Distribution Central to launch "world first" cloud configurator

Distributor Distribution Central has revealed that it is developing a cloud computing configurator dubbed Storm Front, a management tool for service providers reselling cloud services.

Introducing the tool "pre-emptively" at the company's Sydney road show last week - the last of a series of national shows - Scott Frew, chief executive officer for Distribution Central (pictured left), described the tool as "the world's first distribution layer cloud configurator".

Independent from the company's distribution business, Storm Front will be a tool for service providers to manage their cloud offerings and it will be available to all - not just Distribution Central's existing reseller partners.

"The biggest secret source that sits in our organisation is that I have spent millions, literally, on systems. The only way for [resellers] to add value is by making you more efficient. By making you more efficient there's less people working for you and your margins and net profit goes up," Frew told resellers at the event in Sydney's Swissotel.

"That's what we're about," he said. "To make you more efficient, because cloud is a threat to us all. If customers don't buy an appliance, they will buy a cloud service. If you guys aren't in that stream that's a threat," he said.

Storm Front is comparable to Distribution Central's Annuity System, said marketing director Nick Verykios (pictured right). Annuity allows partners to monitor their own assets management including renewals, warranty conversion, subscription and licence management.

Verykios said resellers use Annuity to manage their hardware systems. "They will use this tool [Storm Front] to manage their cloud offerings."

Stll under construction and with the full commercial aspects yet to be completed, Storm Front is around four months away from being "commercially viable".

"So, it's in development, we'll probably have a couple of incarnations to be able to announce within the next four months. It will be a fee[-based] service, we haven't worked out the commercial model.

Distribution Central is designing Storm Front for a number of application service providers, added Verykios.

"Any reseller, anyone that has a need, anyone that has the game. We're creating the portal...that manages the transactions for them," he said.