Ingram Adds Pay-As-You-Go Cisco Hosted Collaboration Service

Distributor Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) has added Cisco Systems' (NASDAQ: CSCO) Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) pay-as-you-go service to its lineup of offerings in North America. A select group of Ingram’s solution providers have beta tested the solution over the last few months and the distributor plans to unwrap it at its upcoming 2013 Cloud Summit in Scottsdale, Ariz., April 8-10.

According to Ingram Micro, the solution will help its Cisco-authorized channel partners sell collaboration technologies along with additional value-added services to supplement their sales with subscription-based recurring revenue.

Channel partners that can deliver cost-effective, cloud-based UC deployments melding collaboration technologies and networking for next-generation data centers will win more than their fair share of new business, the distributor noted. The end goal is to help VARs make money by crafting differentiated service bundles, optimizing ROI on capital expenditures and reducing operating expenses to deliver services efficiently.

“By engaging Ingram Micro, utilizing our dedicated Cisco Business Unit and growing Cloud Marketplace to offer HCS-as-a-service, Cisco channel partners can establish a new recurring revenue stream without having to invest in the upfront capital to get the business moving,” said Jay Miley, Ingram Advanced Technology Division vice president and general manager.

Ingram is featuring the HCS at its Cloud Marketplace, positioning it as an opportunity for VARs to sell as-a-service offerings around Cisco unified communications, customer collaboration and WebEx technologies. The distributor also said that it will leverage Cisco’s Advanced Services unit to assist channel partners to provision and deploy the HCS, including 24/7 service management, monitoring and Level 2 and Level 3 technical support.

“Cisco and Ingram Micro recognize the tremendous opportunity to offer cloud-based services through the channel as the demand for pay-as-you-go collaboration services grows,” said Richard McLeod, Cisco Worldwide Partner Collaboration Sales senior director. “This new HCS service allows Ingram Micro to add value by reducing complexity associated with building and selling cloud collaboration solutions."