Public cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services has added three new partner programs to its AWS Partner Network (APN), as well as two new partner competencies and a partner finder tool.
The announcements came on the second day of AWS’s 2016 re:Invent partner conference in Las Vegas.
The first of the three new partner offerings, named the AWS Service Delivery program, targets providers of consulting and technology services for a wide array of AWS solutions ranging from the cloud vendor’s Aurora hosted database and CloudFront content delivery network to the AWS Data Migration Service and beyond. Members must pass technical reviews and have a validated track record of customer success with a specific AWS service.
The AWS Public Sector Partner Program, meanwhile, is for APN enrollees with experience serving government, education, and nonprofit organizations, while the VMware Cloud on AWS Partner Program is for partners capable of helping businesses deploy and operate hybrid clouds based on the joint VMware-AWS hybrid cloud platform announced in October and slated to reach market in 2017.
The two new competencies unveiled today are for APN members with demonstrated know-how and success in the financial services industry and the Internet of Things. The AWS Financial Services Competency specifically focuses on solutions and services for the banking, capital markets, and insurance verticals, while the AWS IoT Competency highlights consulting and technology partners with proven experience providing intelligent factory and smart city solutions as well as IoT-enabled offerings for the energy, automotive, transportation, and healthcare markets, among others.
There are now 16 APN competencies in all.
More than 10,000 new partners have joined the APN in the past 12 months, according to AWS. To help businesses identify appropriate members for their specific needs, AWS also rolled out a new partner locator tool today. Named the AWS Partner Solutions Finder, the new website lets users search by location, industry, and use case as well as by specific AWS competencies and Service Delivery Program specialties.
“There’s never been a better time to be an APN Partner. Customers are turning to the AWS Cloud to address an increasingly broad set of needs across their organizations, which translates to business opportunities for the APN partners that help them achieve their goals,” said Dorothy Copeland, general manager of global partner programs for AWS, in a press statement. “This is why we continue to invest in programs that help APN Partners differentiate based on the specialized value they provide to customers.”
Though rivals Microsoft and Google are both growing faster, AWS commands 45 percent of the worldwide public infrastructure-as-a-service market, according to data released last month by Synergy Research Group. Forrester Research, meanwhile, recently predicted that global public cloud spending will reach $236 billion in 2020.
The 2016 edition of re:Invent, which is expected to draw 24,000 attendees, runs through Friday. AWS CEO Andy Jassy delivers a keynote address tomorrow morning, with CTO Werner Vogels following on Thursday.
