsharesolutionthatextendsMobileContentManagementtosecureaccess
ofcontentonanydevice,desktopormobile,whileallowingthecontenttobestoredinanyfederateddata-storewhetheron-premiseorinthecloud.Ourcontent
collaborationsolutionsalsoincludeSocialcast,ourenterprisesocialcomputingsolutionthatallowuserstocomplementtheiruseofemailwithrichcommunication
inconsumer-gradeexperiences.
Technology Alliances
Consistentwithourpartner-centricstrategy,wehaveengagedabroadgroupofhardware,softwareandcloudcomputingservicevendorstocooperatively
advancevirtualizationtechnologythroughjointmarketing,productinteroperability,collaborationandco-development.Wecreateopportunityforpartnersby
enablingthemtobuildproductsthatutilizeourvirtualizationtechnologyandcreatedifferentiatedvaluethroughjointsolutions.
Wehavemorethan1,200technologypartnerswithwhomwebringjointofferingstothemarketplaceandover4,000activeserviceproviderpartners.We
classifyourpartnersasfollows:
Independent Hardware Vendors (“IHVs”) Wehaveestablishedrelationshipswithlargesystemvendors,includingCisco,Dell,Fujitsu,HPE,IBM,Lenovo
andNECforjointcertificationandco-development.WealsoworkcloselywithAMD,IntelandotherIHVstoprovideinputonproductdevelopmenttoenable
themtodeliverhardwareadvancementsthatbenefitvirtualizationusers.Wecoordinatewiththeleadingstorageandnetworkingvendorstoensurejoint
interoperabilityandenableoursoftwaretoaccesstheirdifferentiatedfunctionality.
Independent Software Vendors (“ISVs”) Wepartnerwithleadingsystemsmanagement,infrastructuresoftwareandapplicationsoftwarevendors-including
healthcare,telecom,financeandretailmarketleaders-todelivervalue-addedproductsthatintegratewithourVMwareproducts.
VMware Service Providers Wehaveestablishedpartnershipswithover4,000activeserviceprovidersinourvCANprogramincludingCenturyLink,
Claranet,Fujitsu,IBM,KPN,Macquarie,Navisite,Nifty,NTT,OVH,RackForceNetworks,Rackspace,Tieto,T-SystemsandUOLDiveotoenablethemtohost
anddeliverenterprise-classhybridcloudsasawayforenterprisestoextendtheirdatacenterstoexternalclouds,whilepreservingsecurity,complianceandquality
ofservice.
OurTechnologyAlliancePartnerprogramfacilitatesjointsolutioncreationandcoordinatedgo-to-marketactivitieswithourpartners.Over4,500ofthemost
widelyusedapplicationsfromISVssupportthevSphereplatform.Theseapplicationsincludebusinesssolutionsforenterpriseresourceplanning,humanresource
management,electronicmedicalrecordsmanagement,financialprocessingandmiddleware,suchasapplicationserversanddatabases.
OurISVsandotheralliancepartners,developersandadditionalVMwarecommunitymembershavedistributedmorethan2,900softwareapplicationsas
virtualappliances.Weinvestsignificantcapitalintestingandcertificationofinfrastructuretorigorouslyensureoursoftwareworkswellwithmajorhardwareand
softwareproducts.
Research and Development
Wehavemade,andexpecttocontinuetomake,significantinvestmentsinresearchanddevelopment(“R&D”).Wehaveassembledanexperiencedgroupof
developerswithsystemlevel,systemsmanagement,desktop,mobiledevices,security,applicationdevelopment,collaborativeapplications,networking,storage
andopensourcesoftwareexpertise.Wealsohavestrongtiestoleadingacademicinstitutionsaroundtheworld,andweinvestinjointresearchwithacademia.
Weprioritizeourproductdevelopmenteffortsthroughacombinationofengineering-driveninnovationandcustomerandmarket-drivenfeedback.OurR&D
cultureplaceshighvalueoninnovation,qualityandopencollaborationwithourpartners.WecurrentlyparticipateinnumerousstandardsgroupsandVMware
employeesholdavarietyofstandardsorganizationleadershippositions.
OurR&Dexpensestotaled$1,300million,$1,239million,and$1,082millionin2015,2014and2013,respectively.
Sales and Marketing
Wehaveahighlyleveragedgo-to-marketstrategythatincludesadirectsalesforcethatiscomplementarytoourchannel.Oursalesforceworkswithour
channelpartnerstointroducethemtoend-usercustomeraccountsandnewsalesopportunities.
Wehaveestablishedongoingbusinessrelationshipswithourdistributors.Ourdistributorspurchasesoftwarelicensesandsoftwaresupportfromusforresale
toend-usercustomersviaresellers.TheseresellersarepartofourVMwarePartnerNetwork(“VPN”),whichoffersresellerssalesandproducttraining,pricing
incentives,rebatesandaccesstotheworldwidenetworkofVMwaredistributorsandtheVMwarePartnerCentralWebportal.Inaddition,ourchannelpartner
networkincludescertainsystemsintegratorsandresellerstrainedandcertifiedtodeliverconsultingservicesandsolutionsleveragingVMwareproducts.
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