New Relic Files IPO, Launches Partner Program For Systems Integrators

New Relic has been busy, launching a partner program for systems integrators last week and revealing Monday that it had filed for an IPO.

The Software-as-a-Service analytics company said the new partner program will allow systems integrators to bring its application performance management (APM) solution for cloud and mobile apps to enterprise clients. More specifically, it gives systems integrators revenue-sharing opportunities, co-marketing, support and lead sharing, according to the San Francisco-based company.

New Relic said it sees systems integrators being able to use the new partner program to perform effective cloud migrations, keep managed services up to speed, and tackle consulting and business intelligence efforts.

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New Relic filed its IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, but the number of shares and price they will be offered at has not been disclosed. Its stock symbol will be "NEWR," the company said.

The latest partner program is another step in New Relic's evolution from offering an APM tool to mobile and deep-diving software analytics, said Bill Lapcevic, New Relic vice president of business development.

"As much as it's changing, I think large enterprises still have uncertainty and still have a lack of knowledge about how best to run their applications in the cloud. These systems integrators provide a very important service around that, and we provide a service to them and visibility to be effective," Lapcevic said.

The company has embraced partners since its founding and continues to add support for them, Lapcevic said. The latest partner program embraces systems integrators and helps push New Relic further into the enterprise, which Lapcevic said was a natural step for the company.

"As the enterprise market has pulled us in more and more, we found there was a natural synergy between what [systems integrators] are all trying to do," Lapcevic said. "We look at this progression as a facilitator for that enterprise selling model. It's going to provide us reach into companies and projects where we might not know there is a Web development project going on," he continued.

Lapcevic said that the company is seeking out "high-end, high-quality" systems integrators heavily involved in Web application design deployment and management. New Relic already has a number of systems integrators signed up with more in the pipeline, including Amazon Premier Global and Advanced Consulting partners 2nd Watch, 8KMiles Software Services, Bulletproof, Connectria Hosting, Dedalus and Smartshift Technologies, and Microsoft Azure Partners Aditi Technologies, RDA and Terrance Software. Other partners include Cloudticity and Lochbridge.

Joel Rosenberger, senior vice president of software and cloud computing at 2nd Watch, said the company recognized that it needed an APM solution for its cloud managed services, and New Relic was the clear winner with an "out-of-the-box" solution and productized services.

"New Relic brings additional value to our customers by monitoring and alerting on application-level transactions along with the extensive plug-in capability. Our customers need an APM solution in the cloud because the underlying infrastructure changes between on-premise and the cloud, and APM provides a way to compare the user experience independent of the back-end infrastructure," Rosenberger said.

Since integrating the solution into its cloud managed services offering, called Managed Workload Services, Rosenberger said customers have reacted "extremely well" to the partnership, with several reaching out to accelerate the proof-of-concept.

Going forward, Rosenberger said New Relic should make sure to keep pace with the rapidly evolving software market, and the IPO is one way to achieve that.

"Their filing for an IPO is a huge positive for 2nd Watch -- an IPO for New Relic means more investment in both people and technology. We see New Relic as a long-term partner as more and more enterprise corporations adopt the cloud and require managed services for their workloads," Rosenberger said.

PUBLISHED NOV. 11, 2014