August 20, 2008, 6:10 PM — Have you ever wished you could be a software vendor's partner, without having to officially sign up? It sounds counter-intuitive at first, but there are situations where it would make sense. Suppose for example, that you come across deals only occasionally that would involve a particular piece of software, but you don't really do enough business with that software vendor to forge an official partnership.
SAP has just launched such a program. Its Extended Business Member program lets ISVs, consultants and integrators get a piece of the action, even if they're not an SAP channel partner. It works by allowing existing SAP partners to "host" other resellers, allowing SAP partners to create their own extended ecosystems. SAP hopes to sign up 100 VARs to participate as "hosts" for the program, and 500 "Extended Business" members to sign up under the program.
