Amazon Web Services is making big investments in two key partners: mega-distributor TD Synnex and service provider Verizon Wireless.

First up, TD Synnex said on Tuesday it has signed a new “strategic collaboration agreement” with cloud computing giant AWS. AWS frequently funnels money, tools and support experts into partners’ operations through these arrangements. In fact, expect to see at least one more such deal announced on Wednesday from a cloud software provider in Europe.

For TD Synnex, this particular investment means more resources for getting SMB and public sector organizations to adopt more of AWS’ various platforms. The SCA covers North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. AWS and TD Synnex (pre-merger, when it was just Tech Data) executed a similar deal in 2020 that targeted Europe. Ruba Borno, newly appointed global channel chief, said the latest agreement comes amid “a significant rise in demand and adoption of cloud solutions” over the last 18 months.

To be sure, thousands of organizations worldwide have ramped up their reliance on cloud computing because of COVID-19. The push accelerated hardest in 2020 as companies scrambled to support remote workers. But the momentum shows no signs of slowing thanks to ongoing digital transformation initiatives to bring more end users out of the legacy technology era.

Partner Benefits

The benefits of the new AWS SCA will trickle down to TD Synnex’s ISVs and other channel partners, TD Synnex said.

“The SCA demonstrates a committed investment in cloud technology that will enable partners to expand their offerings to reach larger markets,” the company said.

The specific resources AWS is contributing to TD Synnex through the SCA include people who will help with marketing, sales, technical issues, project management and implementation, as well as tools and materials to help partners ramp up their AWS practices.

TD Synnex’s Mike Ward

“TD Synnex is excited to expand our portfolio of offerings to partners that deliver business outcomes today and further unlock the future,” said Mike Ward, vice president of cloud solutions, North America. “With additional AWS solutions added to our vast portfolio, we’re able to enrich the breadth and depth of our offerings so partners can continue to receive the best support we have to offer.”

AWS, Verizon Expand Mobile Edge Computing Availability

Next, AWS continues to expand its mobile edge computing capabilities through partner Verizon Wireless. The companies said on Tuesday they have added Charlotte, North Carolina; Detroit, Los Angeles and Minneapolis to their Verizon 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength network.

AWS’ Wavelength Zones act as infrastructure that embeds the public cloud provider’s compute and storage with Verizon’s data centers at the edge of the 5G network. That way, application traffic from 5G devices reaches servers in the Wavelength Zones without leaving the telecom network. So together, the companies’ technologies reduce latency and network hops on application traffic tied to machine learning, IoT, video and gaming.

The three additional cities represent 30% more locations in which the AWS-Verizon services now are available. Last August, the mobile edge computing went online in Chicago, Houston and Phoenix. The number of locations where customers can take advantage of Verizon 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength now totals 17, all in the United States.

As far as a partner play, AWS mobile edge computing via Verizon Wireless targets ISVs and developers – for now – more so than managed service providers, resellers, consultants and the like.