eBay’s Magento division has launched a new Solution Partner Program, it announced on Friday. Magento Solution Partners are Magento specialists who have design, development and integration skills and a record of successful Magento implementations. The new program sets in place rigorous training and certification requirements to help ensure partners are providing quality services to merchants who are using Magento Enterprise Edition to build ecommerce-enabled websites.
eBay acquired Magento in 2011 after first investing $22.5 million into the company in 2010 for a 49% stake. Magento is a key part of eBay’s X.Commerce initiative in which eBay Inc. consolidated its developers programs (including eBay, PayPal and GSI Commerce) into one division.
Xcommerce spokesperson Lara Wyss said there was an existing Magento Solutions Partner program prior to Friday’s announcement. “However, this update is focused on addressing partner education and expertise as Magento’s merchant community continues to diversify from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 companies. The goal of the new program is to support the growing merchant base and prepare our partners to meet the scale and budget needs of any merchant.”
Wyss explained that the Magento Solution Partner program establishes standards for the design firms and systems integrators that work directly with the Magento software to build ecommerce sites for merchants.
The Magento Connect Marketplace offers extensions for merchants using Magento, and it has its own established set of standards for development of extensions for integration with the Magento Platform, Wyss explained. Magento also has a Developer Certification program that it put in place in 2011.
Last year, Magento said its Solution Partner had grown to almost 400 solution partners around the world and its Magento Connect application marketplace offered 5,600 extensions.
Roy Rubin, COO of Magento and X.commerce, said he’s seen tremendous growth in the size and scale of merchants choosing Magento, and “as a natural evolution of the business it made sense for us to launch a new Solution Partner Program.”
“Our partners are an important part of the Magento ecosystem,” Rubin said, “and we are committed to working with them to help them deliver high quality services.”
