Enterprise storage conversations are changing. Organizations now need storage infrastructure that can also support ransomware recovery, meet data sovereignty requirements, and handle growing AI workloads. But this also creates challenges in terms of costs and capacity.
Scality is updating its partner program around this shift. The San Francisco-based data infrastructure software company has revamped the Scality Partner Program with a new entry tier, updated discounts, improved margins, expanded deal protection, and more formal training paths.
The changes give resellers and distributors a more structured way to build around Scality’s storage software portfolio, including Scality ARTESCA, RING, and ADI, or Autonomous Data Infrastructure. Scality has positioned ADI around enterprise AI, cyber resilience, and sovereign data control for organizations operating at multi-petabyte to exabyte scale.
Eric LeBlanc, ARTESCA GM and channel chief at Scality, told ChannelE2E that the new program is a broader shift in how the company wants to work with partners.
“The biggest difference is the design philosophy,” LeBlanc said. “Whereas the previous program rewarded transactions, the new one rewards what actually builds a durable partner business: expertise, certifications, pipeline development, and long-term customer engagement.”
LeBlanc said Scality also reworked the economics of the program, added the new entry-level Authorized tier, and extended deal protection for longer enterprise sales cycles. He said the program is built around the three markets where Scality sees the fastest customer demand: cyber resilience, digital sovereignty, and AI infrastructure.
A lower bar to enter the program
One of the main changes is a new Authorized partner tier. The tier lowers the entry point for new partners and gives them a path into Scality’s Select and Elite tiers as they build certifications, technical skills, and sales activity.
LeBlanc said the Authorized tier is meant to bring more partners into the program while still keeping technical depth at the center of Scality’s partner model.
“The Authorized tier isn’t a lowered bar, it’s a clearer runway,” LeBlanc said. “New partners get immediate access to Scality University, ARTESCA Test Drive, sales certifications, and a structured progression toward Select and Elite as their technical depth and commercial engagement grow.”
But while partners can enter the program more easily, moving up requires certifications, pipeline development, and stronger technical engagement.
“The entry threshold is lower, but moving up requires real investment in certifications and pipeline,” LeBlanc said. “Partners who commit progress quickly. Partners who don’t stay where they are.”
Scality is also using the tier model to encourage deeper partner investment. The company said discounts improve as partners complete certifications, support demand generation, and build technical skills.
Commercial upside tied to partner investment
The program update also changes how partners can think about the economics of working with Scality. The company is trying to make the commercial upside clearer for partners that build real practices around cyber resilience, sovereignty, and AI infrastructure.
LeBlanc said partners should not view the new model as a tradeoff between technical investment and commercial return.
“It’s less a tradeoff than an alignment,” LeBlanc said. “The customer conversations that matter most today are related to cyber resilience architectures, sovereign deployment design, AI data infrastructure, and these already require deep expertise. Partners who invest in that expertise win those deals regardless.”
The difference, he said, is that Scality is now tying more of the program’s economics to that investment.
“What the new program does is make sure those partners are rewarded for the investment, not just the close,” LeBlanc said. “The economics scale meaningfully with certifications, pipeline development, and technical depth, so a partner building a serious Scality practice sees the upside compound over time.”
More deal protection for longer sales cycles
Scality also said it has simplified opportunity registration and extended deal protection. Stronger deal protection will give resellers and integrators more confidence to stay involved through longer sales cycles without losing margin late in the process.
LeBlanc said that matters because the deals Scality is targeting are often long and consultative.
“Enterprise cyber resilience, sovereignty, and AI deals are long, technical, and consultative,” LeBlanc said. “We see six to 12 months-plus from first conversation to close, with significant pre-sales architecture and customer education work along the way.”
Without stronger deal protection, partners may hesitate to lead with Scality in larger opportunities. LeBlanc said the updated registration model is designed to reduce that concern.
“Partners simply won’t invest that level of effort if they’re worried the deal could be cannibalized at the end,” LeBlanc said. “Stronger deal registration with extended protection removes that risk: the partner who originates and architects the opportunity keeps it.”
Training expands around ARTESCA, RING, and ADI
Enablement is another major part of the program update. Scality University now includes on-demand sales and technical training, certification paths, and product-specific tracks. The company said training covers Scality Certified Architect, sales certification, ARTESCA delivery, and a new ADI certification pathway.
The Scality Certified Architect track is aimed at partners who need to qualify customer requirements and design more complex RING and ARTESCA deployments. The sales certification focuses on positioning ARTESCA for cyber resilience, secondary storage, and regulatory compliance use cases. ARTESCA delivery training is built for technical teams handling implementations.
The newer ADI pathway reflects Scality’s push into AI infrastructure. Scality describes ADI as software that aligns storage media, performance, and protection to different stages of the data lifecycle. The company also ties ADI to autonomous operations and very large-scale enterprise environments.
Scality has been positioning ARTESCA as cyber-resilient storage, and earlier this year announced a $100,000 cyber guarantee for ARTESCA customers if an external cyberattack destroys or encrypts data stored immutably on ARTESCA, subject to the company’s terms.
That gives MSSPs and security-focused partners another way to connect storage architecture to ransomware resilience. Backup, recovery, and immutable storage are now part of broader cyber resilience planning, especially for organizations that need to show recovery readiness to boards, insurers, and regulators.
