Las Vegas – The cloud juggernaut was just too great for pioneering programs from Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) such as Seismic and Cloud Conduit. Both programs have been integrated into the new Ingram Micro Cloud platform.
Renee Bergeron, vice president, managed services and cloud computing for Ingram Micro North America, told CDN that Ingram’s new cloud portfolio will include eight new vendors encompassing 15 new cloud-based solutions. “We have tried to be proactive when it comes to the cloud and by building this kind of portfolio we can make sure the reseller is able to solve business problems through Ingram’s cloud market place,” she said.
The new cloud strategy will be global in scope, but with many local providers involved. It also works similar to the Seismic program in terms of making these cloud solutions transactional for solution providers. And, there are two interesting new vendors for Ingram’s cloud plans: BMC who has never used distribution and Montreal-based hosting service provider SherWeb.
“We know that Canadian clients want to by Canadian-based services and SherWeb is an emerging vendor,” Bergeron said.
The other vendors in the Ingram cloud are Symantec, Trend Micro, N-Able Technologies, Cisco Systems, and VMware.
And, more new vendors could be on the way. According to Paul Bay, executive vice president for Ingram Micro North America, he spends 35 per cent of his time looking for diamonds in the rough such as BMC and SherWeb. “SherWeb is a good example of how are North American region, with two separate structures, work. We look at new vendors in the pipeline for CE and our goals and objectives are to try and supplement that line card.” Bay added that Ingram Micro Canada chief Mark Snider played a huge role in uncovering SherWeb. “Canada has a best in class practice and sometimes they have better access to these up-and-coming vendors. We’ve reached into Canada and we saw how it works and the Canadian operation has led in this crossover,” he said.
Tiffani Bova, worldwide vice president of channel research for Gartner, said in the last five years channel partners have dramatically change from solution providers to managed service provider to the new term of cloud broker.
“The mother load of the cloud is around the cloud services aggregator model and the ability to integrate multiple cloud offerings into a solution. This may or may not mean not reselling anything,” Bova said.
Bergeron said that the Canadian market has traditionally been conservative looking at cloud. She believes Canadian customers and channel partners want to understand the value proposition before they jump in; unlike the Americans who tend to follow hype more. She added that Ingram will approach the cloud market in Canada in a cautious way because of regulatory issues such as the Patriot Act. “Not having Canadian specific vendors hasn’t helped and that’s why we are bring in more Canadian vendors such as SherWeb,” she said.
There will be an extensive vetting process for these new vendors. Bergeron said that the distributor isn’t interested in bring in any cloud-based solution just because they are Canadian. “If they fit into the road map and pass our due diligence then we’ll have more Canadian vendors. We’ll look at the organization, their financials to get a solid understanding of the solution and see if it can scale and if they have an innovative road map. If they will be there for the long run. Resellers are bombarded by new cloud solutions everyday and they look to Ingram to find the gems,” she said.