Category Archives for "Managed Services News"

GARTNER IT SYMPOSIUM/XPO — When high school students ask Accenture CEO Julie Sweet what they should study in college, she gives the same resounding answer: “Major in what you like.”

However, she adds a caveat:

“Take a technology class.”

It’s what one might imagine the CEO of one of the world’s most powerful consulting companies would say.

Majoring in whatever interests a student promotes curiosity and learning. That’s what Sweet told the audience during the Tuesday keynote at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Orlando, Florida.

Before Sweet (pictured on stage above) became CEO, she was general counsel for Accenture. And before that, she was a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of the longest established law firms in the U.S. Sweet applies the learning agility and decision-making skills she garnered back in law school to her role as CEO.

And she has a lot of decisions to make.

Hybrid Work

As a global professional services company, Accenture has more than 721,000 people on its payroll. Put differently, Sweet manages more people than Microsoft, Google and Tesla combined.

What characteristic do she and her hiring team look for in future employees?

The answer isn’t surprising.

“What we’re looking for are people who like to learn… you know the first six months after the pandemic we retrained 100,000 to meet the demand,” Sweet said. “And so in every part of Accenture, we have people who are learners. And we believe that’s true for all companies, as it’s a critical skill when you hire.”

However, remote work doesn’t allow for the most optimal learning conditions. According to Sweet, the second least-engaged employees were those who worked remotely. (The least engaged were those who went to the office full time.)

What Accenture learned from the pandemic was that the most engaged employees were those who embraced the hybrid model.

Yet, hybrid work is more than just a way of working. It’s a mindset.

“Everyone at Accenture should feel like they are better off because they work here … so the pillars of that strategy are not about hybrid working. It’s about whether people have well-being from a physical, mental and financial standpoint,” Sweet said.

As part of that corporate evolution, Accenture hired its first chief health officer last year.

The Metaverse

When it comes to firsts, the company has always been an early adopter of groundbreaking technology.

Sweet had much to say about AI and the metaverse.

“As you see the move to the cloud, the understanding of what has to happen around data has become clear,” Sweet said. “We start to see major companies really taking on building data platforms. And along with that is the ability to unlock AI at scale.”

She added: “The potential of AI is tied to the fact that you need to have data at scale. And companies are still very early in that journey.”

Sweet spoke to an audience primarily of CIOs and digital leaders still grappling with what to make of the metaverse, which is enabled by AI.

Although Accenture uses the metaverse with clients in manufacturing and utilities, the company also incorporates the virtual world in its onboarding and training. It does so as well with meetings and collaboration.

“During the pandemic, when we could bring clients to our innovation hubs, we did it in the metaverse,” Sweet said. “For the next iteration of our own metaverse, we’re actually launching a diversity fair, bringing our employee resource groups together to learn about each other.”

For Accenture, the metaverse has meant joining with companies like Google and Microsoft to create a universal wallet to be able to do commerce in that virtual ecosystem.

“The metaverse is going to be as profoundly impactful as digital,” she said.

When it comes to cybersecurity, these 20 leaders represent the future of the channel.

This is the first of numerous Channel Futures Channel Leaders of the Year lists. We will unveil them one-by-one between now and the end of the year. They will include senior partner executives in cloud, security, communications and collaboration (including UCaaS), managed services, distribution; EMEA, and networking and connectivity.

In the first list, Channel Futures has identified the most future-minded, influential and impactful channel leaders in cybersecurity. These leaders will determine the future of the channel as they redefine the partner-supplier relationship.

We’ve chosen cybersecurity channel leaders based on their company’s market share, growth potential, strength of partner network, scope of partner program and the individual’s impact on the partner ecosystem. It also includes, in at least one case, a longtime channel leader who has stepped into a new role with a lesser-known company with ambitious plans to grow their channel.

As the nature of the channel changes, today’s partners are developing deep ties with numerous suppliers in each technology solution segment they support. They need to know the executives with whom to establish strong relationships going forward.

These leaders will be eligible for our 2023 Channel Futures Influencer of the Year Award, as well as the Channel Futures/Channel Partners Circle of Excellence Award.

See our slideshow above for our list of 20 cybersecurity channel leaders of the year for 2022.

Microsoft is said to be initiating more layoffs, cutting close to 1,000 workers this week. This comes as the software giant expects its fiscal first-quarter revenue growth to slow.

