Infusion
The other possible justification for using the term Fusion in this case is that AMD is attempting to consolidate, or fuse, four disparate partner programmes into one. What this means other than creating the pretext for a gratifying slide, however, remains to be seen.
"We've always been a channel company and we're investing more in the channel when others are cutting back," said Kenyon, and proceeded to list the usual channel messaging about how interdependent AMD and its partners are.
A new channel programme wouldn't be complete without a spot of stratifying and this one is no exception. So now we have Elite, Premier and Select tiers to signify the size of the organisation. Better than Gold Silver and Bronze, or whatever it used to be, we guess. Kenyon was once more keen to stress how important the Select tier, which covers the smallest partners, is to AMD.
Richard Baker, AMD's EMEA channel marketing director, was also in on the call and he cunningly pointed out that greater investment in the bottom tier also benefits larger organisations, like broad-line distributors, by generating demand in general.
