Heads Up, Partners: Google Cloud, New Relic Make Big Moves
We’ve also got updates from Backblaze, Veritas, AWS, PwC and Pax8.
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Google Cloud is putting its public sector services into a standalone division.
Google Public Sector will operate as a subsidiary of Google LLC and bring Google Cloud technologies to public sector customers in the United States. Those users include federal, state, and local governments, and educational institutions.
“Google Public Sector will provide a full complement of business functions and capabilities, including specialized sales, customer engineering, customer success and services, customer support, channel and partner programs, compliance, and security operations, so that our U.S. public sector customers can leverage the full range of technology offerings from Google Cloud,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian wrote in a June 28 blog.
On the next slide, learn who will lead the new independent group.
Look for Will Grannis, a longtime Google engineering and product veteran, to lead the new public sector division until the group names a permanent CEO. Right now, Grannis works in Google Cloud’s Office of the CEO.
Meantime, Lynn Martin will lead the full U.S. Public Sector Go-To-Market organization and report to Grannis.
Additional leaders include:
• Troy Bertram, managing director of Google Cloud’s Public Sector Partner Ecosystem and former general manager for Worldwide Public Sector at AWS.
• Jeanette Manfra, senior director of global risk and compliance and former assistant director for cybersecurity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
• Joel Minton, Google Cloud technical director for the Office of the CTO and former executive director of Login.gov at The White House.
• Phil Venables, Google Cloud CISO and current adviser on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
New Relic has made good on its intent to go from running a regional channel program to offering a global initiative. (The company shared that goal last fall with Channel Futures after appointing Riya Shanmugam as group vice president of global alliances and channels.)
On June 28, New Relic unveiled New Relic Partner Stack, which targets cloud providers, managed service providers and other channel partners.
New Relic delivers monitoring tools in a SaaS model and distributes them through channel partners and cloud providers. The capabilities provide real-time and historical insights into the performance and reliability of web and mobile applications (a practice known as “observability.”) Partners – including system integrators, managed service providers, professional services firms, consultants and independent software vendors – can then track availability and errors. New Relic integrates with Slack, email, and other third-party resources, too, so administrators receive instant alerts.
Find out on the next slide what partners gain when they join New Relic Partner Stack.
New Relic’s new partner program comes with training and accreditation programs, marketing campaigns, personnel support, product trials, deal registration, margin and renewal discounts and more. Importantly, too, is that the program features more integrations with Microsoft Azure. (New Relic also has a strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services.)
The company says it has designed all of this to help partners expand sales and technical expertise, drive customer momentum, and unlock new revenue streams.
Channel partners might want to know that New Relic’s most recent installment of its annual Observability Forecast shows that only 26% of IT decision makers have a mature observability practice. Partners can fill that gap and make more money.
Next up, check out who’s been hired to support New Relic partners.
As part of all the activity around New Relic Partner Stack, New Relic has launched its Partner Advisory Board. The company also has hired the following partner team executives:
• Akhil Kapoor, vice president of cloud and product partnerships.
• Jesse Clem, vice president of alliances and channels, Americas.
• Nic Harvey, senior director of partner sales, EMEA.
• Lily Wai, senior director of alliances and channels strategy.
• Cindi Johnson, senior director, global partner marketing.
Finally, on the next slide, learn more about New Relic leaders’ thoughts on the new partner program.
Channel head Shanmugam says New Relic partners are using observability to help their clients adopt cloud, modernize apps and create digital customer experiences.
With that in mind, “The New Relic Partner Stack brings new opportunities for our partners to put observability in the hands of every engineer, every day, at every stage of the software life cycle,” Shanmugam said. “We are delighted to see partners leaning in and advancing through program tiers for increased commercial, marketing, and go-to-market benefits, opening up additional revenue opportunities and investment from New Relic.”
New Relic CEO Bill Staples agreed.
“Channel partners, cloud providers and technology partners are a key pillar of New Relic’s growth strategy,” Staples said. “We’re committed to developing a rich global partner ecosystem and have made significant investments in our partner organization to drive our partners’ growth and fuel New Relic’s global expansion and growth now and in the future.”
AWS has made its IoT ExpressLink software generally available.
AWS introduced the platform at last year’s re:Invent conference. IoT Express Link supports partner-manufactured connectivity modules that help original equipment manufacturers to connect any type of product to the cloud. Examples include industrial sensors, small and large home appliances, irrigation systems and medical devices.