According to Axios, Microsoft announced layoffs across multiple divisions on Monday. It declined to say how many jobs it cut, but a source said the layoffs numbered under 1,000.

The latest Microsoft layoffs occurred across a variety of levels, teams and parts of the world.

Microsoft sent us the following statement:

“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”

In July, Microsoft called for about 10% revenue growth in its fiscal first quarter. That’s slower than it’s been in more than five years, according to CNBC. The software giant will announced its latest earnings on Oct. 25.

In its fiscal fourth-quarter results, Microsoft reported commercial bookings grew 25% and enterprise services grew by 5%. Total revenue ticked up from $46.2 billion a year ago to $51.9 billion year-over-year, setting a record for Microsoft. However, that number missed the analyst forecast of $52.4 billion.

This summer, Microsoft followed the closing of its fiscal year with job cuts impacting less than 1% of its 180,000-person workforce. However, it planned to hire more workers in the months ahead.

Those cuts impacted a variety of groups including consulting, and customer and partner solutions, and were dispersed across geographies.

LENOVO TECH WORLD ’22 — Lenovo is partnering with VMware to create edge and cloud innovation labs where they will develop and co-engineer industry-specific solutions. The companies revealed the alliance  Tuesday during a webinar where Lenovo showcased future technologies to address emerging business priorities.

During the Lenovo Tech World ’22 virtual event, Lenovo showcased new client, data center and software products. Some are conceptual such as prototypes of rollable laptops and smartphones, holographic computing technologies and telepresence capabilities. Others include recently announced products.

Among them are the 51 data center and cloud infrastructure products Lenovo’s Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) launched last month. The launch was Lenovo’s largest introduction of servers, storage hardware and edge systems to date. It included XClarity One, a tool that integrates Lenovo’s TruScale “as-a-service” cloud consumption option.

Lenovo and VMware have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly create Edge and Cloud Innovation Labs. It calls for the companies to develop co-engineered edge solutions with a focus on AI and multicloud capabilities. Lenovo ISG president Kirk Skaugen said the companies will create solutions optimized on Lenovo and VMware technologies along two areas. The first is around edge computing and associated AI with Lenovo think edge servers and VMware’s edge compute software. The second is around cloud computing with Lenovo ThinkAgile hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, and VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware cross-cloud services.

“These solutions be available as a service with Lenovo TruScale ensure seamless scalability, simplified management and predictable payment options where you pay for only what you use,” Skaugen said.

VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram added: “We are working together with Lenovo to tightly integrate VMware Cloud and our cross-cloud services with the Lenovo to scale. And we will deliver differentiated edge-native solutions with VMware edge compute stack, and Lenovo think edge servers and devices.

Preparing for Metaverse

Lenovo’s Kirk Skaugen at the Lenovo Tech World ’22 virtual event.

At the Lenovo Tech World event, company officials emphasized technologies under development, underscoring capabilities of its different groups. As part of the company’s Lenovo 360 message, the new divisions created last year can jointly deliver solutions.

“At Lenovo, we are doubling our investment in innovation,” said Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang. “In a fast-changing world, our commitment remains unchanged to make life better, work more productive and our planet more sustainable. This has to be done with the client, edge, cloud network and the intelligence working together to deliver the promise of technology.”

Yong Rui, Lenovo’s CTO, emphasized technology that enables the metaverse. Rui described the metaverse as solutions that use augmented and virtual reality to enhance collaboration and communications. Rui outlined four layers of metaverse technology: feature points, generic structure, realistic texture and object semantics.

Lenovo’s Yong Rui at the Lenovo Tech World ’22 event.

“Lenovo offers a diverse product portfolio of metaverse,” Rui said.

Rui shared how Lenovo is focusing on metaverse from its distinct devices, infrastructure and solutions groups.  On the device side, Rui noted Lenovo’s portfolio of AR and VR devices and headsets. The Lenovo ThinkReality VRX, which the company announced last month, is an all-in-one virtual reality headset for enterprise applications. Lenovo said the VRX includes Lenovo’s ThinkReality software, developed for building VR into enterprise applications.

“On the solution side, we develop end-to-end solutions tailored for vertical industries,” Lui said. “Moving forward, Lenovo is willing to build an open metaverse ecosystem, along with like-minded industry partners.”

