Microsoft Inspire, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced it has formed a go-to-market alliance with Microsoft through Cloud28+, the world’s largest, open community dedicated to increasing enterprise cloud adoption. Microsoft joins Cloud28+, an initiative led and sponsored by HPE, as a premier Microsoft Azure Stack technology partner. By becoming a Cloud28+ member, Microsoft will combine forces with HPE to provide partners with new business opportunities and tools, while accelerating customer business outcomes powered by a rich hybrid IT ecosystem.
Through Cloud28+, HPE and Microsoft will create a joint Azure Stack ISV onboarding program focused on connecting software vendors to HPE and Microsoft solution and service providers, helping them to grow their market visibility and develop new revenue streams. In turn, HPE and Microsoft solution and service providers will benefit from dedicated lead generation campaigns and sales enablement activities to bolster their Azure Stack sales. Customers will gain access to an even more comprehensive community and cloud service catalog, allowing them find their own right mix of partners and hybrid IT solutions to match their specific workload, industry and data sovereignty requirements.
The mission of Cloud28+ is to offer customers, regardless of their location, a seamless on- and off-premises experience, based on a common platform of shared resources – services, tailored solutions and knowledge. Recently named by 451 Research as the largest cloud aggregator, Cloud28+ continues to develop rapidly since first launching its catalog service in December 2015 and expanding its worldwide community one year later.1 Today, Cloud28+ counts more than 500 partners – service providers, solution providers, ISVs, distributors, system integrators, universities and public sector organizations – contributing to a catalog of more than 18,000 build and consume services. Focused on providing high levels of data sovereignty and customization, Cloud28+ partners offer services out of more than 300 data centers in every region around the world.
“HPE and Microsoft are taking a step together to enable the channel in a new way and its ability to compete effectively in a digital, platform-driven world,” said Crawford Del Prete, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Products and Chief Research Officer, IDC. “This is an important partnership for HPE and Microsoft. Combining the power of the HPE channel community through Cloud28+, with all the possibilities of Microsoft Azure Stack, makes for a strong partner value proposition and a compelling environment for customers to more easily engage.”
Additional partner benefits include:
· Access to the Cloud28+ digital marketing engine to save time and money. Partners can publish thought leadership content, launch online campaigns tied to their offerings and easily track results.
· A worldwide community and digital business platform to increase visibility and new go-to-market avenues. Partners can quickly build new alliances and propel their offerings on the market.
· A ready-made ecosystem to accelerate and differentiate HPE ProLiant Azure Stack ISV readiness and offerings to increase sales. Partners gain time to market with Azure Stack investments and go-to-market engines; richer ISV content from which to tap into; and technical readiness with dedicated Microsoft and HPE training and events. In the future, Cloud28+ will also enable a customer transaction link to the Azure Cloud Solution Provider program.
· Access to flexible HPE IT Investment and Asset Management solutions that serve as the bridge between technology and finance solutions to help partners and their customers achieve their business goals.
“As a long-standing community member, we’re pleased about Microsoft becoming a Cloud28+ technology partner and this further endorses our long term commitment,” said Tony Limby, GM, IAAS and Hybrid Cloud, BT. “Our customers are looking for hybrid /IT services powered by trusted brands like HPE and Microsoft. Now, we’ll be able to work with them to deliver an even stronger service and portfolio of best-of-breed Microsoft Azure Stack solutions.”
“With IT at the core of every business today, Cloud28+, gives all members – whether customer or partners – the opportunity to quickly connect, share knowledge, and innovate together,” said Vikram K, Senior Director, Data Center and Hybrid Cloud, HPE India. “It’s a transformation engine around shared values that boosts broader business opportunities for everyone involved.”
Alyssa Fitzpatrick, general manager, Worldwide Channel Sales, Microsoft Corp., said, “It’s all about choice and trust. By joining Cloud28+, we will help empower customers with market-leading hybrid IT offerings fueled by partners who know and serve them best. We see Cloud28+ as a real differentiator in terms of helping our customers and partners build their own ecosystems.”
As customers focus more heavily on the connectivity, control and compute opportunities presented by the growth of the internet of things (IoT), HPE and Microsoft will also offer customers and partners a rich ISV and distributed service provider network to support the move to computing at the edge. Announced at Discover 2017, Cloud28+ now hosts HPE’s Connect IoT hub, which brings together established hardware and software vendors, system integrators and advisory partners, such as Deloitte, service providers, and OEMs of HPE technology, as well as small innovative technology partners and IoT specialist channel partners. Connect IoT is structured around use cases, industry verticals and partners that have expertise leveraging IoT within the enterprise, throughout industry and across both metro and global scale networks.
