Access Taps Klir's Managed Services
The deal will enable Access Distribution—a leading distributor of products from Sun Microsystems—to offer the IT Analytics platform from Seattle-based Klir as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model that will help eliminate a solution provider’s up-front capital investment, said Chuck Scalia, director of IT services solutions at Access Distribution.
“Klir will host the application, and we can monitor it on behalf of our partners or have partners monitor the product themselves,” Scalia said.
The IT Analytics platform delivers realtime visibility of the performance of end users’ applications, bandwidth, networks and servers, Scalia said. Solution providers can use the Klir tools to peer into core network systems and plot performance measures. Application monitoring, audits and follow-up analysis of IT infrastructure and applications can also be performed using the platform, according to Scalia.
The move to offer the hosted platform will enable solution providers to quickly add remote, managed IT services to their portfolios, Scalia said. The audit and analysis tools, however, play into a larger strategy of Westminster, Colo.-based Access Distribution, which is to more rapidly identify older, end-of-life systems in order to make way for new ones, Scalia said.
“Many of the systems installed during the Y2K upgrade phase are still heavily deployed, and they are ripe for a tech refresh,” he said. “The deal also drives another element of our partners’ core businesses, which is platform sales.”
Bill Pachoud, CTO of The Root Group, a solution provider in Boulder, Colo., said Access Distribution’s decision to offer the Klir platform as a hosted solution is a money-saver.
“I like the fact that Access Distribution is bringing forward this type of technology,” Pachoud said. “It means that we don’t have to take on the risk and cost that would otherwise be associated with building out an infrastructure to deliver this type of service, and we can focus on being domain experts rather than tool experts.”
The SaaS offering is part of Access Distribution’s OneTech services program. Pricing is not yet available.
SCOTT CAMPBELL contributed to this story.