Focus on New Software

Besides the prototype devices, Lenovo previewed new software, including the Lenovo Freestyle app. The tool lets users pair their tablets and extend them to a portable second screen. Lenovo is also introducing new Motorola edge smartphones, including its new Ready For platform, which extends the smartphone’s features to larger screens. It allows for a mobile desktop on the larger displays for video meetings, streaming and gaming.

The new software also includes Lenovo’s Remote Work Enablement solution, which it designed for the provisioning of users. Lenovo also previewed Cyber Spaces, a proof-of-concept solution that aims to create immersive experiences with holograms for virtual communications and collaboration. And Lenovo showcased features that enable users to create avatars for video conferencing.

Expanding on its AI and productivity software, Lenovo introduced its Production Decision Engine, which uses AI to analyze and predict supply chain risks with Supplier 600. Lenovo also previewed remote video conferencing for frontline workers and a new Virtual Classroom solution. The new remote video collaboration solution connects frontline workers with remote experts to perform repair jobs through real-time marks.

Net Zero by 2050

Last month’s launch also included an upgrade to Neptune, Lenovo’s warm water-cooling technology. Now Lenovo is sharing its short-term 2030 emissions reduction goals, which include aligning with Science Based Targets. Lenovo is also committing to contribute to the goals aligned with the Paris Agreement.

“While 2050 seems a long way off, we know there’s a lot of work that has to be done,” said Laura Quatela, Lenovo’s chief legal officer. “We are continuing to make progress and are laser-focused on our current 2030 science-based targets, which focus on our own emissions in our own operations, as well as the emissions in our value chain.”

Two of the channel’s most storied technology advisor agencies are coming together in the form of ARG and Global Network Services (GNS).

Virginia-based ARG closed its acquisition of Florida-based GNS in August. ARG CEO Greg Praske praised for Global Network Services for its reputation.

ARG’s Sue Messner

ARG’s Greg Praske

“We’ve had the privilege of being at the forefront of every stage in the channel advisory business and have met many of the leaders along the way,” Praske said. “It was obvious to us that GNS is one of our industry’s top performers.”

For 29-year-old GNS, joining forces allows its clients to benefit from a deeper portfolio and deeper set of professional services.

For 31-year-old ARG, GNS brings nine employees “focused on client success,” a strong cultural fit and a prestigious leader in GNS CEO and president Sue Messner.

“Sue Messner is one of our industry’s most highly respected executives,” ARG chief revenue officer Mike Shonholz said. “This, along with the firm’s emphasis on optimizing the client experience, competitive strengths in multilocation network management, and a strong desire for continued growth, checked all the boxes for us. And we are looking forward to taking their business to new heights.”

Deepening Client Experiences

GNS has historically helped its clients find and implement networking, mobility and unified communications technologies. Joining ARG gives the firm access to a bench of engineers and client experience offers that can help it deliver offerings around managed cloud, security and customer experience.

According to Messner, about 75% of the GNS team focuses on client experience.

ARG’s Mike Shonholz

“This is an area where GNS will continue to excel, but GNS’ clients wanted more,” Messner said. “Our clients asked us to expand our business through more advanced security and cloud-based solutions; however, we needed the right resources and expertise. ARG is a natural fit as its business model is closely aligned with ours. The ARG platform will enable us to go wider and deeper with our clients and play a more meaningful role in accelerating the growth of their businesses.”

Moreover, ARG has touted its ability to provide consulting services and managed life cycle services. Many players in the technology advisor channel, more colloquially known as the agent channel, see the need to provide more value to their clients beyond technology sourcing. That means providing more services before and after the sale.

“The top agents and partners are only able to address a fraction of their clients’ needs,” Shonholz said. “With ARG’s advanced consulting methodologies, engineering talent and client experience teams, they can dramatically deepen their client relationships and grow their business.”

Customer Use Case

The combined company engaged with a private equity firm that had lost its chief information security office (CISO) and a large portion of its IT department. Messner said ARG’s resources allowed her team to deliver more than just network services.

“With ARG, we were able to put a fractional CISO in place, as well as managed security and IT solutions to help mitigate the loss of key staff members,” she said.

Messner also said her existing client base presents opportunities to upsell.

” … We expect to double our business,” Messner said.

ARG Acquisitions

ARG has bought multiple agencies over the last several years. For example, it bought the carrier services consulting division from Atrion/Carousel Industries back in 2018. Darryl and Amy Senese, who joined ARG as a result of the deal, said their division’s revenue went from 70% connectivity-driven to majority advanced services.

