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It offers enterprise solutions in
eight SAE16 data centers on three
continents, offers redundancy-
driven solutions with 100 percent
uptime SLAs on power, network
and cooling with N+1 infrastructure,
and internet capacity that exceeds
200Gbps with more connections to
more carriers.
We sat down with Steve Empie,
CEO of Enzu, to discuss his compa-
ny’s channel strategy, and what’s next
for the cloud.
ChannelVision: Tell me a
bit about the company’s
history and track record
with the channel.
Steve Empie:
Enzu’s roots go
back to the early days of server
virtualization. We started offering
virtualized server instances back in
2008, when few others were in the
market. Historically, we have been
a direct provider, however, with the
evolution of the cloud we have be-
gun to leverage partners to collabo-
rate on opportunities. This includes
deploying private clouds as well as
establishing white-labeled solutions
in partner facilities. We offer a suite
of services to complement the part-
ner’s needs for private clouds with
our hybrid cloud, hybrid colocation
and bare-metal offerings.
CV: Are there any notable
portfolio initiatives to
highlight that would be
of interest to the channel
community?
SE:
Hybrid cloud and colocation is
all the rage in the data center market
right now. However, most of those
companies are offering a cookie-
cutter solution or handing you a fiber
cross-connect into a third party and
calling it “hybrid.” Our portfolio initia-
tives focus on bringing the cloud out
of the public realm (where malware
and viruses are running rampant) and
closer to the business’s facilities.
We can do this via a myriad of
options, whether it’s a hybrid coloca-
tion deployment where the cloud core
sides with the customer’s non-cloud
infrastructure; private racks in a facil-
ity; or something as simple as a direct
connection to our local facility. This
allows us to provide the right solution
while maintaining a great value propo-
sition for our partners.
CV:What do you think are the
greatest market opportunities for
channel partners for 2017?What
about the greatest challenges?
SE:
The cloud is a fast-growing
vertical, and as traditional products
and services continue to evolve in the
channel we feel that it will provide a
steady revenue stream for years to come.
As any new product continues to grow
in acceptance, there will be product ca-
pability confusion. All too often we have
companies coming to us not satisfied
with their current vendor, and as we go
through their technical requirements we
find that the customer was sold a solution
that could never be delivered.
We look to overcome these situations
by working with the customer to identify
the shortcomings of their current pro-
vider, setting goals with the new cloud,
and designing a solution that not only
meets their expectations but also fits into
their budget.
CV: How has your partner
ecosystem changed in the past
year or so, and what do you
expect for the rest of the year?
SE:
Our partner ecosystem is grow-
ing from a specialized agent/partner
model to a master agent and facility
partner model. This will allow us to
expand our footprint at pace with our
partners’ needs.
CV:What investments is
Enzu making in the channel
community of late?
SE:
We have begun to become more
active with industry events to increase
awareness of our company and service
offerings. We also continue to work on
our channel partner portals and white-
label service offerings.
CV:What’s guiding your
overall company mission going
forward?
SE
: Providing solutions that encom-
pass the customer’s needs and growing
with them. We are looking to step in and
solve problems for customers, creating
long-term relationships.
CV:What sets you apart for
channel partners?
SE:
We provide a strong domestic pres-
ence, as well as a footprint in both Asia and
Europe. We continue to expand rapidly with
private facilities, and in many cases provide
better access than the big-box clouds. We
are also receiving a lot of good feedback on
our latest SPIFFs that are running through
the end of the year.
o
Enzu Focuses on
Partners & the New
Cloud Economy
By
Tara
Seals
I
n many ways, Enzu Inc. is ahead
of the curve when it comes to the
new cloud economy.
Q & A
76
Channel
Vision
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May - June, 2017