Right now, Espressif, Infineon and u-blox are offering connectivity modules through the AWS initiative. Each contains built-in cloud-connectivity software with AWS-mandated security requirements.
Cloud storage provider Backblaze has partnered with Veritas, which offers multicloud data management.
Both companies sell through the channel.
Together, the companies will offer B2 Cloud Storage within Veritas’’Backup Exec service, which delivers data protection, including in the cloud. The joint platform offers S3-compatible object storage to customers using Backup Exec.
“The Backup Exec service empowers small and medium-size businesses to do more with less, and to minimize their daily lift around data management and protection,” said Nilay Patel, vice president of sales and partnerships at Backblaze.
Jason Von Eberstein, senior principal product manager at Veritas, agreed.
“Our goal with Backup Exec is to provide a simple, powerful solution that frees business owners from concerns about data loss,” he said. “Backblaze is a natural partner in this effort.”
This announcement flew a little under the radar: PwC US plans to acquire some of the assets of consultancy Netrovert.
Netrovert focuses on enterprise integration, largely on the Salesforce MuleSoft platform. PwC — a behemoth consultancy and integrator akin to Capgemini, Deloitte, Accenture, etc. — will use the deal to solidify its standing as an expert in cloud integration, and Mulesoft in particular.
“Today’s organizations are distributed ecosystems of employees, customers and suppliers — all with different processes and systems,” said Cenk Ozdemir, PwC US cloud and digital Leader. “Together with Netrovert, we’ll help clients enable a seamless flow of data and protect that data across their entire cloud ecosystem — helping our clients enable their digital business models, unlock value and build trust.”
Ravi Lam, Netrovert CEO, agreed.
“We will create compelling value for our clients by extending our integration capabilities beyond technology to include strategy and delivery, as well as guidance on organization, culture, process, control, cybersecurity and governance,” Lam said.
PwC also has purchased ACTS and EagleDream for their cloud services expertise.
Cloud marketplace distributor Pax8 has added Exclaimer Group to its portfolio.
Exclaimer Group specializes in email signature management.
Thanks to the new deal, Pax8’s managed service providers will get access to four options within the Exclaimer suite:
• Signature Management Cloud, for designs, banners, social media links and more.
• Signature Marketing Cloud, for measurable digital advertising.
• Signature Feedback Power Up, for real-time feedback intended to improve customer experience and reduce churn.
• Signature Appointments Power Up, to allow staff to share availability and automatically accept new meeting requests.
“Email signatures enable more brand awareness, standardization and scale across the business,” said Ryan Walsh, Pax8 COO. “Through the partnership with Exclaimer, we are enabling partners to leverage innovative cloud marketing tools and add the solutions into their technology stacks.”
Cloud marketplace distributor Pax8 has added Exclaimer Group to its portfolio.
Exclaimer Group specializes in email signature management.
Thanks to the new deal, Pax8’s managed service providers will get access to four options within the Exclaimer suite:
• Signature Management Cloud, for designs, banners, social media links and more.
• Signature Marketing Cloud, for measurable digital advertising.
• Signature Feedback Power Up, for real-time feedback intended to improve customer experience and reduce churn.
• Signature Appointments Power Up, to allow staff to share availability and automatically accept new meeting requests.
“Email signatures enable more brand awareness, standardization and scale across the business,” said Ryan Walsh, Pax8 COO. “Through the partnership with Exclaimer, we are enabling partners to leverage innovative cloud marketing tools and add the solutions into their technology stacks.”
It’s an early-in-the-week cloud news roundup! Two days into the week of June 27, Google Cloud, New Relic, Backblaze and Veritas, and Pax8 all have made fresh announcements that partners will want to know. We’ve also got a little bit of catch-up news from Amazon Web Services and PwC.
If you need any hints, we’ll give you a little preview before you click through the slideshow above.
First, Google Cloud has made a big decision regarding its public sector work. Second, New Relic, which specializes in data observability, has a new channel initiative. Third, Backblaze and Veritas have teamed up. AWS and PwC have announcements related to IoT and cloud integration, respectively. And Pax8 has added a new supplier to its portfolio.
One of the biggest money-making opportunities for partners might come from New Relic, so be sure to take a look.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Kelly Teal or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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