Azure and new hosting solutions coming to Ingram Micro Cloud's Odin platform
Ingram Micro Cloud is adding 'significant' new capabilities for hosting service providers and new tools for Microsoft Azure, as part of a new release of the Odin Automation Essentials platform.
The new release of the pre-configured service automation platform will go into general release on April 19, and will include new bundling options for Microsoft services, domain registration and shared and virtual private server hosting services with a providers own professional services.
Nimesh Davé, Ingram Micro global cloud EVP, says service providers face ongoing product and service commoditisation in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
"The upcoming release of Odin Automation Essentials makes it much easier for service providers to sell, deliver and administer differentiating, higher margin cloud and hosted services within a single platform, utilising one interface," Davé says.
Ingram Micro says key enhancements include enabling service providers to offer infrastructure-as-a-service solutions via Microsoft Azure, 'even if they do not have the capital, space and resources to own and maintain their own servers'; and the addition of a WebHosting Plesk module, using the latest stock version of Plesk Onyx and 12.5 on Windows and Linux. The offering will enable service providers to sell WordPress hosting plans and feature-rich web and email shared hosting services.
The ability to offer VPS hosting-like containers and virtual machines to customers requireing dedicated server resources or greater flexibility is also included, via technologies like Virtuozzo 7.
Ingram Micro acquired the Odin Service Automation platform, which forms the basis of the distributor's Cloud Marketplace, from Parallel's in December 2015. The company had been licensing the platform since 2013.
Ingram Micro says the offering, now known as Odin Automation Essentials, includes Microsoft's Azure, Office 365, Dynamics 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite and Windows 10 Enterprise licenses ready for sale, out of the box, using existing contracts.
The most popular shared hosting and VPS hosting plans are also included, enabling resellers to differentiate their offerings and bundle services for greater cross-sell potential.
The platform also includes fully automated order intake, billing and invoicing, payment processing, configuration and provisioning modules.
The new hosting services will also be available in the next generation of Odin Automation Premium, designed for large hosting service providers.
