Ingram Micro, Microsoft Partner Around CloudBlue

INGRAM MICRO CLOUD SUMMIT — Ingram Micro on Wednesday announced the formation of a new, independent cloud platform division called CloudBlue and a strategic alliance with Microsoft that allows the CloudBlue platform to run on Azure.

Microsoft will co-sell the CloudBlue platform to new service providers who sign up for the software giant’s Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) program.

Separate from the Ingram Micro Cloud and the distributor’s Cloud Marketplace, CloudBlue will focus exclusively on selling the CloudBlue commerce platform and services to service providers, such as MSPs, telecommunication companies, large VARs and other distributors.

Ingram Micro’s Nimesh Davé

“Creating a dedicated and independent CloudBlue division enables us to accelerate our focus on helping service providers succeed in the as-a-service, cloud-first economy,” said Nimesh Davé, executive vice president, global cloud, Ingram Micro.

Richard Dufty, senior vice president of CloudBlue, was tapped to lead the sales, support and service for the new CloudBlue division.

“The launch of CloudBlue is instrumental to the ongoing success of our customers and partners and clearly positions us as the business platform leader and technology innovator in our industry,” he said.

The announcement was made in conjunction with the Ingram Micro Cloud Summit in Boca Raton, Florida.

The distributor has been making investments in CloudBlue for some time. CloudBlue includes all the intellectual property and software assets from six different acquisitions including Odin and Ensim.

CloudBlue software is a cloud commerce and XaaS platform that powers the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace as well as cloud operations for 200 of the world’s largest service providers such as Sprint, CenturyLink, Cogeco, Telefonica, O2, Telenor, Telekom Austria, AmericaMovil, Cobweb, GTI, Copaco, PCM and Telstra.

CloudBlue’s proprietary API technology, APS, allows customers to immediately connect to CloudBlue’s network of vendor solutions, enabling them to offer these vendor solutions in conjunction with their own core services. CloudBlue provides a single entry point to an ecosystem of ISVs, including more than 200 pre-integrated solutions from Microsoft, Dropbox, DocuSign, IBM, Cisco, Symantec and others, per Ingram Micro.

Microsoft’s Gavriella Schuster

Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft, was on hand at Ingram Micro Cloud Summit to announce Microsoft’s strategic partnership with the distributor around CloudBlue.

“This [strategic partnership] launches us into a whole new era of business together,” Schuster said. “By re-platforming CloudBlue onto Azure, this gives our mutual customers the opportunity to take advantage of the scale, global, hybrid and trusted network that Azure provides. It also provides an opportunity for us to go out and bring new cloud solution providers onto the platform – Azure – and into the Microsoft ecosystem and CSP program.”

Microsoft Azure will power the CloudBlue commerce platform, which enables cloud service providers of any size and any business model to automate, aggregate and monetize their own cloud and digital services — as well as those from third parties.

Service providers around the world are ready to take advantage of CloudBlue hosted on Azure. Ingram Micro announced Wednesday that Liquid Telecom has deployed the CloudBlue platform on Azure in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, with expansion planned throughout Africa later this year.