Wi-Fi-As-A-Service Channel Program from PowerCloud
Wi-Fi-As-A-Service Channel Program from PowerCloud by UCStrategies Staff
A new channel program has been released by PowerCloud Systems in order to on-board new partners that will be able to strengthen the adoption of its cloud-based wireless infrastructures.
Palo Alto, California-based PowerCloud is currently in the midst of broad business transformation, and the PowerUp Partner Program comes as part of this. It seeks to sell its technologies to enterprises and vertical markets via its PowerCloud brand, instead of relying on networking OEMs, as it has in the past.
The founder and CEO of PowerCloud, Jeff Abramowitz, said: “The business model that PowerCloud had had for several years was actually to be the technology behind other brands… we never had a brand of our own [in the past].”
Wireless gear is being developed by PowerCloud, and this includes indoor and outdoor access points, and the company is also seeking to develop its footprint and the strength of its brand within the enterprise, as well as its verticals like hospitality and retail.
In order to do this, PowerCloud is looking to leverage the channel, according to Abramowitz. The company wants to ensure that its Network-as-a-Service offering is the one that resonates most with solution providers.
Abramowitz added: “The idea we had was this notion of tying the cloud to networking infrastructure and to infuse networking products with powerful features and functionality from the cloud, simplifying capabilities to set up networking infrastructures, and then ultimately being able to deliver applications over networking infrastructures. That is the way the industry has gone, so the good news there is that we set out with the right vision.”
In 2008, PowerCloud was founded through the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and this broadened out in 2010. The company believes its offerings are a strong sell for MSPs and traditional networking VARs that want to improve their services play. PowerCloud works with around 100 partners at present, and 100 percent is sold through the channel in the U.S.
PowerCloud's Network-as-a-Service has been developed with focus on MSPs, and includes a managed services dashboard called MSPView, which allows MSPs to view and manage the wireless infrastructure of their customer accounts.
Abramowitz commented that a dashboard similar to PowerCloud’s has been introduced by Cisco (for its Meraki Wi-Fi solutions), but that PowerCloud was able to equip it with this functionality from the beginning. He said: “We built what we call 'MSPView' into our fabric from the get-go. PowerCloud has had this all along.”
Smart Hospitality is a hospitality-focused MSP based in Visalia, California. The company’s president, Jeffrey Lawton, noted that a key benefit of partnering with PowerCloud and reselling its cloud-based wireless has been that there is more visibility into customer accounts.
Lawton said: “It's an amazing tool because we have realtime visibility into every single access point we have ever installed and we can get realtime alerts any time an access point goes down. Usually, we are calling the customer to let them know there's an access point that has disconnected for some reason before they even know it happens.”
Gold and Silver partner designations have been included in the PowerUp Program, and these are dependent upon the volumes sold by partners. New partner services and resources are also featured, and this involves lead generation tools, demo and evaluation units, more robust product training, marketing support and deal registration.
Product discounts were not commented on, but will vary depending on a partner’s status, according to Abramowitz. He said: “The [program] really is for us to bring more folks into the PowerCloud family, help us build the PowerCloud ecosystem, and grow the opportunity for Wi-Fi-as-a-Service.”
A new offering called TenantWiFi was made available via PowerCloud, and this means that individual private networks can be created on public access points. Multitenant buildings like hospitals or malls are targeted for this, and means that private networks can be demanded for privacy reasons, yet shared infrastructures are already available for cost and roaming service reasons. (CY) Link