Artisan Infrastructure Available Through Arrow

Artisan Infrastructure, Inc., a wholesale Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider, announced a strategic partnership with Arrow Electronics, Inc. to deliver cloud-based data protection infrastructure to support NetApp, Inc.‘s customers.

Available as an offering for the channel through Arrow’s ArrowSphere marketplace, the new service includes NetApp data protection infrastructure and a suite of service enablement to speed time-to-market, simplify billing and contracts and reduce management overhead.

The ArrowSphere cloud services marketplace by Arrow’s enterprise computing solutions business connects traditional VARs and born-in-the-cloud service providers to profitable IT solutions built upon production infrastructure. Moreover, the ArrowSphere platform allows channel providers to build solutions that leverage their brand and manage contracts/billing, maintain a direct relationship with their customers and build a business with margins aligned with their own value proposition.

Through the relationship, partners have direct access to a multi-stage hybrid cloud recovery suite utilizing NetApp storage and SnapMirror as the foundation for cloud-based data protection to support NetApp end-customer uptime. The white label service provides VARs and IT service providers with the ability to custom brand a data recovery solution that meets or exceeds user requirements at a fraction of the price. The solution suite allows traditional VARs to expand their businesses into the cloud and enables cloud service providers to offer hybrid cloud (on-premise and remote) data protection capabilities to NetApp storage system users.

The ArrowSphere Data Protection for NetApp service for Arrow partners is an option that aggregates systems under a single interface for simple management and delivers a premier QoS with the ability to scale on-demand.

Features include:

• Margins: Artisan Infrastructure provides big margins for VARs and service providers, providing a competitive advantage for Arrow partners in the markets they serve.
• Accelerated Time-to-Revenue with Minimal Investment: Cloud services enable partners to offer cloud solutions that meet customers’ business needs without having to invest the time and money needed to create a customized platform.
• Transformation to Hybrid cloud Services with Recurring Services Revenues: Subscription management engine makes it easy to do business by processing renewals, price changes and promotions. System also simplifies billing, metering, services management and allows for integrated single sign-on security, branding, custom contracts and SLAs.
• Increased Lifetime Customer Value: Through a customized online shop or branded webstore, end customers can consider new capabilities, provision new services, and increase or decrease their usage levels in real time as their business needs evolve.
• White-Label 100% Wholesale-Only Services: In contrast to retail cloud services that alienate channel partners, Artisan Infrastructure maintains a 100% wholesale-only business model guaranteeing the complete absence of channel conflict. Through ArrowSphere, partners attract new customers by complementing their existing online shop or by offering services in a white-label webstore.
• Complete Control: Artisan Infrastructure delivers complete autonomy, control, security and visibility when building independent cloud services for unrestricted growth.

“ArrowSphere-accredited service providers like Artisan Infrastructure enable Arrow solution providers to develop a custom portfolio of reliable, cloud-based services that complement on-premise offerings,” said Jim Livingston, VP of North American services for Arrow’s ECS business. “The ability to deliver true hybrid cloud capabilities enables solution providers to enter new markets and become an essential resource for long-term solutions, allowing deeper account integration and a strengthened relationship with customers as trusted advisors.”

“Channel conflicts are a continuing issue between retail cloud service providers and their partners as retail providers compete against or attach themselves to their partners’ customers,” said Steve Williams, VP, corporate development, Artisan Infrastructure. “The ArrowSphere Data Protection for NetApp service offers a completely partner branded customer experience and exceptional convenience by consolidating all cloud purchasing needs. This facilitates increased marketshare as VARs and service providers develop and deploy their own hybrid cloud data protection offerings.”

The ArrowSphere Data Protection for NetApp service is available to Arrow solution providers with a 90-day free program offering unlimited use of the service beginning Oct. 22, 2013.