After NZ launch OVHcloud focuses on ecosystem

Two months on, the business is getting into the work of building its network of local partners.

OVHcloud recently opened its Local Zone in Auckland partnering with Datacentre220, the first in the Asia Pacific region and is now focusing on partner development.

Australian and New Zealand customers can access the group’s public cloud services and the business promises low latency and local data residency, suitable for finance, banking, healthcare and government organisations. Available public cloud services include compute, block and object storage services, addressable through OpenStack, with ISO/IEC 27001 certification.

Jeff Lee, partner network lead for Asia Pacific, OVHcloud, said that because it’s the first time OVHcloud has set up infrastructure in New Zealand its primary goal is gaining name recognition.

“We already have some early customers using the local zone, which is a good baseline. More importantly, we are seeing a lot of local New Zealand partners signing up and showing interest in working with us, so the brand awareness is definitely growing,” Lee told CRN Australia.

At OVHcloud, Lee is responsible for nurturing the company's partner network across the region — working closely with resellers, managed service providers, system integrators and value-added resellers to drive adoption of the company’s open, sovereign cloud solutions.

On the partner front, OVHcloud is working to build out its network of local partners to support New Zealand customers. Two months since launch, that means having conversations and working on building relationships before taking next steps.

“We want to listen to local partners to understand their challenges and what they actually need from us. Building an ecosystem takes time, but this is the necessary first step,” he said.

While Lee wasn’t able to name specific local channel partners, he stressed that local expertise is key to supporting customers with technology adoption across the spectrum.

"We believe that local knowledge is key, so we want to team up with local MSPs and VARs. Nothing is officially locked in yet .. but we hope to partner with them to help customers with  cloud migration, virtualisation, cybersecurity and AI,” he said.

The growing demand for data sovereignty cloud services

On the topic of data sovereignty, Lee said New Zealand companies like many around the world are paying attention to data privacy and where their data is stored.

“OVHcloud offers an open and completely sovereign cloud, ensuring local data residency that is not subject to extra-territorial regulations. We’re excited to give local partners a trusted, alternative cloud option that they can confidently pitch to their clients,” he said.

In the near term, Lee and the team are focused on the local zone in Auckland and supporting its existing footprint. “We already operate three data centres in Sydney, and the Auckland local zone is designed as an edge extension to bring compute resources closer to the local market in New Zealand,” he said.

“The main goal for year one is simple: build up the partner ecosystem. We want to lay a solid foundation with a group of trusted local partners who  are ready and confident to offer OVHcloud to their clients,” he added.