CloudShare: Build And Send IT Environments In The Cloud

Company:

Headquarters: Menlo Park, Calif.

Technology Sector: Software

Key Product: CloudShare Enterprise

Year Founded: 2007

Number of Channel Partners: Two resellers; several client partners

Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-Focused Solution Provider

Why You Should Care: CloudShare offers a SaaS platform that lets VARs and solution providers create demos, proofs of concept and sales tools of complex IT environments in the cloud and without the travel and investment typically required.

The Lowdown: Need to set up a six-machine virtual environment to show a client? How about a four-machine environment? CloudShare offers the ability for VARs and solution providers to set up the virtual environment and send it to potential clients in the cloud, via a link to test and kick around.

But CloudShare vice president of marketing Kevin Epstein said CloudShare goes well beyond just being a virtual lab. Along with sending out test environments, resellers can tie in their own managed services offerings or hosted services to add real value.

"If the customer likes it, they can keep it hosted or deploy it on site," Epstein said.

CloudShare, which just rolled out its Pro version last month, offers an easy platform for VARs to build environments, add machines to them and send them to clients.

"We're like WebEx for virtual machines," Epstein said. "You can create, manage and track machine environments."

CloudShare lets users create and replicate fully functional IT environments in the cloud, taking only seconds to build. Essentially, it lets resellers and VARs distribute copies of the environment that clients can use and modify while it's monitored and managed. Users can do anything with the system that they can do on-premise, including saving records, loading data and integrating it with local enterprise systems.

Epstein said it's a "hands-on" approach that is more than just screen sharing and Web sharing. CloudShare gives VARs, customers and others the ability to interact in a dedicated hands-on environment to discuss demos, for technical training and for empowering channel partners.

For VARs and other smaller businesses that sell complex IT solutions and services, CloudShare lets them instantly create, share and track copies of the IT environments. Sharing them in the cloud eliminates the need to ship machines and roll trucks to client sites.

According to Epstein, those capabilities can reduce sales cycles by several orders of magnitude while also boosting productivity. Resellers can engage more customers at once, as well.