Tech Data To Offer Endpoint Management Cloud Solutions With EarthLink
Tech Data's TDCloud signed a distribution agreement Monday with EarthLink to provide a suite of managed cloud and support services for clients.
Stacy Nethercoat, vice president of product marketing with TDCloud, said the service offerings from EarthLink will help channel partners with cost savings in moving to a cloud platform. TechData has approximately 70 distribution agreements in place already.
"This offering was brought on into the TDCloud portfolio specifically for partners who are working to expand or launch their cloud practice and obviously investing in those services resources can be expensive," Nethercoat told CRN.
[Related: Tech Data Adds Resources to TDCloud]
EarthLink, based in Atlanta, provides managed network, security and cloud solutions for multi-location businesses. The company was also recognized this year in CRN's 2014 Solution Provider 500 List in the 30th spot.
Tech Data will offer EarthLink's TechCare support service -- a Help Desk-as-a-Service outlet for MSPs and VARs. Through EarthLink's Cloud Workspace, Tech Data will also offer the Desktop-as-a-Service, which allows solution providers to easily deliver a configurable virtual desktop environment.
Sherri Turpin, channel chief for EarthLink Business, said this move is a sign of things to come between EarthLink and TDCloud. Turpin said the services will allow VARs to reduce costs and scale their services models efficiently.
"We’re starting with TechCare and Workspace as our foundational cloud services, but we'll look to enable more cloud services as we move forward in our relationship," she said.
Angela O'Donnell, CEO of W. O’Donnell Consulting in New York City, said her company has been a partner of Tech Data's for years. As a VAR and MSP, she said the Earthlink addition is solid for the distributor’s offerings.
"I think it gives us the opportunity to provide services to client requests quickly," she said of cloud services. "It's a learning curve. There are individual product manufacturers that have their own terms and conditions, but [Tech Data] is one place to go and find all those things."
Tech Data's TDCloud business unit is a team of cloud experts dedicated to supporting its channel of solution providers through education, enablement and adoption of cloud and subscription-based services.
Nethercoat said her company wants to engage with their partners and take their feedback. This is a step toward that, she explained, noting these ’scalable’ solutions from EarthLink are tailored to meet the diverse technology needs of solution providers and their end-user customers with minimal infrastructure or staffing investments.
"There's an open dialogue around, 'How can Tech Data meet the needs of our partners?'" she said. "We respond and develop relationships with third parties…, all based on the feedback we’re receiving from our partners."
PUBLISHED SEPT. 15, 2014