Reseller Program Posts 50% Net Mailbox Growth in 2010
2011-03-15
Intermedia, the world’s largest Microsoft Exchange hosting provider, today announced that it manages over 300,000 premium Microsoft Exchange mailboxes on behalf of its small business customers and through its partner channels. The company made the announcement at its third annual Partner Summit held in New York City at the Yale Club.
An important driver of the growth is Intermedia’s Private Label Partner Program, which saw a 50 percent increase in total mailboxes hosted in 2010 over 2009. “Our channel’s rapid growth indicates that cloud email has gone mainstream, with legacy Exchange environments and first-time business email buyers often turning to a trusted local managed service provider for the solution,” says Serguei Sofinski, CEO, Intermedia. “We are there behind the scenes for these partners, powering their email and other communications services while they build their business and brand.”
Additional highlights from Intermedia’s fast-paced channel growth include:
- 6,500 private label resellers now on board: In 2010, the program’s membership grew 45 percent year-over-year, with partners signing on to resell communications services, such as hosted Exchange 2010, under their own brand.
- 40 percent decrease in average time to a new partner’s first sale in 2010 over 2009: Intermedia reports that the increased effectiveness is a sign not only that its efforts to better equip partner sales are successful, but that partners and their customers are rapidly transitioning to the cloud and increasingly avoiding on-premise deployments for email.
- Private label partners’ January 2011 hosted Exchange sales increased 114 percent over the same period in 2010: The sharp increase is notable because January 2010 was also a high sales month for partners, coming on the heels of Intermedia’s launch of hosted Exchange 2010.
- Major Q1 2011 product launches extending “beyond the mailbox”: Intermedia launched new products to partners including encryption, hosted PBX with unlimited domestic VoIP telephone service, and unified communications. The new products provide partners with additional offerings not only to resell, but also to build high-margin professional services engagements around.
Intermedia Private Label Partner’s resell Intermedia services under their own brand. “Because our private label program enables managed service providers, VARs and other tech providers to own the billing and customer relationship, it attracts top performing partners – many of whom are here at the third annual Partner Summit,” adds Bob Leibholz, SVP Sales and Business Development, Intermedia. “We give our partners the tools necessary to grow their businesses – from support to marketing, and most importantly, flexibility. They have the freedom to set prices and bundle services. They own billing, and they own the customer relationship.”
The Partner Summit brings together top Intermedia resellers – many of them managed service providers and web hosts – with industry thought leaders to discuss what is next in communications. The focus on this year’s summit is “moving beyond the mailbox,” including additional solutions to help partners grow their businesses, such as encryption and VoIP telephone service – both of which are integrated with Intermedia’s hosted Exchange and Outlook.
Intermedia’s Partner Program
Intermedia empowers thousands of MSPs, VARs and IT consultants – as well as select Fortune 500 companies – to sell communications services under their own brand. Intermedia offers two reseller programs. The private label partner program is for those who wish to generate recurring revenue from existing and new customers with high margin hosted communications services – all under their own brand – while Intermedia maintains, monitors and upgrades all hardware and software. The affiliate program is for partners that prefer to promote Intermedia solutions and earn a commission for each sale they make.