Track One: Cloud Services

Whether you are a telecom agent, IT VAR or telecom dealer, word on the street is your No. 1 new opportunity and the No. 1 challenge is to embrace cloud service-delivery models. This track offers tools for tackling both — from building a cloud practice to building an ROI model.

Tuesday, March 27

9:30 – 10:15 a.m.

Creating a Complete Cloud Portfolio – Part 1

Hosted e-mail and online backup are the minimum ante if you want to play in the cloud. An end-to-end offer includes servers, storage, security, communications, business applications and more. What services do you need to offer? Where should you source them? How can you ensure they all work well together? These are critical questions partners need to answer to be prepared to address the growing customer requirements for cloud-based services in a consultative and cost-effective way.

SPEAKER:

Andrew Pryfogle, President and CEO, Terrapin Solutions LLC

10:30 – 11:15 a.m.

Creating a Complete Cloud Portfolio – Part 2

There are many options for developing an end-to end cloud offer. These range from hosting your own hardware/software to reselling the services of individual providers to reselling bundles from carriers, aggregators/ brokers. Find out how early entrants are delivering cloud services and wrapping consulting services around them.

MODERATOR:

Andrew Pryfogle, President and CEO, Terrapin Solutions LLC

PANELISTS:

Clark Atwood, President, Concierge Communications
Gala Gorman, Partner, Go To Telecom
Biren Shukla, President and CEO, Forum Info-Tech Inc.

Wednesday, March 28

9 – 10 a.m.

Calculating Cloud ROI

As a trusted adviser, how can you recommend your client move its business applications software, servers or storage to remote data centers without knowing whether it will make financial sense? Might it preserve scarce capital in the short run, only to end up costing them more in the long run? In this session, partners will learn how to conduct a Total Cost of Ownership interview and how to build the business case for outsourcing software and IT infrastructure to the cloud.

SPEAKER:

Joe Corvaia, Vice President, Solutions Engineering, Broadview Networks
Neely Loring, Matrix

10:30 – 11:15 a.m.

Mitigating Risks in Cloud Environments

Security of IT infrastructure, data and applications always has been an enterprise concern, but the move to the cloud has pushed the issue front and center. Whether large or small, public or private, commercial or government, all organizations need to proactively ensure their systems and data are secure and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. This session will focus on the threats to cloud-based offerings and best practices for mitigating risk.

SPEAKER:

Jim Lippard, Senior Product Manager, Security Products, EarthLink IT Services

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Selling Cloud-Ready Networks

What often gets left out of the cloud conversation is perhaps the most critical part: the network between a company and its cloud. After all, a cloud is only as secure and reliable as its connection. This presents an opportunity for channel partners to not only ensure the performance of cloud services, but to build a recurring revenue stream as part of a cloud-enablement practice. This session will provide instruction in how to assess a customer’s requirements and build a cloud-ready network accordingly.