Colt announces European V.A.D. dealer cloud services channel strategy
Value-added distributor appointed as Colt’s first cloud services dealer distributor tapping into the channel Colt, a provider of linformation delivery platforms across Europe and has announced that it has appointed value-added distributor, Magirus as its first cloud services distributor. This move represents a new direction for Colt’s channel partner programme with the introduction of an IT distributor to its partner community for the first time. In addition to offering its cloud services directly to customers, this approach will enable Colt to sell through a wider network of specialist IT resellers, specifically for its virtualised cloud services, and builds on its 20-year heritage in delivering integrated networking and computing services to European businesses.
The introduction of IT distributors to its partner community will enable Colt to benefit from the expertise of a specialist network of IT resellers and will serve to further extend the reach of its VMware vCloud Datacenter Services to markets across Europe.
In addition to which, IT distributors will be able to offer its reseller partners access to an extensive information delivery platform, combining network and IT infrastructure with expertise in IT services, networking and communication solutions.
Cloud services have significantly matured and we’re already seeing increased demand for IAAS (infrastructure as a service) in Europe.
By working with IT distributors, we will now be able to sell through a wider reseller community with IT background. With its proven expertise, European footprint, extensive reseller community and close relationships with our key technology partners, Magirus was a natural choice for us as we continue to look for new partners with the necessary IT background to effectively sell these new types of on-demand service.”
IT distributors, focusing on infrastructure solutions including data centre, virtualisation, storage and security, was specifically selected as Colt’s direction for its first distributor partner, providing a broad European footprint and close relationships with Colt’s technology partners, VMware, EMC and Cisco.
Colt has already forged strong partnerships with VMware and EMC to develop a set of managed IT infrastructure services. Colt was the first European partner to deliver the VMware vCloud Datacenter Service and was awarded VMware’s Global Service Provider Partner of the Year earlier this year.
Colt already works closely with over 600 partners across Europe, developing long term strategic relationships.
Colt is the information delivery platform for Europe, enabling its customers to deliver, share, and process and store their vital business information. An established leader in delivering integrated computing and network services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers, Colt operates a 21-country, 35,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 39 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 18,000 buildings and 19 Colt data centres.
In 2010, the Colt Data Centre Services business was launched to deliver innovative high quality modular data centres which are rapid to deploy and power efficient.
London, 22 November, 2011 —