ARG has more recently purchased firms like NextWave and Freedom Solutions Group. Last year Shonholz said ARG would invest in startups and acquisitions and grow its customer base. It would also sell deeper into its existing base of clients.

AT&T and its various channel programs are putting more investments into partner choice and enablement. This comes as the Dallas-based carrier doubles down on core competencies.

That statement comes from Randall Porter, who stepped into the role of  AT&T’s indirect channel lead this past summer. Porter, who oversees sales and partner management for the AT&T Partner Exchange, AT&T Alliance Channel and ACC Business programs, said AT&T will continue “leaning in heavily” into the indirect channel. He said the carrier will make updates to its partner portal and deal registration process in the upcoming quarters. He also said AT&T will give partners more intelligent data about potential customers.

“When we talk about leaning in more heavily to our partners, it really comes down to two things: providing them choice and providing enablement,” Porter told Channel Futures.

AT&T’s Randall Porter

Porter three months ago accepted the role of vice president, AT&T channel chief. That came amid a shift that more closely aligned AT&T Partner Exchange, Alliance Channel and ACC Business under Porter’s leadership. He reports to Sarita Rao, senior vice president, integrated and partner solutions at AT&T. Rao oversees those three AT&T channel programs, in addition to the wholesale and hyperscaler groups.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

Porter said AT&T forecasts an increasing reliance on partners for applications and managed services that complement AT&T’s investments in fiber and 5G.

“Given that opportunity for growth both in new and existing customers with partners, we felt like it was the right decision to pull the entire indirect ecosystem together under Sarita’s leadership,” he said.

Realignment

AT&T’s different partner programs have historically varied quite significantly. The Alliance Channel carries an association with the agent/advisor channel and teamed selling (although the program recently unveiled a non-teamed track and changed the way it differentiates between subagents and TSDs). ACC Business was historically associated with non-teamed sales and residual commissions. Partner Exchange (APEX) started in 2011 as a resale program for partners providing full management. Moreover, Porter said Alliance and ACC aligned directly with AT&T’s national business markets sales organization, co-selling into a large number of retail customers. Partner Exchange, on the other hand, aligned more closely with wholesale.

However, Porter said AT&T chose to change those alignments as it continued to grow its indirect efforts.

“As we developed a plan for growing indirect overall and ensuring that we had enough leadership and resources behind that to scale with our partners in the market, we chose to combine all of our indirect channels across [Partner Exchange], Alliance, ACC, wholesale and our hyperscalers,” he said.

Ongoing Investments

Poter said new capabilities like deal registration will bolster the partner experience. He said deal registration differs depending on the program.

“The intent of the strategy and capability is to ensure that regardless of your program, you have the ability to register a deal to either work that on your own, down a solo path, or if needed, work it in conjunction with our direct team from a co-sales standpoint. And so the automation and the linkage into your Salesforce systems would all be there to give the capability for that choice for the partner,” he said.

He also said AT&T plans to give partners more granular enablement that involves customer data.

“[We will be] getting a lot more intelligent with our data and our leads – tying that to …

ORACLE CLOUDWORLD — Oracle on Tuesday honored a variety of partners innovating in different ways on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Winners and finalists stood out for their work in customer experience, business transformation, cloud architecture and more.

All in all, Oracle named more than 50 partner organizations and individuals doing unique and noteworthy projects on OCI.

Oracle Cloud’s Leo Leung

“As excited as I get when we roll out another product or launch another service, what really drives my passion for this work is when I get to showcase – and be a part of – our customers’ success stories,” said Leo Leung, vice president of product marketing for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

This year’s nominees and winners “exemplify …  commitment to excellence,” Leung added. They are using the platform “to make a significant impact on their organizations and reshape their industries, and, increasingly, our world.”

See the slideshow above for the scoop on all of this year’s Oracle Cloud Infrastructure award winners and finalists.

Cloud security company Zscaler just hired John Tavares as its new vice president of partners and alliances.

In his new role, Tavares will be instrumental in accelerating Zscaler’s growth, helping partners increase profit, and expanding the company’s market share.

Tavares has more than 25 years of experience creating global partnerships in the software, SaaS and IT markets. Prior to joining Zscaler, he was the global channel chief at Commvault. In addition, he held a variety of sales leadership, go-to-market (GTM) and strategy roles at Dell EMC. He grew that company’s data center business, built a sales team and continuously increased revenue.

