Cloud28+ Community Launches Unified Cloud Catalogue 

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced the launch of its Cloud28+ initiative in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). Cloud28+ 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.

Beyond searching for cloud and professional searches along a whole host of criteria, customers also gain access to a knowledge-based portal, where they can share and learn more about cloud-related topics. Customers can also partner with Service Providers in the community to resell their own digital offerings and form new go-to-market avenues.

Since worldwide expansion of Cloud28+ earlier this year, 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.

“Cloud is a critical component to ensuring a stronger digital economy in Asia Pacific and Japan,” says Joybrata Mukherjee, Director, Channel, SMB and Service Providers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India. “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, systems 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.

As part of its dedication to increasing enterprise cloud adoption, 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 focused 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.

“HPE and Microsoft are taking a step together to enable the channel in a new way and its ability to compete effectively in a digital, platform-driven world,” said Crawford Del Prete, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Products and Chief Research Officer, IDC. “This is an important partnership for HPE and Microsoft. Combining the power of the HPE channel community through Cloud28+, with all the possibilities of Microsoft Azure Stack, makes for a strong partner value proposition and a compelling environment for customers to more easily engage.”

Today, Cloud28+ counts more than 570 partners, contributing to a catalogue of close to 20,000 build and consume services. Focused 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.