Partner Content: How resellers can capitalise on edge applications during the UK's Covid recovery - Vertiv

A shift to remote working puts edge applications in sharp focus for resellers, claims Vertiv’s UK and Ireland channel sales director Scott Harrison

A shift to remote working has given resellers an opportunity to capitalise on new opportunities at the edge of customer networks, claims Vertiv's UK and Ireland channel sales director Scott Harrison.

With remote working and video conferencing expected to become a mainstay for businesses across the globe even post-Covid, there is now a premium on online connectivity, said the channel boss.

He believes that, in 2021, there will be a massive drive from customers to bring hyperscale and enterprise-level capabilities to edge sites as demand for connectivity and data-intensive services increases.

And channel partners will be pivotal to customers' success in upgrading their edge infrastructure.

"That means the edge becomes more critical," said Harrison. "Vendors like us need the channel in order to scale these more sophisticated products that are required for a more robust edge application."

"Someone has pushed the fast forward button on digitisation, so the trends we're seeing in the channel are for more sophisticated products, more ready solutions, more edge-ready applications and more pre-fabricated edge and datacentre solutions. The channel is ideally placed for that because they've got the breadth of the region in order to scale, take advantage of stock distribution and move things forward."

But how should resellers begin a conversation with their customers to improve their experience at the edge?

Harrison advises channel partners to approach the edge through three types of applications: legacy, geographic and dynamic edge.

Resellers have an opportunity to upgrade customers' existing infrastructure in their comms rooms to include more sophisticated equipment that includes remote monitoring and remote access to enable hybrid working.

Secondly, resellers can take advantage of geographic edge applications to provide more colocation that is geographically closer to the end user.

Thirdly, the dynamic edge deals with two-way traffic between applications. This application type takes advantage of 5G and mobile devices.

The channel boss said that working with resellers to capture edge opportunities is a key priority this year.

"We've made some good acquisitions over the years, we've got some great capability and bringing it all together as one is our unique selling point as Vertiv for the channel," he said.

"We have some substantial growth targets this year. On the back of the investment we put in from our capability, we've got a lot of new products coming in and a lot of new tools coming in and we think that's going to make a significant difference."

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