Azul has further strengthened its partner program with new PartnerConnect certification programs. The announcement comes a little over a year after the company expanded its PartnerConnect program. The new certifications are extensive and fall into three categories: sales, engineering and migration. The intent is to help partners build expertise in their Java application and Java security ecosystems.
The program is aimed at ensuring that partners are able to have the necessary expertise in Azul Java solutions to sell, implement and support joint customers as they optimize their Java installations.
All the certification programs are self-paced and include a mix of training content, exercises and assets that culminate in an exam.
Simon Taylor, Vice President of global channel sales, Azul, commented, “Our new PartnerConnect certification program offers comprehensive Java journeys tailored to enhance our partners’ Java expertise and prepare them for success in the delivery of related services. The Java market holds tremendous services potential for our partners. With our PartnerConnect training, channel partners acquire deep knowledge and proficiency across our product portfolio, enabling them to deliver maximum value to customers.”
The new certifications
Enterprise Times asked some questions of Azul about the new certifications, which are more comprehensive than an initial glance would indicate. The topics covered in the certifications include Java fundamentals, OpenJDK migration best practices, performance tuning, and cloud cost optimization. The course material aims to enable partner employees to improve their Java advisory and delivery skills.
Sales Professionals
It is in Azul’s interest that Sales professionals within partners are fully trained on the goto market messaging, product knowledge and skills for Azul Platform Core, Azul Platform Prime, and Azul Intelligence Cloud. The sales training takes only two hours. The certification applies to an individual which they take with them if they leave one partner and join another. Each partner will need to build up the number of certifications they hold. Once complete, sales professionals will have the ability to position Azul solutions with customer stakeholders.
Migration Partner Certifications
These certifications will help partner organisations to undertake and execute OpenJDK migration successfully. There are two distinct paths for the migration certifications:
- Migration Advisory: The overall approach and process for Migration, Impact assessments, Application Prioritization, Resource Planning and Project Planning.
- Migration Delivery Services: How to deliver an end to end migration. It explains the proven 7-step methodology that Azul uses. How to configure applications, test them and certification.
I asked Taylor what Java solutions customers were using that the course would cover. He answered, “Essentially the training is designed to migrate from any OpenJDK including Oracle Java SE. This could also be Redhat, Coretto, IBM et al.”
The Migration Partner certification is at the organization level, where a minimum of 1 individual needs to have gone through the training and be certified. It means that certifications do not pass with the employee. The migration certification is the most complex with the completion of labs, which can mean students can take between 4 and 20 hours to complete the course, depending upon their expertise levels.
Partner Engineer certifications
Azul is introducing two initial certifications for engineers: The Core Engineer Certification and the Prime Engineer Certification. It also intends to launch a third certification, Intelligence Cloud, though a date when it will release this is not available. The courses enable engineers to become Azul technology experts. The courses cover optimizing JVM performance, how to conduct technical discoveries and mapping customer challenges to Azul’s solutions.
The engineering certifications are at the employee level, and each takes around 4 hours to complete.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
With over 100 partners within its ecosystem, Azul has now built a training program that should deliver consistency globally for its solutions. As partners invest time in the training, this should help them win deals and increase revenue for themselves and Azul. It is also a win for customers. By switching to Azul, they should see lower licensing and maintenance costs for their Java estate. With a formal certification in place, they will also receive assurance that their local partner is up to the task before selecting the Azul core platform.
The new certifications will also make Azul more attractive to even more technology consultancies. Those interested in joining what is becoming an impressive partner ecosystem can inquire at www.azul.com/partners and learn more about Azul PartnerConnect.
