Tech Data To Expand Cloud Service Distribution Capabilities

Scheduled to go live this fall, the new StreamOne Solutions Store will provide ISVs and cloud service providers with a platform to present, market and sell Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) services to the 60,000 resellers Tech Data works with.

Through StreamOne Tech Data will manage all back-office distribution operations for cloud services including provisioning, billing and management reporting, said Joe Quaglia, Tech Data senior vice president of U.S. marketing, in an interview. "We'll handle all those mechanisms behind the scenes," he said.

StreamOne addresses the question of what role distributors will play – and what value they can provide – in a cloud computing IT world, Quaglia said.

Tech Data launched the current version of the StreamOne system earlier this year in an effort to simplify the increasingly complex process of purchasing software licenses. It offered resellers simple steps toward purchasing the right software license SKUs for their customers

The distributor began developing the second generation of the StreamOne system to provide a product distribution platform for ISVs, particularly small ones with limited sales channels. But while that work was under way, according to Quaglia, cloud services began to mature and Tech Data decided to expand StreamOne to offer cloud service distribution capabilities.

Quaglia, in a meeting at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles last week, noted that there are 25,000 ISVs alone in Microsoft's ISV partner program.

In March of next year StreamOne will offer resellers "storefront" capabilities, allowing them to replicate the Solutions Store on their own Web site and white label cloud services with their own brand, Quaglia said. Resellers can use a Tech Data toolbox to develop complete product catalogs for their customers. "We can make resellers look, feel and act a lot larger than they really are," he said.

The system will support multiple consumption models, licensing cloud software by seat, time used, metered or subscription, he said.

ISVs will be able to self-administer their offerings in the online Solutions Store, according to Quaglia.

The Tech Data platform also will offer electronic software download, license key delivery and license management for distribution of on-premise software on behalf of software resellers.