Having worked for a large manufacturer for many years, supporting both outside sales and the channel, and now work for a partner, I see more than ever the need for the channel(excluding fulfillment partners). Two reasons; 1) A manufacturer needs the channel to reach the high touch SMB's. A large manufacturer cannot maintain their large growth while employing costly sales reps and their comp plans to chase 5-50K deals that are so common in the SMB. It's wiser to have fewer reps working the 500K and up deals to make the number.
2) The channel is a real extension of the manufacturer's sales, marketing, and technical force.
Partner's, who do just more than fulfillment, field many calls and customer questions that never make it to the manufacturer which frees up the manufacturer's resources to better support their large customers.