Cloud Distribution signs two VDI vendors

Joint offering from Gridstore and Unidesk to provide 'cost-effective' virtual desktop infrastructure

Cloud Distribution has sealed a double vendor signing, with a deal to bring a joint virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution from Gridstore and Unidesk that it claims "will put partners in a winning position".

Massachusetts-based Unidesk provides "layering", which removes complexity in integrating Windows applications in VDI environments. Gridstore delivers hyperconverged infrastructure and is comparable to Nutanix, according to Bruce Hockin, Cloud Distribution's director of storage solutions.

Cloud Distribution is now bringing a joint solution from the two vendors, which it says provides partners with a VDI offering that is "commercially viable", Hockin said.

He said the agreement followed a conversation he had with Unidesk last year, when the vendor said it was forming a relationship with Gridstore and asked if Cloud Distribution could take a joint solution to market. Cloud Distribution has become the only UK distributor for the two vendors' combined offering.

Hockin said he is targeting Microsoft partners, storage VARs and those that have struggled with other virtualisation solutions.

"We want partners who are prepared to think differently and go out there with an utterly compelling proposition that we know is commercially viable," he said. "This will put partners in a winning position; partners who have found it hard to sell VMware.

"There is a lot of commercial pressure with end users now, and you are always looking for differentiation," he said. "This is a very compelling commercial solution because it leverages Microsoft's licencing model, which makes it very cost effective to deploy VDI using Microsoft."

Cloud Distribution hopes to take on 12 to 18 partners with this offering, and Hockin said he has signed up six resellers in the past two months.

"We are already starting to run campaigns with those partners and we have deployed an end-user lead-generation guy who has generated five leads for partners in the past three days, which is brilliant."

Andy Hill, Gridstore's EMEA vice president of sales, said: "Gridstore and Unidesk together have demonstrated the ability to deliver a superior VDI solution for less than £400 per desktop - less than the price of a physical PC. Now with Cloud Distribution who know the storage and virtualisation market, we can bring this disruptive solution to the UK market."

As well as offering the joint solution, Cloud Distribution can also take Gridstore and Unidesk's products to market individually.