MSP University Announces New Partnership to Provide IT Professionals with Hybrid Cloud Education, Training and Support Services

GARDEN GROVE, CA, December 08, 2010 (Press-News.org) Managed Service Provider University (www.mspu.us); the largest consultancy and online resource dedicated to business transformation and improvement strategies for information technology (IT) professionals and managed services providers worldwide, announced today its collaboration with ClearCenter (www.clearcenter.com) and ChannelCloud (www.channelcloud.com) to develop and deliver education, training and fulfillment services to help IT professionals grow revenues with hybrid cloud services and technologies.

"This strategic partnership will help clear up market confusion by providing IT professionals a clear understanding of hybrid cloud services and technologies and simplify the value proposition for these services and solutions to reflect real business value for their clients," said Gary Beechum, President and CEO of MSP University.

A recent CompTIA research study revealed that 80% of end-user clients and 62% of IT professionals polled are unsure of, or use no formal definition of Cloud services, with the majority of both groups agreeing that these services need a clearer definition. MSP University's strategic partnership with ClearCenter and ChannelCloud will work towards addressing this need for clarification by educating the IT channel and creating effective Hybrid Service Providers through focused training, fulfillment and services deliverables.

"Cloud applications and services are critical to the future of IT because they bring a scalable, easily deployed architecture to smaller organizations. On Premise applications and services protect the local network and provide essential local services. Combined, they form a Hybrid IT environment where the perfect application of Cloud and On-Premise resources serve the organization. ClearCenter has mastered the sophisticated environment surrounding these technologies and prepared a comprehensive partner program to enable the Hybrid Cloud market. We are very excited to bring these tools to MSP University for their rapidly expanding channel of IT providers," said Michael Proper, CEO of ClearCenter.

According to CompTIA, 72% of end user customers polled plan to expand the type and number of Cloud services they are consuming, with the primary driver being a desire to reduce capital expenditures on hardware and other systems, followed closely by an overall desire to cut costs and add new capabilities not available with alternative models. This creates a tremendous opportunity for properly trained Hybrid Service Providers to identify and align appropriate Cloud solutions and services with integrated on premise solutions to fit the business needs of their prospects and clients.

"ChannelCloud provides a truly comprehensive end-to-end managed cloud solution for IT professionals and their clients. We deliver not only the technology and platform, but the training, and the transition tools needed to move forward with this new business model," said Kent Erickson, CEO of ChannelCloud. "With our ten years of experience in delivering hosted cloud solutions, we are experts in our field and look forward to helping the channel build successful cloud integration practices. We are excited to share our cloud platform and knowledge with MSP University and its members."

MSP University provides IT business operations, sales and marketing and technical service delivery improvement education, training, fulfillment and consulting services to Fortune 50 manufacturers, distributors, membership organizations, vendor channels, franchises and thousands of independent IT service organizations worldwide. MSP University is the ultimate resource for IT solution providers, whether preparing to transition to an annuity-based Managed Services delivery model, or who are already delivering Managed Services, and wish to increase their knowledge of IT and Managed Services vendors, services, solutions and business, technical and sales and marketing best practices to drive revenue and increase profitability. For more information, visit www.mspu.us.

ClearCenter, based in Salt Lake City, UT - U.S.A. and Toronto, Ontario - Canada, is the leader in Hybrid IT platforms. ClearOS, an open source Hybrid IT operating system that integrates on premise systems functions with Cloud applications and services. ClearCenter updates software, content and services for ClearOS using ClearSDN, a cloud based Service Delivery Network deployed in data centers around the globe. For more information about ClearCenter, visit www.clearcenter.com or call 1+801.851.5555.

ChannelCloud is a new era cloud computing solution provider located in San Diego, California. ChannelCloud has developed a first-of-kind fully integrated cloud platform, and is building a federation of ChannelCloud partners across the US who share the vision of a new, truly comprehensive method of delivering IT services to clients. This vision weaves the common technologies available, along with some proprietary components, into a cohesive fabric integrating all facets of clients' businesses, as well as the business processes of the MSP partner. This provides real end-to-end solutions so clients can work on their core business strengths and forget about the technology that makes that work possible. For more information see www.channelcloud.com.