Westcon-Comstor, a globally reknowned technology provider and distributor, has expanded its long-standing partnership with Cisco to enable AWS Marketplace growth opportunities for its channel partners across the glove, as well as to reinforce Cisco's market-leading solutions adoption.
The updated agreement permits Westcon-Comstor, whose association with Cisco via its Comstor unit spans more than two decades, to privately list Cisco's cybersecurity, observability, and collaborative and networking-focused software products in AWS Marketplace.
Westcon-Comstor says the partnership will enhance channel partners' capacity to transact and serve end-user customers as part of an end-to-end sales process in AWS Marketplace. They can now anticipate accelerated transaction times, expanded deal sizes, improved win rates, and shortened sales cycles.
Westcon-Comstor's AWS Marketplace initiative formally includes Cisco as one of its first software vendors, a development following the distributor's recent signing of the Designated Seller of Record (DSOR) agreement with AWS.
The agreement spans both Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) zone and the Asia-Pacific (APAC), with an exploratory emphasis on specific countries in Europe, together with Australia and New Zealand.
This strategy aligns with Comstor's new recruitment drive designed to support Cisco's expansion into the cybersecurity domain. Comstor is the world's largest distributor dealing exclusively with Cisco.
David Grant, Chief Executive Officer at Westcon-Comstor, stated, “We're thrilled to announce Cisco as a launch vendor for our AWS Marketplace programme.
"End-users increasingly wish to procure in AWS Marketplace thanks to the flexibility and pre-defined budgets it offers, and we are committed to enabling partners to sell where their customers want to buy," he said.
"By granting our partners access to Cisco's exceptional technology portfolio and providing a simplified route to transact Cisco products on AWS Marketplace, we're creating a new platform to drive growth and scale across the value chain," Grant said.
In response, Andrew Sage, Vice President Global Distribution and Small and Medium Business Sales at Cisco, said, “Fresh off being announced as AWS’ Global ISV of the year, we are accelerating our engagements with Cisco partners and distributors.
"We are excited about the opportunity ahead with Comstor and the chance to serve more customers through the AWS marketplace," he said.
Forrester recently indicated that channel partners using AWS Marketplace could finalise deals up to 50% quicker. Additionally, Canalys forecasts that by 2025, global sales of third-party vendor software and services through cloud marketplaces will reach US $45 billion, an impressive increase of 84% CAGR over five years.