Cloud services and billing platform from TDAzlan

With immediate effect, cloud resellers can offer all the following services through the TD Cloud programme:
· Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) from Rackspace
· Hosted Microsoft Office 365 from LuxCloud
· Mozy by EMC cloud-based backup service
· Hosted video services via Videxio
· White-label IaaS from AirVM*1
Additional services will be added to the portfolio over the coming months.

Resellers will be able to manage all monthly charges and subscriptions through StreamOne – Tech Data’s fully-integrated billing platform for cloud services. By enabling them to keep track of customer subscriptions and consumption and to collate all the information into one simple bill at the end of each month, StreamOne allows resellers to offer a complete cloud services proposition to their customers with minimal investment.

Joel Chimoindes, European Cloud Services Director for Azlan, said: “The cloud is a very exciting opportunity for everyone in the channel. With the portfolio of services we are now making available and StreamOne providing the missing operational link, resellers can now enter the cloud services market with a complete proposition, knowing that they will be able to manage subscriptions, usage monitoring and billing professionally.”

The range of services being offered will have particular appeal to medium-sized and smaller business, he added. “We have looked at the market in real depth and these are areas in which customers are looking to adopt cloud services right away – for backup, IaaS, video and mobile office productivity. In particular, we see this array of services appealing to SMBs that are growing fast and want to benefit from having the maximum flexibility, versatility and resilience that cloud services deliver.”

The availability of the StreamOne platform was a pre-requisite to the launch of the TD Cloud Services, said Chimoindes. “Without StreamOne, resellers would have to develop their own way of monitoring the usage of every single service by every single customer. StreamOne enables them to manage and automate the whole process. It makes it much easier to enter the market, to build quotations, monitor usage and subscriptions and, crucially, provide a single bill, based on that customer’s consumption of cloud services at the end of the month.”

Azlan is also making a number of professional services available alongside the Cloud Services. These will include Network Assessment and Migration Services as well as Cloud Provider IaaS, all of which will be made available as ‘white-label’ offerings for partners.

Daniel Cartter, EMEA Director of Cloud Solution and Services, Azlan-SDG said: “Azlan-SDG recognised the need to address the growing requirement to supply reseller partners with a resource pool of services and solutions that will enable them to broaden their offering to customers and fill any gaps in their skills, capacity or geographical capacities. Our Channel Practice will provide resellers with access to experienced consultants and resources and enable them to meet customer needs without making addition investments, and assist them in building their own capabilities in the cloud services arena.”

Around 150 resellers have already engaged on Azlan’s TD Cloud Discovery Programme, which provides all the information, education and enablement resources they need to develop their knowledge and devise a cloud strategy and proposed value proposition for their business. The launch of the TD Cloud Services and the StreamOne platform will enable resellers to move to the next stage and start offering services and generating revenues from the cloud.

Over the next few weeks, Azlan will be making a series of presentations at a number of events and hosting special webinar sessions on each of the Cloud Services it is making available.

Chimoindes stated: “We have formed partnerships with a group so services providers that will meet current customer priorities in the cloud and give resellers and their customers flexibility and choice. In Rackspace and Mozy, we have tried and trusted brands and in LuxCloud, Videxio and AirVM a blend of practicality and innovation that will enable partners to offer customers the services they want to buy today and to explore the potential to broaden their horizons and adopt new and more flexible ways of working.”