Computerlinks UK, the distributor of IT security and Internet technology solutions, has extended its offer of 625 (US$1000) worth of free cloud network servers or storage to IT resellers who sign up to its Alvea Services before the end of April 2011. The offer, which is designed to give resellers a taste of the benefits of cloud computing for their own businesses, was made to all attendees at the company's Capitalise on Cloud event, which took place in London on 4th March. A further 100 of cloud services credit was also offered for resellers to give to each end-user that signs up to Alvea Infrastructure Services before the end of June 2011.
The event included a keynote presentation from Quocirca's business and IT analyst Bob Tarzey and speakers from Computerlinks who explained how the channel can capitalise on cloud with its Alvea Services. While more than half of attendees said they were already delivering their own cloud services, ten companies said they will also be offering Alvea's cloud and managed services to their customers following the event.
Mike Worby, sales manager of Alvea Services at Computerlinks said: "We've had a great response from the channel, many of whom are looking to offer a hybrid cloud model combining ALVEA with their own offerings. The zero-risk option that Alvea provides means that our partners can deliver a full range of cloud solutions quickly and easily. We've given the added incentive of free credit to prove just how easy it is to spin up a server and use the cloud to meet peaks in demand."
Results of Computerlinks' recent end-user survey were highlighted to demonstrate the opportunities that the cloud presents for the channel. In particular it showed that 60% of companies questioned last year were either using or actively evaluating the benefits.
In his presentation Bob Tarzey, Quocirca, outlined the opportunities for the channel to provide value-added services around the cloud: "For organisations of any size, the on-going deployment of IT will be a mix of on-premise infrastructure and cloud based services; they will need advice on how to get that mix right and to ensure the overall the delivery of IT is seamless and integrated."
Two of Computerlinks' existing partners that attended the event are already offering Alvea Services as part of their cloud solutions portfolios.
Justin Thorogood, product marketing director at Comtact, a Sunday Times Tech Track 100 company and one of the fastest growing managed service providers in the UK said: "We have added Alvea to our portfolio as it allows us to complement our existing skills and core solutions without the need for upfront investment. We aim to provide our customers new and existing with best of breed technologies that deliver real business benefits and we believe that Alvea will give us the edge in what is likely to become a very competitive market."
Garry King, managing director at IT solutions provider Shift F7 said: " By incorporating Alvea into our cloud and managed services portfolio we've been able to enter the market early, build on our existing client relationships and create new business opportunities. Computerlinks' infrastructure and technology expertise has allowed us to respond to our clients' demands for cloud solutions quickly and cost-effectively."
The announcement follows Computerlinks UK's recent remodelling of its business to enable its channel partners to deliver profitable, value-added services around new and emerging technologies such as virtualisation, cloud computing and IP-based physical security.
The complete suite of Alvea Services includes Alvea Cloud Infrastructure, Managed Firewall, Managed Secure Backup, Managed Content & Application Delivery Services, and Cloud Attached Storage. Further cloud-based and managed services to address business internet continuity and managed anti-virus will be announced later this year.
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