IGEL seeks MSPs with new cloud launch
Thin-client vendor launches cloud gateway and continues shift from hardware to software
Thin client vendor IGEL has launched its cloud gateway in the UK as it continues to shift from a hardware to a software focus, according to UK country manager Ainsley Brooks.
IGEL traditionally focused on thin-client hardware but has transitioned towards software over recent years, led by its end-point management solution.
Brooks explained that the cloud gateway will eradicate the need for remote devices to be connected to a virtual private network in order to be managed.
He said that this creates an opportunity for IGEL partners that had traditionally focused on hardware to move into software sales and managed service opportunities - as well as making IGEL more attractive to new partners.
"It's moving us into those resellers that before probably wouldn't have looked at us because we were a hardware thin-client vendor, whereas now we're more of a software-based company and we're leading with software," he said.
"This is just one of many products that we're looking to launch in the future to allow us to manage iOS devices, tablets, Chromebooks, laptops PCs [etc]. It's certainly moving us to another spectra of different partners."
Brooks said IGEL is looking to recruit partners with a strong focus on managed services, and as such the cloud gateway is available for MSPs to white label.
"They can obviously white label the gateway, use the management software - the customers aren't going to know that they're using IGEL products - so we're very much moving into the managed service provider space and more traditional software-based resellers," he said.
"A lot of the resellers we've worked with have been the large box-shifting resellers, but we're looking at more software resellers. We're going to look at bringing more Citrix and VMware resellers across and on-board as well."
Phil Cambers, commercial director at Newcastle-based IGEL partner SITS Group said that, while IGEL has traditionally been hardware led, the quality of its software has always been its biggest asset.
"One of the reasons why SITS Group chose to resell IGEL thin clients many years ago wasn't because they were efficient in terms of their power consumption, or the form factor looked nice, or because of the badge on the front, or even because the price was right - it was more to do with the software that was on there," he said. "They have some software called UMS [universal management software] which was the thing that really differentiated it from all of the other thin-client vendors.
"The cloud piece is an evolution of that heritage in developing really good software. If you're a customer or an end-user one of the biggest headaches that you'll have is how to manage multiple users over multiple locations and this new software that they've launched allows you to do that.
"It's an evolution of where IGEL's roots have always been and their roots have always been in software."