In quest for growth, Parallels promises partners more support: Page 2 of 2

On the horizon
 
However despite the potential for growth, Dzienciol said that market consolidation can be expected in some markets, due to either buyouts or strategic alliances between service providers.
 
“The alliance model going forward will become a reality, where one provider focuses on certain things and partners with another company to resell services – to avoid having to build out infrastructure, to be agile enough to test things more rapidly,” he said.
 
Cloud-based storage will also become another area of focus, with Dzienciol noting that across the globe, there is a ramp-up in infrastructure for cloud storage this year.
 
“It’s a ‘build year,’ and by 2014 it’ll be a year of storage as a revenue stream for our partners. The fact is that storage is increasing in terms of requirements by companies and our partners want a slice of that pie,” he said.
 
One more area of focus, especially pertinent to the Asia Pacific region, Abhilash said, is the proliferation of mobile devices and ubiquitous data access creating larger traction in the SMB mobile market and its mobile data needs.
 
“With smartphone penetration among SMBs in the Asean region being more than 40%, and growing tablet penetration rates, there will be a range of conversations regarding how they can best use mobility for business continuity as well as to increase productivity,” he said.
 
In the short term, the focus of partners will be on addressing immediate customer needs, with Abhilash noting that the most dominant discussion will be centred on technologies that can help SMBs increase productivity and reduce operating expenses.
 
“These needs are also the triggers for them to look beyond on-premise solutions. Now the bigger challenge for them is to choose the right and optimum bundled cloud offering that can best suit their business priorities,” he said.
 
Gabey Goh reports from World Hosting Day Asia in Singapore, at the invitation of Parallels. See also: Selling servers to SMBs is a ‘dying business,’ says Parallels and Parallels and Telin Singapore pact to drive cloud adoption in Asia.
 
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