Ingram Micro widens IBM cloud to five new territories

Distributor set to build further on cloud platform in 2016

Ingram has built on its existing relationship with IBM by adding Big Blue's SoftLayer IaaS technology to its Cloud Marketplace in five additional territories outside the US.

As a result, IBM Cloud is now on tap through the Ingram Cloud Marketplace in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK, with plans to extend it to further territories in the near future.

It means partners will have access to additional tools to provision and manage IBM Cloud and other cloud offerings through a single portal, and the Marketplace - described as an ecosystem of buyers, sellers and solutions - will now offer pre-packaged IBM Cloud service plans which include virtual private server, bare metal recovery and network gateway appliances.

Apay Obang-Oyway, general manager, cloud, Northern Europe at Ingram, told CRN the announcement is the first of many to come from the distributor's cloud division this year.

"We have started this year where we left off last year: on a strong footing. We continue to double down our focus on cloud, and drive our cloud strategy globally, regionally and locally. Things like our acquisition of Odin last year show we are bringing great value to the channel and our partners."

He said the number of partners registered for the Cloud Marketplace in the UK was increasing rapidly.

"We finished the year with 1,400 partners in the UK Marketplace, which was a good end to our strong performance last year. This year we will continue to look at and evolve our cloud strategy and accelerate what we have been doing, by expanding our portfolio, capabilities and our teams," he added.

"With this latest IBM partnership we are really enhancing partners' ability to supply infrastructure services and customise cloud solutions even further. For us, the debate over whether the cloud is here is over; now it is about how we accelerate the opportunities further."

Nimesh Dave, executive vice president, global cloud at Ingram, said: "The extended availability of SoftLayer on the Cloud Marketplace provides channel partners with greater access to a high-performing IaaS platform that supports critical workload migration and protects against security and compliance risk. We are excited to strengthen our relationship with IBM and help businesses scale operations to any workload or environment during their cloud transformation."