Zscaler’s John Tavares

“Throughout my career, the most energizing and defining times have centered around working with customers on transformation,” Tavares said. “When I talk to Zscaler customers and partners, it is very clear that Zscaler is delivering impactful business outcomes through secure digital transformation. Ultimately, Zscaler’s focus on customers and partners, combined with technology leadership, made it the clear choice for the next chapter in my career.”

Previous Experience Provides ‘Great Foundation’ for New Role

Tavares said EMC, Dell EMC and Commvault provided a “great foundation” in three areas.

“First, spending 22 years at EMC provided world-class sales, sales leadership and partner GTM experience,” he said. “We built a hypergrowth business from almost zero to over $3 billion, all through our partners. At the time, this was a new motion for EMC. Second, Dell EMC built on this foundation with increased operational command, velocity and reach. And Commvault provided me partner strategy, board alignment [and] global expertise. And I was lucky to have an incredible mentor there — Edison Peres, who was John Chamber’s global channel chief at Cisco. This previous experience gives me the unique advantage to connect our partners, our partner organization and sales together in a collaborative sales motion for our customers.”

Zscaler has built a strong channel strategy and partner program, Tavares said.

“This year, the program has evolved with a focus on making Zscaler easier to do business with, for partners to be more profitable and for them to be more involved with our product lifecycle at every stage,” he said. “In my view, partner programs are always evolving. The key is that they evolve with partner feedback.”

Listening Most Important

Tavares said listening to partners, the partner team and customers is his top priority for his first 30 days on the Zscaler channel leadership team.

“I learned early on that the only way to build excellence is through listening,” he said. “The best ideas come from partners, our sales team and our partner organization.”

The biggest challenge facing partners is always change, Tavares said. And change is more challenging when it happens rapidly.

“Zscaler and its partner ecosystem is growing at over 60% year over year,” he said. “And we are doing this at scale having just passed the $1 billion annual recurring revenue (ARR) milestone. Ultimately, the pain point is moving from a legacy security and network sales motion to a business outcome-based transformational sales motion. To address this, we are very focused on investing in partner enablement and extending our tools to our partner ecosystem.”

New Zscaler Data Loss Report

Meantime, Zscaler’s ThreatLabz research team has released its annual data loss report. It analyzed nearly 6 billion data loss policy violations from November 2021-July 2022.

Among the findings:

• Organizations experience an average of 10,000 data policy violations every day.
• Thirty-six percent of cloud app data is shared with publicly accessible links. This averages out to over 360 files per organization per day.
• More than half of ransomware attacks now include data exfiltration. This is so profitable that some groups now skip the malware component altogether.
• Personal identifiable information (PII), such as names and government identifiers, account for over 84% of data-sharing violations. Financial and credit card information accounts for another 10%.
• Nearly 13% of sensitive data that is emailed is found in images that can only be restricted using advanced inspection techniques.

New Data Protection Innovations

To address these, Zscaler has unveiled new data protection innovations. The new advancements accelerate data protection programs from months to hours with zero configuration for data loss prevention (DLP). This mitigates security risks by unifying data protection across all channels, simplifying operations by automating workflows.

Moinul Khan is Zscaler’s vice president and general manager of data protection.

“Building on eight years of data protection innovations, Zscaler has employed advanced auto-classification capabilities to accelerate setup and reduce security team overhead and costs,” he said. “Unlike other data protection solutions, this ensures that Zscaler data protection works for the IT administrator, rather than having the IT administrator work for it. In addition, the technology we acquired from the recently announced ShiftRight acquisition allows organizations to manage hundreds of potential risks and incidents in a simple, yet very sophisticated way to reduce case resolution time significantly.”

AT&T and its various channel programs are putting more investments into partner choice and enablement. This comes as the Dallas-based carrier doubles down on core competencies.

That statement comes from Randall Porter, who stepped into the role of  AT&T’s indirect channel lead this past summer. Porter, who oversees sales and partner management for the AT&T Partner Exchange, AT&T Alliance Channel and ACC Business programs, said AT&T will continue “leaning in heavily” into the indirect channel. He said the carrier will make updates to its partner portal and deal registration process in the upcoming quarters. He also said AT&T will give partners more intelligent data about potential customers.

“When we talk about leaning in more heavily to our partners, it really comes down to two things: providing them choice and providing enablement,” Porter told Channel Futures.

