Tier 3, the cloud services provider, has launched a reseller partner program for VARs and MSPs that want to offer IaaS. Is this a timely alternative to Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure and other big public clouds?

May 8, 2013

2 Min Read
Tier 3 Founder Jared Wray It39s time for a channelfriendly cloud partner program
Tier 3 Founder Jared Wray: It's time for a channel-friendly cloud partner program.

By samdizzy

Tier 3, a cloud services provider, has launched a channel partner program for VARs, MSPs and resellers. Tier 3 says the cloud partner program positions resellers to generate recurring monthly revenues from Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and other related services. The company is also positioning itself as a channel-friendly alternative to big public clouds like Amazon Web Services (NYSE:AMZN). Here' why.

Tier 3 will further describe the cloud partner program during our next Channel Expert Hour webcast (May 9, 2pm ET/11am PT). VARs and MSPs will be welcome to submit questions during the webcast.

Key Details

According to a prepared statement from the company, the Tier 3 Cloud Reseller Edition is "a new collection of branding and administrative features designed for the channel." The offering "brings cloud infrastructure, platform services and advanced management functions together in a single reseller-ready platform that can be easily re-branded and customized by partners for global enterprise deployments."

To the best of my knowledge, channel partners can control branding, pricing and end-customer billing for the cloud services. The reseller program blanket 10 Tier 3 data centers around the world. Plus, so-called Blueprint capabilities allow partners to accelerate time to revenue with rapid deployment of complex cloud environments from a library of templates, Tier 3 claims.

The partner program, according to Tier 3, also features:

  • Account Management and Account Hierarchies. Partners can control, monitor, and bill for cloud usage across their customer base.

  • Advanced Integration. A library of APIs, single sign on (SSO) support via SAML, and reporting can be used to integrate Tier 3 with existing applications such as billing systems to ease partner and customer deployment.

  • Customizable Services and Locations. Partners can enable and disable both node locations and discrete cloud services for their customers.

  • Content Management. This allows partners to customize help resource URLs to match existing repositories, or easily configure links for new locations.

  • Email Templates. Resellers may adjust email notifications sent from the system to match their preferences and branding.

  • Cloud Management Portal Rebranding. Partners may easily alter the visual appearance of the Tier 3 web-based management interface to their own brand.

In a prepared statement, Tier 3 Founder Jared Wray took a thinly veiled shot at big public cloud providers — likely Amazon, Windows Azure and others — that sometimes trigger reseller concerns.

"Large public cloud providers aren’t always channel-friendly, and there is significant risk and complexity to developing a cloud from the ground up,” said Wray. “We built the Tier 3 Cloud Reseller Edition with the channel in mind. From simple white-labeling, to complex custom application development and hosting, Tier 3 helps partners play to their strengths with new cloud products.”

Early Tier 3 adopters include PEER 1 Hosting, which leverages Tier 3 for its Mission Critical Cloud.

 

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