2nd Watch, Slalom Consulting Partner on Cloud, Infrastructure Services

In a good example of two channel firms partnering to forge new business opportunities, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Web Services (AWS) partners 2nd Watch and Slalom Consulting have announced they are working together to combine strengths for new cloud and infrastructures services.

Together, each company brings its own specialties. 2nd Watch is a global systems integrator, software and development firm that is listed as an AWS Premier Consulting Partner. The company offers two flavors of cloud-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) SharePoint SaaS offerings on AWS, with the promise of going above and beyond what Microsoft Office 365 provides. Slalom Consulting takes a different approach, helping customers with everything from project management to business process improvement to software development. Slalom is also an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner.

Vendors have been talking about the importance of partner-to-partner collaboration for years, and many in the channel have found success in this business tactic. Frequently, two partners can work together to provide two different sides to a new cloud opportunity, even if they have some overlapping and potentially competitive offerings.

In this case, 2nd Watch and Slalom Consulting plan to combine infrastructure architecture, AWS and consulting services to develop new cloud services and infrastructure products.

We'll have to wait to see how this pans out and what services and solutions the companies are able to develop with their joint efforts.