First Distribution, a leader in cloud technology distribution, is set to launch its aptly named Cloud Catalyst Programme in January 2016.

Aimed at assisting partners in their journey to the cloud through four key areas, the Cloud Catalyst Programme enables partners to benefit from this programme regardless of their current level of cloud involvement.

The four pillars of the Cloud Catalyst Programme are: 
· Education and technical assistance
· Digital marketing assistance
· Business model transformation 
· Trials, credits and use of First Distribution's technical demo centre

Partners can choose to attend in all areas, or only the courses and assistance in areas which they require. Assistance will be provided via 1:1 sessions, classroom-style learning, and live and on-demand webinars.

Technical assistance will also be available across all platforms and throughout all aspects of cloud technology, ranging from assistance with architectural diagrammes such as moving on-premise workloads into the cloud, to implementation assistance for Managed Service Providers and Hosters.

Solutions for partners will span from monthly license aggregation, to providing the ability for partners to resell IaaS, PaaS and SaaS solutions from leading global and local providers.

Kevin Derman, General Manager for Cloud and Hosting at First Distribution, says that First Distribution has been operating in the cloud and hosting arena for over 10 years, and launched First for Cloud, Africa's first true cloud brokerage in May 2014, an initiative which continues to gain great momentum as partners recognise the ease with which this affords them to move into reselling cloud technology.

"Through our partner interactions, we have come to realise that there are four main areas where partners need assistance, and this is what we have built the basis of our Cloud Catalyst Programme on" he explains. "Partners need assistance in order to ramp up their penetration into these new markets, and through our experience we are able to shorten their journey to revenue generation considerably."

Derman adds that "Where others in the market are still figuring out how to play in this new environment, we have been doing this for years, and we are excited to allow our partners to be able to leverage our experience."

Further details on the programme will be released upon its launch in January 2016.