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Zerto on Tuesday released version 5.5 of its Zerto Virtual Replication continuous data replication and recovery suite, designed for cloud and virtualized workloads. ZVR 5.5, which the company previewed at its May partner and customer event in Boston, delivers bi-directional replication within Microsoft Azure, faster recovery of AWS workloads and new analytics capabilities to help partners monitor multi-site, multi-cloud customer environments.

Zerto’s Don Wales

Also of interest to the channel are an improved upgrade process for ZVR virtual replication appliances and a Zerto Mobile Widget so partners can quickly check on customer workloads from anywhere.

Don Wales, VP of cloud, told Channel Partners that Zerto now has some 1,700 partners, up from around 1,400 at the beginning of the year. What’s attracting them, says Wales, is that Zerto takes a platform approach so partners can provide the resiliency businesses need against ransomware and other disasters, but also deliver portability of application workloads among multiple clouds.

That includes hosting within the 350 cloud service provider partners that use Zerto technology.

“What these smaller cloud providers provide is sort of a white-glove treatment for their customers’ applications that will let them move into a true hybrid strategy that includes on-prem, CSP and public cloud,” said Wales. “Maybe there’s a performance element within my Oracle or SAP system, that I absolutely need a cloud designed just for that. And you’re seeing Oracle- and SAP-centric cloud providers pop up. And they’re using us.”

While smaller cloud providers may have started out with big dreams of taking on AWS, Wales says he now sees an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” mindset and CSPs investigating how to be gateways into the public cloud. To that end, he cites the bi-directional Azure ability within ZVR 5.5, which enables providers to ease lock-in worries by not only protecting data within Microsoft’s cloud but enabling fast and easy replication and failback of production workloads to VMware or Hyper-V environments.

For those who prefer AWS, he says the 5.5 release allows three- to five-times faster recovery times as well as expanded support for AWS regions in Canada, London and Mumbai as well as Ohio. Zerto also announced new APIs to ease integration with automation platforms, cloud portals and customized monitoring or other systems and support for VMware vCenter 6.5 and Microsoft Hyper-V 2016/SCVMM 2016.

John White, VP of product strategy for Expedient, one of Zerto’s long-standing CSP partners, says his firm provides real-time replication and protects thousands of workloads on vSphere and Hyper-V, so these additions are particularly welcome.

“Zerto’s continued investment in their API enables Expedient to automate operations for greater efficiency and flexibility,” said White, who is speaking at Channel Partners Evolution. “With ZVR 5.5, they delivered additional cloud-centric APIs specific to cloud management that we can use to extend custom portals to our customers.”

Expedient’s Zerto installed base has doubled in 2017, so operational efficiency is extremely important as well. “The simplification of the virtual replication appliances allows for maximum uptime and streamlined operations,” said White.

Wales adds that for partners across the spectrum, the sales discussion with customers should be all about application mobility without complexity. Among partners that are seeing customer pushback on adopting Zerto’s or other replication technology, the main concern isn’t bandwidth or cost, it’s …

…legacy systems.

“So many businesses have build so many custom applications, it’s really difficult to say, ‘Let’s move this over here,'” he says. “We enable that.”

Zerto president Paul Zeiter left no doubt about the company’s commitment to its partners in an address at ZertoCON.

“We want to be all channel,” said Zeiter. “We’re big believers in the channel. We invest in the channel. We will always be a channel company because our success has been built on the people in the room here.”

Wales agreed with Zeiter and added that the company is in a “luxurious position” in terms of deals with tech vendors like IBM, Nutanix and others under its ZAP Technical Alliance Program. Zerto recently closed a deal with HPE to offer ZVR direct through the HPE Complete program, and Wales says that the company is looking to stress the openness of its platform approach and the value partners bring to the table.

“We take our partnerships really seriously,” said Wales. “The features that we have, the features that we’re coming out with, they’re born not only from what we see in the industry, they’re born from our partner discussions.”