Ingram Micro is joining Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) programme in a move it says will help channel partners ‘transform and grow cloud practices with new Microsoft solutions'.

The deal enables channel partners to provision, bundle, invoice, manage and support Microsoft offerings, including Office 365 and Windows Intune subscriptions, more easily and efficiently.

New Zealand will be among the first Asia Pacific countries to kick off the initiative, alongside Australia, India, Indonesia and Singapore.

Ingram Micro says it expects other APAC countries to follow soon after.

Richard Duggan, Ingram Micro Cloud APAC executive director, says the distributor has successfully differentiated its CSP offering in other regions by delivering ‘a true online consumption model for Microsoft cloud solutions, paired with unique migration and customer support options'.

“We look forward to building on that success while enabling our channel partners to quickly enhance their cloud sales and profitability in the Asia Pacific region,” Duggan says.

Phil Sorgen, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group corporate vice president, says CSP puts channel partners ‘at the centre of the customer relationship'.

“Ingram Micro's participation in our programme, cloud advocacy and enablement resources demonstrate its dedication to helping our mutual channel partners move to the cloud.

In March Ingram Micro announced its European participation in the programme.

The deal comes as Ingram Micro announces its financials for the first quarter ended April 04, 2015, with revenue of US$10.64 billion, a 2.5% increase year on year.

Alain Monie, Ingram Micro chief executive, noted in announcing the financials that cloud solutions have continued to grow at ‘robust' rates for Ingram Micro.

“We continue to generate significant revenue momentum as we expand our capabilities globally, including in our higher margin cloud and supply chain solutions, which is an important element of leveraging our customer, vendor and global infrastructure basis to achieve our longer-term financial targets.

Monie says, in general, the company experienced ‘healthy demand' across geographic regions, with Asia Pacific and Latin America ‘clear standouts, as strong revenues were complemented by solid increases in profitability'.

“In mobility, we had good growth across all regions, while cloud and supply chain solutions continued to grow at robust rates.

The company also announced a US$100 million global cost cutting exercise.

“One-time costs associated with these actions are expected to be in a similar range.