CRN Exclusive: OVHcloud Rolls Out Partner Program To Challenge AWS, IBM

Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider OVHcloud is launching its first partner program to expand its hybrid, public and private cloud offerings to more business customers.

The OVHcloud Partner Program will give the channel another hyper-scale IaaS option to Amazon Web Services and IBM that can scale with their customers for a low cost, David Wigglesworth, chief revenue officer of OVH US, told CRN.

The company is putting a lot of stock into its new program. OVHcloud expects the channel to drive 60 percent of its revenue in 2019.

"The channel is something we are investing heavily in," Wigglesworth said. "We're not a new company in town; we've been around for 19 years in a different market, and we can give [partners] a good alternative to AWS, IBM, and anyone else out there."

[Related: Partners: vCloud Air Sale Clears Deck For VMware's AWS Strategy]

Wigglesworth will be leading OVHCloud's Partner Program, which targets resellers, systems integrators and MSPs, the company said.

OVHcloud opened its U.S. headquarters in Reston, Va., in May. Today, the provider has two U.S.-based data centers and 25 additional data centers across three other continents.

OVHcloud built its own infrastructure using VMware's cloud computing virtualization platform vSphere. OVH in 2017 acquired VMware's enterprise hybrid cloud offering, vCloud Air.

The new program will give partners access to VMware-based hosted private cloud solutions, as well as public cloud and bare metal offerings, the company said. The channel in particular is well-suited to help OVHcloud U.S. build out its business because partners can help the company scale quickly, Wigglesworth said.

"The market is really clamoring for something that isn't Amazon in this space," he said. "There's a lot of customers and partners that want an alternative choice that brings enterprise expertise, as well as the expertise of owning our own data centers and building our own servers and metal."

Thanks to OVHcloud's know-how, the provider can purpose-build a solution for each partner according to its requirements, Wigglesworth said.

OVHcloud will also join partners in their cloud conversations with customers to help partners better propose and position their cloud solution, a value-add that many hyper-scale competitors don't bring to the table, he said.

"We allow customers to dip their toe and get started with us, while still giving them great support and a very fair price as they continue to grow," he said. "That's really resonating with partners."

OVHcloud's partner program will include four different tiers to give partners sales and training resources, as well as financial incentives to reward partners for their level of commitment to OVHcloud, the company said.