HPE brings Cloud28+ initiative in APJ

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced the launch of its Cloud28+ initiative in Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ). The initiative brings together a community of regional and global commercial and public-sector organizations with the common goal to remove barriers to cloud adoption imposed by the fragmentation of the APJ market.

The creation of a one-stop shop for cloud services will help customers better address their right mix of hybrid IT requirements by choosing to work with the partners and cloud environments of their choice. Enterprises can easily identify and implement the cloud services they need, while complying with local regulations. The site is currently available in English, Korean and Japanese.

40 HPE partners across APJ quickly became members of the community. Cloud28+ provides partners with innovative ways to grow their visibility and revenue opportunities, while facilitating new business alliances and lowering their marketing costs.

Joybrata Mukherjee, Director, Channel, SMB and Service Providers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India, says, “Hosted and secured in Asia-Pacific and Japan, Cloud28+ gives local and regional organizations the opportunity to find the best mix of services by trusted HPE partners, while allowing partners to demonstrate their unique value add.”

Cloud28+ is a fast-growing, open community of service providers, solution providers, ISVs, system integrators, distributors, and public entities, all committed to boosting enterprise cloud service availability for customers across Asia-Pacific and Japan. Access to a single, federated catalogue of cloud services ensures that it is as simple as possible for users to find the services they need, freeing organizations from the limitations of a fragmented marketplace and fostering agile services, job opportunities, creativity and competitiveness across the region.

HPE and Microsoft have also formed a go-to-market alliance with Microsoft through Cloud28+. As a member, Microsoft will combine forces with HPE to provide partners with new business opportunities and tools, while accelerating customer business outcomes powered by a rich hybrid IT ecosystem.

Through Cloud28+, HPE and Microsoft will create a joint Azure Stack ISV onboarding program focussed on connecting software vendors to HPE and Microsoft solution and service providers, helping them to grow their market visibility and develop new revenue streams. In turn, HPE and Microsoft solution and service providers will benefit from dedicated lead generation campaigns and sales enablement activities to bolster their Azure Stack sales. Customers will gain access to an even more comprehensive community and cloud service catalogue, allowing them find their own right mix of partners and hybrid IT solutions to match their specific workload, industry and data sovereignty requirements.

Today, Cloud28+ counts more than 570 partners, contributing to a catalogue of close-to 20,000 build and consume services. Focussed on providing high levels of data sovereignty and customization, Cloud28+ partners offer services out of more than 350 data centers in every region around the world. The Cloud28+ partners in India are GIEOM, Shro Systems, Sonata Software, CLOUDBRIC, Accel Frontline, Srishti Software, Microtech Systems, Sify, ESDS, Pursuit Technologies, NXTGEN, NetMagic (NTT Communications), MicroPoint and STI.

Cloud28+ is open to all customers to join free of charge. There is no cost to search the catalogue or connect with partners. Likewise, customers can submit their request for proposals directly through the Cloud28+ portal for a customer response from the community. Microsoft ISV and HPE Partner Ready partners will now have immediate member access to Cloud28+, as part of their respective Microsoft and HPE partner programs. There is no cost for partners to join Cloud28+, nor are there any brokerage fees through the platform.