Interland's New Plan Treats VARs As Strategic Partners

With an eye toward simplifying billing for its channel partners, Web hosting vendor Interland this week intends to go live with its new wholesale pricing structure.

Under the new approach, all Interland solution providers will qualify for wholesale pricing as soon as they purchase one shared or dedicated hosting account. The wholesale discounts can be as much as 25 percent, depending on the product, an Interland executive said.

Previously, Interland discounts were based strictly on volume. The new strategy is an attempt to make tracking payments easier for high-performing partners, according to Glenn Hoffman, vice president of shared hosting services at Interland.

"We wanted to take away the headache of tracking different prices for different customers," he said. "We know our channel will be necessary to help us grow from a strategic point of view, and this is our way of making things easier for that channel."

Interland announced the new wholesale pricing back in May. Now, however, solution providers can access detailed pricing information through the Atlanta-based vendor's partner intranet, the Interland Partner Advantage Centralized Tools (iPACT) site.

From there, channel partners can set whatever margins they desire, planning markups around the discounts they'll receive.

In some cases, particularly on dedicated hosting accounts that start at $120 apiece, the discounts are as much as 25 percent off the retail price.

Discounts like these were good news to solution providers interested in simplifying operations and saving money. Ralph Rivera, CEO at Rahvalor Interactive, a solution provider in Teaneck, N.J., said the changes should free up resources at his company to perform more mission-critical tasks.

"Hosting is not our prime business, but a service we provide," said Rivera, whose firm specializes in Web design. "With this new pricing structure, I can offer Interland hosting services and not have to spend time worrying about who I charged what."

Interland currently boasts more than 9,000 solution providers. The company has reported a 45 percent increase in partner enrollment since February.