Google launch a reseller program for the paid version of its Apps hosted collaboration and communication suite.

Google Launches Reseller Program for Apps Premier
Google will launch on Wednesday a reseller program for the paid version of its Apps hosted collaboration and communication suite.

The program will allow, for the first time, third parties to resell Apps Premier, which costs US$50 per user per year.

Resellers can be IT service providers, VARs, system integrators, consultants, software vendors and ISPs of any size anywhere in the world.

Although most Apps customers are individuals and small businesses that use its free Standard edition, Google has beefed up the Premier edition in a variety of ways to attract the attention of large organizations.

Fostering the creation of an active reseller community for Apps Premier is the latest step in that direction. Resellers are able to provide the dedicated, one-on-one support that large organizations often require throughout the lifecycle of their enteprise software products.

Google will offer Apps Premier licenses at a 20 percent discount to resellers, and provide training, support and tools for sales and marketing.

Resellers will be able to bundle their own complementary IT services with the sale of the suite to generate additional revenue. Resellers will handle the billing process for Apps Premier, not Google.

To further differentiate the Premier and Standard editions, effective Wednesday Google is also capping the number of users an organization can have on the Standard version. This limit doesn't apply to existing Standard users.

CIOs and IT managers in mid-to-large companies are warming up to Web-hosted software like Google Apps as an option to traditional software that is installed and maintained on customer premises.

Among the things many find attractive about hosted software, commonly known as software-as-a-service (SaaS) products, are that it's generally cheaper, it's installed and maintained by the vendor on its data centers and it's usually designed to make it easy for users to share and collaborate on files.

On the other hand, there are also objections to SaaS products, such as occasional performance and availability issues and security concerns.

SaaS products are part of the cloud computing trend, which also includes the provision of IT infrastructure services via the Internet, like storage and server capacity.

"In general, there has been a lot more awareness about cloud computing [recently] and about the transition [to that model] that has been taking place," said Rishi Chandra, senior product manager of Google Apps. "Many partners have been coming to us and telling us they see the [cloud computing] momentum and that they want to get involved."

Companies interested in applying to the program can find out more information about the requirements online. Google will begin giving partners the green light to resell Apps Premier towards the end of March.

About 50 partners have been participating in the reseller program's pilot phase.

This Apps reseller program is an extension of the partner programs has had for some time for its enterprise products, like Apps and the enterprise search device Search Appliance.

Google has an Enterprise Partners program for third-parties that offer services for Google enterprise products. For example, Cap Gemini made a deal with Google in September 2007 to offer Apps Premier services to large organizations.

Google also has a Solutions Marketplace of products that extend the functionality of Google enterprise products.

Apps, which also has the free Standard and Education versions, is in use at more than 1 million [m] businesses by more than 10 million [m] end users.

Some large organizations that use Apps Premier include Genentech, Telegraph Media Group and the Washington D.C. government.


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Introduces Google New Business Version of Popular Hosted Applications
introduced Google Apps Premier Edition, a new version of Google’s hosted services for communication and collaboration designed for businesses of all sizes. Google Apps Premier Edition is available for $50 per user account per year, and includes phone support, additional storage, and a new set of administration and business integration capabilities.

Google Apps™, launched as a free service in August 2006, is a suite of applications that includes Gmail™ webmail services, Google Calendar™ shared calendaring, Google Talk™ instant messaging and voice-over-IP, and the Start Page feature for creating a customizable home page on a specific domain. More than 100,000 small businesses and hundreds of universities now use the service. Google Apps Premier Edition now joins Google Apps Standard Edition and Google Apps Education Edition, both of which will continue to be offered for free to organizations.

"Procter & Gamble Global Business Services (GBS) has enrolled as a charter enterprise customer of Google Apps, a successful consumer product suite now available to enterprises. P&G will work closely with Google in shaping enterprise characteristics and requirements for these popular tools," said Laurie Heltsley, director Procter & Gamble Global Business Services.

"So much of business now relies on people being able to communicate and collaborate effectively," said Gregory Simpson, CTO for General Electric Company. "GE is interested in evaluating Google Apps for the easy access it provides to a suite of web applications, and the way these applications can help people work together. Given its consumer experience, Google has a natural advantage in understanding how people interact together over the web."

Google also today announced that all editions of Google Apps now include Google Docs & Spreadsheets™. In addition, Google Apps now supports Gmail for mobile on BlackBerry™ handheld devices.

"Businesses are looking for applications that are simple and intuitive for employees, but also offer the security, reliability and manageability their organizations require," said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager, Google Enterprise. "With Google Apps, our customers can tap into an unprecedented stream of technology and innovation at a fraction of the cost of traditional installed solutions."