Solution Providers: NexGen Cloud Fills Big Gap In Cloud Market

Solution providers said the new NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo, to be held Dec. 3 to 5 in San Diego, fills a much-needed gap for vendor-neutral content in an increasingly partisan cloud-computing marketplace.

The conference, the brainchild of CRN parent company, The Channel Company, is the first partner-centric, cloud-computing conference aimed at providing vendor-neutral content developed by and for the broad swath of solution providers delivering cloud migration strategies and services for customers.

NexGen Cloud is critical, solution providers said, because it provides an independent multivendor expo in a market filled with single-threaded, vendor-focused cloud conferences. The inaugural event with the theme ’All Roads Lead To The Cloud,’ will be held at the San Diego Convention Center.

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’A lot of the vendor-specific cloud conferences feature 'rah-rah' content rallying the troops for the upcoming year,’ said Ryan Trimberger, director of sales and business development for Nimbo, a four-year-old, fast-growing New York-based, born-in-the-cloud provider that is helping develop content for the conference. ’NexGen Cloud is a venue for solution providers to gain expertise across multiple cloud platforms with best practices across all of them. You are not just going to hear from solution provider peers, but also get real candid feedback from customers."

Nimbo, a member of the NexGen Cloud Advisory Board, is slated to feature a conference session with a Fortune 100 CIO it has teamed that whom it will give a first-hand account of how its cloud computing solutions have completely transformed every aspect of the business, from marketing to finance.

"NexGen cloud is all about providing partners with new ways to innovate and help customers generate revenue with cloud solutions,’ said Trimberger, a top Microsoft and Amazon partner that is also eyeing a potential Google partnership. ’This is all about getting partners to become an extension of the customer to yield results that will benefit the bottom line. It's really cool to be part of transforming businesses.’

Chris Ward, chief technology officer for GreenPages’ Logics One, a Kittery, Maine-headquartered leader in cloud computing data center consulting and management, said NexGen Cloud is critical because it will allow partners to cut through all the cloud clutter to focus on what are the ’key market segments and technologies that will drive sales growth’ in 2015. ’NextGen Cloud is a good place to see what’s relevant and driving the biggest gains for customers,’ he said. ’The key focus for me is what are customers ready, willing and able to do with cloud.’

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That kind of independent view of the market is critical given the single-vendor-focused cloud strategies that are grabbing the spotlight, Ward said. ’Being vendor-agnostic is key to the conference,’ said Ward, a member of the NexaGen Cloud Advisory Board. ’Getting a holistic view of everything that is on the market and knowing which weapon to use when is critical.’

David Geevaratne, co-founder and president of New Signature, a Washington, D.C., solution provider, said the NexGen Cloud Conference and Expo will provide partners with "real world’ case studies and actionable insights around ’cloud business value and delivering the best possible customer experience."

Geevaratne, a member of the NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo Advisory Board, said he sees the conference as critical in helping the broad channel community be successful in transforming their businesses for the cloud era. ’A rising tide floats all boats,’ he said. ’This conference is going to help drive this industry forward. We want to take all the solution providers with us into the cloud. If you are not leading with cloud, you are not delivering the best value and customer experience. Customers want their business problems solved. They want silos busted and barriers broken. This conference is all about helping customers overcome challenges in productivity, communications and collaboration."

Lisa MacKenzie, senior vice president of events for The Channel Company, said the conference will deliver content for the broad spectrum of partners. "Whether you are a novice or a born-in-the-cloud partner, there will be something for you,’ she said, noting that partners can get more information or register for the event at www.nexgencloudcon.com. ’No matter where you are today as a partner there is a path to the cloud for you. Solution providers are going to walk away with a more definitive path to their own transformation."

MacKenzie said the conference is critical to driving business model transformation for the partner community, especially since The Channel Company research shows that just 27 percent of the channel has fully transformed their business to be successful in the cloud. ’The Channel Company has been helping partners transform their business for more than 30 years,’ she said. ’Nexgen Cloud Conference & Expo is an extension of that." The Channel Company is inviting associations and vendors to collocate their own conferences during the NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo to help accelerate partner transformation, said MacKenzie.

Nimbo’s Trimberger said the time is right for a vendor-independent cloud conference. ’Solution providers and customers are looking for someone to help them push the limits," he said. "Everyone is jockeying for position in the cloud. Every dollar counts, and this conference is going to help partners drive their business forward. It's a nonbiased, bi-partisan conference that doesn't have a specific one-platform agenda.’

PUBLISHED MAY 19, 2014