Westcon launches AWS-fuelled cloud store in Australia

Westcon has gone live with its cloud marketplace in Australia, allowing resellers to purchase from the likes of Amazon Web Services and Symantec.

Other launch partners include key Westcon vendor Cisco, video conferencing outfit Face Me, contact centre company Virsae, Purple Wifi and Queensland-born hosted desktop provider Cloud DC.

The Westcon Cloud Solutions platform aggregates purchases from these vendors into a single invoice and is described as "a comprehensive catalogue of vendor cloud solutions distributed via Westcon’s digital distribution and integrated billing platform, BlueSky".

Last year, the distributor acquired Verecloud, the company that developed the aggregation and brokerage platform.

According to Westcon, the "channel-centric cloud platform leverages analytics to provide a valuable self-service portal for resellers".

"Real-time analytics give resellers the edge to respond to changing market demands at any given time. Reseller partners can view which services are the most popular, which services are improving their profit, which vendors are bringing in the most revenue and how their overall cloud business is faring in real-time."

The distie first started talking up the impending Australian launch last year at its Imagine conference. It is the result of years of work, including wading through complex legals around licensing, service-level agreements and authorised use policies.

Darryl Grauman, APAC director cloud & services, said: “Digital distribution is the next logical step in the channel evolution. This offering marks Westcon Group’s entry into the digital distribution space in a way that lets channel partners achieve significant benefits from cloud services.

“Westcon Cloud Solutions provides a highly scalable and integrated billing platform for resellers with no upfront investment. The cloud marketplace can be white-labelled, so resellers can provide branded shop fronts to their customers. Westcon Group will support channel partners through enablement and marketing services, helping resellers engage, develop, grow and extend their businesses through cloud services.”

It's not the only major IT project for Westcon Australia - the company recently overhauled its ERP with a move to SAP, with New Zealand and Singapore also part of the global rollout  "focused on improving operational efficiency".

Westcon's announcement comes amid a flurry of cloud marketplace announcements from the Australian distribution community, and brings one of the widest ranges of products.

Ingram Micro Australia went live with its cloud platform last month. The marketplace is initially focused on Office 365 migration, provided via automated tool SkyKick.

Distribution Central made a big splash last month with the official launch of its DC CloudSelect Marketplace, which includes services from AWS, Azure and IBM Softlayer among the roster.