An independent study by International Data Corporation (IDC) has ranked the Progress Partner Programme among the leaders in the software industry. The IDC report, "Worldwide Software Channel Program 2004 Vendor Analysis", recognises Progress for the business, technical and operational support of its application partners (APs), a network of more than 2 000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and developers worldwide.
The Progress Partner Programme features a business empowerment component. By working closely with partners on business, in addition to the technical and operational empowerment components, the programme provides APs with a comprehensive approach to planning and development. IDC wrote: "This programme allows the vendor and the partner to focus on important areas of the relationship and encourages smaller partners to reach for higher level status."
"Progress is taking the right approach in providing its partners with access to information and resources to move them further up the programme levels and into close joint relationships," says Paul Edwards, director of software partnering and alliances at IDC. "Leading companies such as Progress have made positive advances in meeting the demands of the marketplace through partner programme best practices."
The IDC report says leaders such as Progress Software are "building more modular, systematic and systemic relationship structures that provide partners with the freedom to choose how they align with the vendor based on their unique business requirements and objectives."
"This combination of business and technical partner development has enabled Progress partners to translate service-oriented architecture (SOA) theory into real applications that respond to the demands from small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as larger organisations," says Rick Parry, MD of Progress Software South Africa. "Growing demand for SOA-based applications is driving the fastest ever Progress product uptake rate for the most recent release of the Progress OpenEdge Platform; nearly 700 partners and customers are working with the newest SOA-enabling release. The Progress Partner Programme has been a positive influence in helping our partners and their customers prepare for the technology landscape of the future."
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Progress Software South Africa is a subsidiary of US-based Progress Software Corporation, the world leader in the embedded database market. The company provides the underlying software technology and services required for successfully developing, deploying, integrating and managing e-business solutions. Progress actively pursues innovative technologies and new business opportunities that allow companies to make an effective transition to true e-business environments. Progress`s OpenEdge platform enables its partners to deliver lowest cost of ownership applications that are rapidly implemented and easily integrated within and across the extended enterprise.
The company`s extensive partner base includes more than 2 000 application partners and application service providers who supply more than $5 billion in Progress-based applications and services annually. Over 50 000 organisations across 100 countries - including 70% of the Fortune 100 - rely on Progress technology.