AT&T’s Randall Porter

Porter three months ago accepted the role of vice president, AT&T channel chief. That came amid a shift that more closely aligned AT&T Partner Exchange, Alliance Channel and ACC Business under Porter’s leadership. He reports to Sarita Rao, senior vice president, integrated and partner solutions at AT&T. Rao oversees those three AT&T channel programs, in addition to the wholesale and hyperscaler groups.

AT&T’s Sarita Rao

Porter said AT&T forecasts an increasing reliance on partners for applications and managed services that complement AT&T’s investments in fiber and 5G.

“Given that opportunity for growth both in new and existing customers with partners, we felt like it was the right decision to pull the entire indirect ecosystem together under Sarita’s leadership,” he said.

Realignment

AT&T’s different partner programs have historically varied quite significantly. The Alliance Channel carries an association with the agent/advisor channel and teamed selling (although the program recently unveiled a non-teamed track and changed the way it differentiates between subagents and TSDs). ACC Business was historically associated with non-teamed sales and residual commissions. Partner Exchange (APEX) started in 2011 as a resale program for partners providing full management. Moreover, Porter said Alliance and ACC aligned directly with AT&T’s national business markets sales organization, co-selling into a large number of retail customers. Partner Exchange, on the other hand, aligned more closely with wholesale.

However, Porter said AT&T chose to change those alignments as it continued to grow its indirect efforts.

“As we developed a plan for growing indirect overall and ensuring that we had enough leadership and resources behind that to scale with our partners in the market, we chose to combine all of our indirect channels across [Partner Exchange], Alliance, ACC, wholesale and our hyperscalers,” he said.

Ongoing Investments

Poter said new capabilities like deal registration will bolster the partner experience. He said deal registration differs depending on the program.

“The intent of the strategy and capability is to ensure that regardless of your program, you have the ability to register a deal to either work that on your own, down a solo path, or if needed, work it in conjunction with our direct team from a co-sales standpoint. And so the automation and the linkage into your Salesforce systems would all be there to give the capability for that choice for the partner,” he said.

He also said AT&T plans to give partners more granular enablement that involves customer data.

“[We will be] getting a lot more intelligent with our data and our leads – tying that to …

You can soon find Ansible, the automation platform from Red Hat, the enterprise software provider, in the AWS Marketplace.

IBM-owned Red Hat says Ansible quickly automates and scales operations from a customer’s data center on AWS, out to the network’s edge.

Thomas Anderson is vice president, Ansible, at Red Hat.

Red Hat’s Thomas Anderson

“Enterprises need automation to accelerate company objectives, and Ansible is evolving fast to help customers keep pace with modern IT environments. More importantly, automation enables their transition to the cloud, operationalizing multiple cloud environments, and the delivery of new cloud-based services and applications,” said Anderson. “So whether you are automating on AWS or hybrid cloud environments, Ansible Automation Platform provides the reliability to manage these at scale with consistency, visibility and control.”

Red Hat says Ansible limits the overhead and complexity often associated with automating across the hybrid cloud. Now in the AWS Marketplace, it gives IT teams the ability to start automating immediately upon installation. Not an expert in automation? No worries. Red Hat says IT people with varying skill levels can deploy automation at scale with its cloud-optimized solution.

Managing AWS Infrastructure

Furthermore, Red Hat says Ansible makes it easier to manage AWS infrastructure. Moreover, it streamlines activities that frequently are complex and error-prone. IT teams now can coordinate and manage AWS environments without learning a new tool. They can also do so without integrating additional technologies into their operations, keeping the process simple.

Kathleen Curry is global director, worldwide strategic alliances, at AWS.

“Our customers are increasingly turning to cloud offerings that make their lives easier and allow them to get work done faster. We’re excited to offer a new solution for hybrid cloud innovation to our customers, so now they can quickly access and deploy automation at scale, with the flexibility to deliver any application, anywhere they need,” said Curry. “We strive to expand customer choice through AWS Marketplace availability, helping customers focus on how they want to drive their business forward and make large-scale innovation.”

Through this partnership, Red Hat customers will benefit from integrated billing and native AWS services. They also can take advantage of AWS’ broad portfolio of cloud services with the AWS Cloud Control API. This set of APIs allow for rapid introduction of new AWS services and implementation of new features to existing ones. This provides a “consistent method” for developers to manage the life cycle of AWS and third-party services, the companies said.

Look for the self-managed offering to be generally available in AWS Marketplace in the coming weeks.