Value-added distributor Westcon Group has announced the acquisition of the assets of Verecloud, the developer of a channel distribution platform for cloud and services solutions. Verecloud will be incorporated in Westcon Group’s Cloud Solutions Practice, which will be led by former Verecloud CEO John McCawley.
McCawley noted, “Cloud solutions have become particularly intricate. That’s why our mission is to provide a single source for technology resellers and their customers to discover, buy, monitor and manage their cloud services ecosystem.”
Founded in 2006, privately-held Verecloud has developed a cloud services aggregation and brokerage platform that will form the foundation of Westcon Group’s cloud digital distribution solution, designed for value-added resellers (VARs). It connects VARs in an automated fashion with subscription and usage-based services delivered by multiple third-party services providers. It also enables micro-transaction billing, service level monitoring, up- and cross-selling, and other functions.
“Weston Group and Verecloud have been working together during the past 18 months and co-developed a truly differentiated cloud go-to-market capability for the channel,” said Dolph Westerbos, CEO at Westcon Group. “Our services distribution solution sets us apart from the industry, hence we decided to ‘in-source’ that intellectual property through this acquisition. Coupling our channel cloud enablement services with Verecloud’s acquisition will position Westcon Group Cloud Solutions to drive the business models of tomorrow.”
He added, “As a technology distributor, Westcon Group provides a crucial link between VARs and our OEM vendor partners, creating growth both upstream and downstream. Cloud has the potential for vendors to work directly with end customers, and for resellers to broaden their service solutions. But practical obstacles such as fulfillment, billing and monitoring — as well as a lack of channel enablement services — have prevented the new IT consumption business models from fully taking off. Westcon Group Cloud Solutions is building the go-to-market blueprint for IT-as-a-Service; our distribution solutions for consumption-based services provide the tools for our resellers and vendor partners to win in the cloud.”
