Sprint announces wholesale cloud for SMB resellers

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) will this year begin offering wholesale cloud services through its Wholesale and Emerging Solutions division, according to a company announcement coinciding with the COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2012 Convention & Expo that runs through Wednesday in San Francisco.

Sprint Wholesale Cloud Services will be targeted to resellers in the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) market, the Overland Park, Kan.-based company said.

The offering, which will be available both to current customers and non-customers of Sprint's other wholesale services, is designed to help SMB resellers to quickly assemble a cloud package for their customers.

Sprint, the third largest U.S. wireless telecommunications network, said its wholesale cloud services will allow SMB resellers to assemble cloud packages without much of the expense of building out cloud service capabilities on their own. Additionally, resellers will be able to easily manage service contracts as well as an array of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and communications-as-a-service (CaaS) solutions through a single Web interface, the Sprint announcement said.

Just as cloud services have become increasingly important offerings for carriers addressing the needs of large enterprise and business customers, they are set to become a key aspect of wholesale provider offerings.

Carriers such as Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Comcast (Nasdaq:CMCSA) have already taken steps in the same direction. Also, mobile cloud services are particularly appealing to SMBs with small distributed workforces, but no internal IT organization to support their mobile efforts.

The Sprint Wholesale Cloud Portfolio is one of the initial offerings resulting from the February start of the Sprint New Ventures organization, created to help the company's product and marketing units tap into new market opportunities.

For more:
- see this Sprint press release
- read this UC Strategies story

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