In fact its marketplace alone has nearly 2,000 different products.
Recently Amazon beefed up the AWS Partner Network (APN) with new benefits, training, and new services to support SaaS and Managed Services.
Meanwhile Amazon revealed that APN has been clocking in with a 75% growth rate over the last year.
“The growth in the APN program over the last year and in the capabilities of our APN Partners highlights just how critical APN Partners are to our customers’ success,” said Terry Wise, Director, Worldwide Partner Ecosystem, AWS. “As the cloud increasingly becomes the default platform for businesses of all sizes, there has never been a better time to be an APN Partner. Moving into 2015, we plan to more than double our investments in our APN Partners with the most significant set of updates, enhancements, and new benefits to the APN since its inception. We are very excited to work with our ecosystem to help them grow their businesses, differentiate their offerings, and drive success for our joint customers.”
Amazon also has a new designation for its top consulting partners. So far 28 companies have qualified to be 2015 Premier Consulting Partners.
Premier Partners are: 2nd Watch, Accenture, Aquilent, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bulletproof Networks, Capgemini, Classmethod, Cloudnexa, Cloudpack, Cloudreach, Cognizant, CSC, Datapipe, Dedalus, DLT Solutions, Infosys, Matrix IT, Melbourne IT, Minjar Cloud Solutions, Nomura Research Institute, NORDCLOUD, Serverworks, Slalom Consulting, Smart421, Smartronix, Storm Reply, tecRacer, and Wipro.
Better Advice
One new item in the APN arsenal is a set of best practice guidelines and support for building proof-of-concepts for prospective customers.
“Additionally, AWS will fund up to half of professional services fees for eligible Advanced and Premier Partners, and all of their AWS usage fees for eligible customer proof-of-concept projects. Further, AWS is now providing eligible APN Partners with free usage credits for solution development, as well as marketing benefits to help them promote their solutions to customers,” Amazon said.
MSPs and SaaS on the Front Burner
Managed Services Providers (MSP) are a fast growing part of the cloud market, in particular since it removes even more of the burden on IT to manage systems and apps. “The AWS Managed Service Program is designed for APN Consulting Partners who are skilled at cloud infrastructure and application migration and deliver value to customers by offering proactive monitoring, automation, and management of their customers’ environment. APN Partners who join the AWS Managed Service Program will be eligible for specialized technical support, training, and marketing benefits,” Amazon explained.
The new AWS SaaS Partner program offers specific support for those company selling cloud-based apps.
Training Time
There are also a range of new training offerings, including:
– The AWS Certification Prep Bootcamp
– The AWS Professional Services Bootcamp
– A Windows on AWS Bootcamp
– An AWS total cost of ownership (TCO) and Cloud Economics accreditation course
