VAR to VAR

It takes a solution provider to know a solution provider, so it's no wonder that one of the newer trends in the IT channel involves providers launching products and services that they are marketing to peers and competitors.

Driven by declining profit margins, distrust of some manufacturers and the goal to address client IT needs ignored by vendors, a growing number of solution providers are taking on this new role of quasi-vendor. And they are zeroing in on some of the market's most acute needs—things such as security, backup and recovery, business continuity, and business management.

"There's no one better to come up with a VAR program than another VAR," said Rory Sanchez, CEO and president of SL Powers, a $5 million managed services provider based in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Sanchez is one of hundreds of partners that have signed up to sell the backup and disaster recovery services of Zenith Infotech, a systems integrator in Warrendale, Pa., that stumbled upon a managed services opportunity to bring to market a remote management tool it developed in-house. CEO Akash Saraf said Zenith Infotech saw the number of its channel partners swell to 1,400 from 230 over the past year.

The reason for that success, Saraf said, is simple: "We think like a solution provider."

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Branching out

Zenith Infotech, based in Mumbai, India, was founded in 1997 as an ISV and systems integrator writing branch office management automation software for small banks in India and providing support to the clients. After developing a remote management tool for its own use, Saraf said, the company decided to branch out as a vendor, marketing the tool to other solution providers.

The company, with revenue of $25 million and 900 employees, then began offering complete BDR (backup and disaster recovery) services for Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 servers with a pay-as-you-go model. Zenith Infotech in June began shipping an appliance, consisting of a NAS (network-attached storage) box with software, designed to provide the small and midsize business market with enterprise-level security services.

The pay-as-you-go model makes it possible for VARs not to shell out large sums of money upfront. It means, Saraf said, that Zenith Infotech aligns its revenue and profitability to those of its partners. Saraf said he also encourages VARs to private-label the Zenith Infotech services for their clients.

SL Powers is doing just that. The solution provider, said Sanchez, sold a half-dozen appliances right after the BDR solution was launched, and another six since then. Offered as a managed service, BDR does off-site data mirroring, and as such, provides an ideal alternative to tape, which is unreliable and an issue for every customer and solution provider, Sanchez said. The box also comes with built-in virtualization software, giving customers a standby server for failover.

SL Powers brands the service as GN Restore, and Sanchez said he expects a high adoption rate among his existing 75 to 80 managed services customers.

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