independenceIT (iIT) has been on a Partner tear, and this week is no exception as it joined forces with Globalworx and SaskTel to broaden the reach of its virtual desktop tools deep into Canada.
The trio divides things up this way: independenceIT provides the virtual desktop with its Cloud Workspace, SaskTel is a telco and data center provider that serves Canada, and Globalworx, a Canadian partner of independenceIT that sells to other partners, including MSPs. Globalworx’s has an interesting approach. It hosts Cloud Workspace in Canada, and uses it as a platform upon which other Canadian vendors can sell their wares.
The idea is to make “it easier for emerging Canadian companies to commercialize their technology and for consumers to procure consumable cloud services in an agile, dynamic and responsive manner. The workspace is built and architected on a highly distributed, open and comprehensive public cloud, includes an open development platform and hosts over 350 mainstream business applications. It is the only full lifecycle, turnkey cloud platform available in Canada and provides a robust mechanism for global software commercialization,” Globalworx said. “Once a Canadian company develops an approved application on our “Cloud Workspace”, it becomes commercially available to our global sales channel and allows them to take their software to market with practically no barrier to entry. We are creating vertically integrated “Cloud Workspaces” for government, legal, retail and financial markets that will enable cross-industry collaboration and economies of scale in the best interest of accelerated Canadian technology commercialization.”
With the trio, Canadian companies can have its virtual desktops hosted for their own use, as well serving as a conduit to Canadian customers wanting to buy and use services. The Globalworx goal, besides making money, is to help Canadian companies quickly get into the cloud market and easily build services and differentiate them from their competitors.
One item now available to Canadian cloud wannabes is Oracle Identity Manager, which gives cloud users secure access that can be based on roles or other factors. Oracle Virtual Machine, an enterprise-class hypervisor, is also now supported.
One Canadian cloud organization believes the partnerships will boost security. “The protection of data is an active topic across all provinces and is why we are proactively reporting on and advocating for privacy in cloud computing environments,” said Robert Hart, Founder and CEO of Cloud Council, considered a key voice for cloud computing in Canada. “The partnership between Globalworx, SaskTel and independenceIT seems designed to firewall data from global predators and keep it securely within the borders and privacy rules of our nation,” Hart said.
VDI on a Role
VDI, which drives many virtual desktops, is on the move. Researcher TechNavio says the worldwide market for cloud-based VDI will grow at a 30.6 percent CAGR over the next three years, this because IT wants to lower the costs of desktop infrastructure.
Fellow research house The Taneja Group concurs. “At Taneja Group we think this next year will show a real uptick in VDI adoption fueled by practical, cost-efficient offerings that truly provide enterprise class functionality at scale,” said Mike Matchett, senior analyst and consultant at Taneja..
The independenceIT Partner Push
iIT already has a bevy of partners, including a recent deal to integrate ConnectWise service management with the virtual application and desktop tool from independenceIT. Now, MSPs can sell a fully integrated service management/virtual desktop solution.
Previous to that, iIT built a strategic partnership with LabTech Software to combine service management and remote monitoring and management (RMM) into one integrated offering.
In similar partner news, iIT struck a deal with Artisan Infrastructure to blend that company’s IaaS with the iIT virtual desktop.
Not only that, but the latest version of iIT’s Cloud Workspace also supports N-able for RMM and service automation. It also works with Autotask for service desk, project management, tech scheduling, billing and reporting, and customer relationship management (CRM).
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
