Dell Boomi Certifies Partners In Cloud, Adds Cloud Integration Features

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Dell Boomi said the new partner certification program will build out a community of qualified channel partners that can support enterprise cloud integration projects. Rick Nucci, Dell Boomi's CTO, said the certification program shows partners have the knowledge, experience and quality-review chops needed to integrate cloud environments.

To be certified, partners must complete annual release certifications to prove their expertise as a Dell Boomi solution provider is current and that they have familiarized themselves with the updates and enhancements of Dell Boomi's AtomSphere technology. AtomSphere is a multi-tenant as-a-service offering that helps users avoid installing and maintaining integration software or appliances by giving customers frequent software updates to keep up with the innovation in SaaS and cloud apps.

"The primary model is coming through our partnerships," Nucci said, noting that Dell Boomi AtomSphere bridges the gaps between on-premise, SaaS and cloud environments. For partners, Dell Boomi goes to market mostly through SaaS providers and OEMs to integrate applications. Partners enable their customers to start using cloud and SaaS apps and connect and integrate them back to existing applications.

"Integration is often the most painful part," Nucci said. "An integrated app is a much more sticky app."

The certification program, Nucci said, will speak to partners' ability to work with Dell Boomi highlight partner skills. It's also a tool to help systems integrators sell integration services on the Dell Boomi platform.

Nucci added that the certification program comes as Dell Boomi looks to boost its profile in the channel and bulk up its presence. Currently, Dell Boomi boasts about 70 partners

"We have looked at the problem of integration not just through the lens of the customer, but through the lens of the partner," he said. "And as we're continuing to ramp up our partner program, we want to have a scalable means of growth."

Along with the new partner certification program, Dell Boomi on Tuesday added a host of updates to its AtomSphere offering with the Spring 11 update.

Among the new additions include a legacy middleware cloud gateway to protect middleware investments while integrating cloud and SaaS applications; change data capture, which reduces the size of data sets processed by focusing only on changed data to improve the transit of data between on-premise and cloud environments; and large data processing support, which lets customers integrate data in an automated process with no coding needed for large files.

Other features in Dell Boomi AtomSphere Spring 11 are intelligent optimization of Salesforce.com integration, which Salesforce users can check a box on the Dell Boomi connector to implement the Salesforce Bulk API, easing the ability to move data between apps and Salesforce; and anywhere integration monitoring with a new API that provides access for third party monitoring tools to Dell Boomi AtomSphere integration activity.

"Enterprises are looking to quickly take advantage of the flexibility, innovation and efficiency of the cloud without sacrificing the investments they've already made in on-premise applications and middleware," said Nucci. "Customers want to integrate the new with the old, reaping the benefits of the cloud without having to rip and replace what they already have. The new features in AtomSphere Spring 11 were designed with mid- to large-size businesses in mind to simplify their path to the cloud."

Dell Boomi is the fruit of Dell's acquisition of Boomi late last year. Dell's acquisition of Boomi in November 2010 was one of many cloud-focused acquisitions the company has made as Dell's cloud strategy takes shape. So far, Dell has spent roughly $2 billion buying cloud computing companies as it bulks up its presence in the increasing cloud computing market.

According to Nucci, the Dell's Boomi acquisition enables Dell to offer a host of cloud services to different types of buyers and adds integration capabilities into the mix.