PEER 1 Launches Channel Partner Portal

PEER 1 Hosting, the global web hosting company that competes in the channel with companies like The Planet and Rackspace, has announced the next phase of its attempt to reach out to MSPs: a portal designed to let their channel partners access sales and marketing collateral, new information and tools, and, most notably, deal registration. Here’s the scoop.

For the uninitiated, the Vancouver-based PEER 1 is one of the five largest hosting providers in the world, offering everything from managed hosting to colocation to dedicated servers to SaaS application hosting. The company has been around since 1999, and PEER 1 sold YouTube their first server back when they were nothing more than a startup, says Lee Hadsock, worldwide channel program manager for PEER 1.

Despite its comparative age in this market, PEER 1 only launched their channel program in 2008. These days, PEER 1 says it only does about 20 percent of its business through indirect sales, but Hadsock points to their new-in-2010 Channel Sales Division as proof that they’re trying to change that.

Which brings us back to the portal announcement. Its features, as per the press release:

Hadsock, for his part, is bullish on the potential for MSPs and VARs to make money with PEER 1. Channel partners don’t have to worry about reaching sales goals to get from bronze to silver to gold tiers or anything like that, he says, to take advantage of all the support they have to offer, and promises more channel moves to come.

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