Intel Lays Out Guidelines For Premier Partners

Intel has disclosed more details about its new partner program, specifically regarding requirements to reach its top level.

To maintain or ascend to Premier partner status, systems builders will need to sell a maximum of $250,000 per year in processors, according to the company.

Depending on products sold, however, the minimum needed for Premier status could be as low as $100,000, specifically for mobile CPUs.

Intel last week revamped its channel partner program, positioning it as its most significant change in more than a decade.

Until now, those designated as Premier partners were brought into the program by invitation only. Under the new guidelines, there will be specific sales and training requirements.As many as 70 out of Intel's 325 Premier partners could find themselves having to up their sales to maintain Premier status, said Shirley Turner, Intel's director of North American distribution and channel marketing in an exclusive interview with VARBusiness last week.

On the other hand, a number of its other 10,000 partners could find themselves eligible for Premier status, Turner indicated. "There will be [those] who are at the top of the Active [now Associate] range who say, 'If I sell a little bit more, I can get into Premier,'" she said.

To reach Premier status, partners have to reach one of the following thresholds: desktop purchases, $250,000; servers, $200,000; or mobile, $100,000. Any partner reaching $250,000 based on any combination of the three CPU types will also be eligible. All partners will need to reapply for memberships, though existing Premier partners will maintain their designations through the rest of this year.

However, sales volumes alone won't guarantee Premier membership. A partner has to show its primary business is systems integration and that it already participated in Intel's existing channel programs. Also, it will need to have at least two employees with two industry certifications.