dinServer: New Cloud Option for IT-Fearful Agents
Telecom agents and consultants eager to break into cloud services without becoming IT experts seem to have more opportunities coming their way from vendors. Among the latest announcements is news from dinCloud that its hosted virtual server is available through channel partners, including telecom agents.
The key is that this is not just a product release. Rather, dinServer and, arguably, similar platforms from other suppliers gives agents a way to capitalize on businesses’ growing demand for virtualization. Virtualization eliminates the need for expensive, on-site hardware such as servers and desktop computers. It lets organizations use thin clients, for example, or tablets, and store all applications and information in the cloud, in a data center run by a third party. Best of all, selling virtualization earns residual commissions and you don’t have to be a techie to profit.
Large data centers used to allocate physical hardware to each customer. But now, server virtualization and management lets customers control their own environments; those users also share the same physical server within the data center, lowering the costs for everyone. dinCloud’s release of its hosted virtual server builds on that model. What differs among suppliers, however, is the level of "isolation" and control allocated to customers. For its part, dinCloud keeps its customers separate. The virtual data center is not shared, said Ali Din, senior vice president and chief marketing officer. There also are private links and connectivity, and each client’s environment is redundant, supported by regular backups.
"Each customer is isolated through networking, servers and storage down to the network cards," Din explained. "We do this by having a completely virtualized infrastructure where customers are not tied to hardware. This also makes moving their cloud much easier to another facility/geography, or if they wish, away from dinCloud."
The approach further means users oversees their servers through an online tool called dinManage; or, channel partners can handle that task and charge for the professional service.
Telecom agents keen to dive deeper into cloud services can profit from the hosted virtual server trend by continuing to do what they’re doing, Din said.
"If they normally install software onto servers on-premise at the customer, they can now offer a hosted server environment," he said. "That means they would leverage dinCloud to host the server but still be the ones to install the software, or VoIP/virtual PBX onto the servers. They can maintain control of the servers, or let the customer, and have commissions on the hosting services."
Of course, for resellers watching their big up-front payouts on hardware disappear, the residual model holds great appeal. To that point, there is more than one way channel partners can work with dinCloud.
"The least troublesome is to refer business to dinCloud, dinCloud can bill on their behalf and pay a commission," said Din. "The model dinCloud recommends is that the IT reseller re-sell the service. The IT reseller would then bill the customer. dinCloud can support hybrid models if the reseller does not want to get involved in the billing and collections but still wants to maintain the relationship."
