ReliaCloud Looks To Channel To Drive Cloud Adoption

Cloud infrastructure and hosting provider ReliaCloud this week launched its first full-fledged channel partner program, enabling managed service providers (MSPs) and VARs to offer cloud services and drive cloud adoption.

ReliaCloud's move to the channel comes as the cloud services market prepares to explode. According to IDC, revenue from cloud services is expected to balloon at an annual growth rate of 26 percent from 2009 and 2013. Meanwhile, a report from Global Industry Analysts predicts that the cloud computing services market will reach $222.5 billion by 2015, creating mountains of new opportunities for VARs and MSPs.

The new program centers on ReliaCloud's enterprise-class infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offering. The company said it will offer a new suite of tools that help resellers tackle the growing cloud services market and will launch a series of cloud-specific channel programs designed around ReliaCloud's Cloud Storage and Cloud Services offerings.

The program has four flavors: Affiliate Partners, VAR Partners, Private Label Partners and Marketplace Partners. Affiliates earn referral fees by recommending ReliaCloud to clients and ReliaCloud handles customer set-up, credit card processing and technical support. Affiliates can earn a one-time fee of $25 per signup. VAR Partners receive volume-based discounts and receive marketing collateral and training. Private Label Partners are qualified VARs, solution providers and SIs that can integrate ReliaCloud services with their current offerings and sell the product under the partner's own brand to receive volume-based discounts. And Marketplace Partners are technology companies that work together with ReliaCloud toward mutual benefits while maintaining their own individual corporate identities.

What sets ReliaCloud's program apart from other IaaS-focused cloud channel programs, the company said, is ReliaCloud's access to an assigned channel manager. Each partner will have direct access to a channel manager, the company said, a benefit some other cloud providers lack in their channel offerings.

"We are excited to launch a program that allows managed service providers the opportunity to expand their business by offering cloud services," Brian Stevenson, ReliaCloud's vice president of sale, said in a statement. "We expect IT consulting firms and managed service providers to be the driving force of cloud adoption."