GreenPages Continues Cloud Journey With Big App Development Bet

GreenPages Technology Solutions CEO Ron Dupler is upping the ante in the solution provider’s no-holds barred cloud-computing services offensive with a big application development bet.

Speaking at GreenPages' 15th annual summit, billed as "Cloudscape 2," Dupler told about 100 customers that the Kittery, Maine-based company is making "aggressive bets and investments as we move forward around application modernization, big data and business intelligence."

’Applications that aren't ready to operate in a cloud world is one of the big inhibitors in the shift to the cloud that is going on today,’ said Dupler in a keynote address in Portsmouth, N.H. ’That’s an area that we see as very important as we move ahead.’

[Related: GreenPages CEO: The Cloud Computing Services Debate Is Over ]

The application development bet could be a critical differentiator as customers look to GreenPages to assure that any and all applications are modernized and can run securely in a private-, public- or hybrid-cloud environment.

GreenPages, the winner of the CRN SP500 Company of the Year award, is also putting more muscle behind its consulting services around the wide range of cloud offerings from software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS) and desktop virtualization.

"What we have been doing over the last few years in as a service offerings is helping to integrate and consult," said Dupler. "What we want to do is take a more aggressive leadership position and begin to align with and be able to recommend and support these offerings for our client base."

Dupler stressed that "security" will be embedded across all of GreenPages' cloud offerings. The solution provider held a breakout session at the summit specifically centered on the security issues around cloud computing. "Security is another cloud inhibitor," he acknowledged.

GreenPages is also moving aggressively to provide the capability to manage a cloud-computing environment from a single platform or "single pane of glass," hence the theme of the summit: "Automate. Orchestrate. Manage."

Dupler said cloud management will be a critical differentiator for GreenPages as customers grapple with managing diverse hybrid-cloud environments. Cloud management has become the "wild west" of the industry, said Dupler, with customers chasing that "nirvana or holy grail" of managing public, private and hybrid clouds from a single pane of glass.

To that end, GreenPages Chief Information and Technology Officer Kevin Hall will publicly demonstrate on Wednesday a new GreenPages cloud-management offering. "Those are what we call some brave new world tools around [cloud] management," said Dupler. "We are really excited to show you that. It’s an important component of our mission going forward."

NEXT: GreenPages' Cloud Investment Pays Off

GreenPages' aggressive investment in helping customers chart a cloud course is paying off in what GreenPages' Dupler called a "renaissance" for the company. In fact, he said the company’s sales are up 22 percent through the first half of this year.

"We are seeing an increasing amount of IT budgets shifted to the cloud transition and we are benefitting from that," said Dupler. "We find business conditions around cloud consulting and integration as very robust. Our vision is driven right now by the fact that we see infinite demand from the market for organizations that have the technical talent to really advise customers in this period of rapid change."

Dupler said GreenPages' cloud-computing investments have put the company at the center of a "revolutionary" shift in how IT services are being delivered to corporate America.

"It's an exciting time," he said. "There is tons of opportunity afforded by the change taking place in the market. But, it is also challenging because it is rapid, rapid change. And, with that comes the challenge for all of us to keep up and continue to innovate."

PUBLISHED AUG. 7, 2012