AVANT has grown to become the largest and fastest growing aggregator of Cisco Powered cloud services. What’s a cloud aggregator? AVANT works with more than 70 solution providers around the world to bring their cloud solutions to market; then they help the channel partners sell those cloud services more effectively. Think of AVANT as the glue that brings the two sides of the cloud services puzzle together. A key component is our INTELLIGENT DISTRIBUTION™ methodology. This is where we actively assist partners in learning, prospecting, qualifying, selling and supporting cloud solutions.
This week at the Channel Partners Conference in Las Vegas, we are teaming with Cisco to promote Cisco Powered cloud services providers to the channel partner community. AVANT has a strong presence in cloud-savvy advisors and VAR channels, making it an ideal fit for enabling partners to sell Cisco Powered cloud services.
AVANT’s partner community has been increasingly successful with selling cloud services along with their historical strength in telecommunication channel sales. Our ecosystem of providers includes top Cisco Powered cloud providers like: NTT/Dimension Data, Peak 10, QTS, Quest, Sungard Availability Services, US Signal, ViaWest and West IP Communications. These represent some of the largest businesses in the world. What you may not know is that they are also some of the largest (and most channel friendly) Cisco Powered cloud providers.
Cisco Powered cloud services allow AVANT partners to deliver business outcomes to enterprise customers through hybrid cloud solutions. These include: infrastructure-as-a- service, disaster recovery as a service, hosted collaboration, desktop as a service and many more.
Every Cisco Powered service must pass a rigorous third-party audit, which includes validating the deployed architecture and auditing the provider’s operations, to assure the provider can deliver the required service level agreement. This gives enterprise customers peace of mind to know their cloud services are enterprise class.
Why did Cisco choose to partner with AVANT? “Cisco’s Cloud and Managed Services Program (CMSP) has generated a strong pipeline of Cisco Powered cloud services demand and we’re working with our channel partners to make them more successful in selling cloud,” explains Steve Benvenuto, senior director in Cisco’s cloud group. “That’s where AVANT comes into the equation. Partners feel confident going to market with Cisco solutions that are backed by AVANT’s sales enablement strategy and deep cloud experience.”
“We are excited to help Cisco take their cloud solutions to market in a new and disruptive way,” said Drew Lydecker, president, AVANT. “Whether you are a VAR, MSP or trusted advisor, you can plug into the AVANT platform and enablement tools, allowing you to go to market faster and more strategically.”
Here is what some of the leading Cisco Powered Cloud providers are saying about the AVANT and Cisco collaboration:
Quote Sheet
Peak 10
“As a leading Cisco Powered Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider, and the first in the Americas to offer Cisco Powered Disaster Recovery as a Service, our partnership with AVANT, the largest Cisco Powered Cloud Aggregator, is a natural fit,” said Steve Harris, senior vice president, National Alliances, Peak 10. “AVANT’s world-class sales enablement approach coupled with our world-class service makes us strong partners and positions us for significant growth.”
QTS
“Avant is clearly a leader in the cloud, colocation and communications services market,” said Frank Eagle, vice president, business development. “The investments Avant has made in hiring highly skilled personnel, training and support programs for their partners resulted in their dramatic growth. Avant and Cisco are both strategic partners for QTS and we expect to significantly grow our business with Avant and Cisco.”
ViaWest
“Avant is a long standing ViaWest partner that shares our customer-centric focus,” said Jeff Johnson, director, National Channel Sales, ViaWest. “They differentiate themselves through a deep understanding of cloud technology and the ability to impart that expertise to their extensive partner network. Avant has helped ViaWest meet customer demand through forward thinking joint IT solutions for complex business requirements. We are excited about their Cisco designation and look forward to continuing our successful partnership.”
Quest
“Avant’s diverse team of experts are incredibly savvy in navigating the ever evolving cloud marketplace for their partners and clients,” said Adam Burke, vice president partnerships, Quest. “As a strategic Partner of Quest, Avant is instrumental in fueling business opportunities for our Cisco Powered QuestFlex cloud services and together we can help client’s evolution with Bimodal IT and Hybrid Cloud environments.”