WAYNE, Pa., April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SunGard Availability Services has expanded its Business Partner Program with the addition of the SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services to the channel program. SunGard's partners can now tap the fast-growing cloud computing market by offering SunGard's fully managed, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Platform.

SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services provide managed compute, network, storage and security resources that can be customized to meet end-user needs.  Built on best-in-class Vblock technology from VMware, Cisco and EMC, the SunGard Enterprise Cloud leverages IT security best practices and is engineered to run production applications.

With the addition of cloud services to SunGard's existing channel suite of consulting, managed hosting, storage and recovery services as well as business continuity management software, SunGard partners can rely on a single service provider to address customers' IT availability needs.

"Our Business Partners are essential to SunGard's overall business success.  We are excited to expand the program with our new Enterprise Cloud Services offer and provide an opportunity for our partners to differentiate themselves in the market," said Melissa McCoy, vice president, Channel Programs, SunGard Availability Services.  "With the addition of Enterprise Cloud Services to the existing portfolio of managed hosting and recovery services, companies can leverage the full suite of SunGard services to satisfy their customer's requirements and create a recurring revenue stream for their business."  

Watch Melissa McCoy discuss the key features of the SunGard Business Partner Program

The Business Partner Program has two partner tracks: Solution Providers and Referral Partners.  The Solution Provider Program allows partners to resell and integrate SunGard solutions into their existing portfolios.  The Referral Partner Program rewards partners that recommend SunGard services to customers.

Designed to support varying business models and commitment levels, Solution Provider and Referral Partners have the ability to advance through each tier to achieve additional incentives and benefits.  As a member of the Partner Program, partners receive access to sales and marketing resources, training and education, and co-marketing opportunities as well as dedicated channel support.

"Agilysys has enjoyed a very successful partnership with SunGard, due in large part to the broad portfolio of enterprise-class hosting services available to us as a SunGard Business Partner," said Nancy Pasquariello, director of sales, Advanced Solutions Group at Agilysys.  "Now as our customers look to move to the cloud, we can offer them the hybrid solutions that their environments demand; this provides Agilysys the ease and convenience of being able to work with just one partner as we serve the needs of our diverse customer base."

For more information about SunGard's Business Partner Program visit www.sungardas.com/Partners.

About SunGard Availability Services

SunGard Availability Services provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software to 10,000 customers in North America and Europe.  With five million square feet of datacenter and operations space, SunGard assists IT organizations across virtually all industry and government sectors to prepare for and recover from emergencies by helping them minimize their computer downtime and optimize their uptime. Through direct sales and channel partners, we help organizations ensure their people and customers have uninterrupted access to the information systems they need in order to do business. To learn more, visit www.sungardas.com or call 1-800-468-7483.

About SunGard

SunGard is one of the world's leading software and technology services companies.  SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and serves 25,000 customers in 70 countries.  SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector.  SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.  With annual revenue at about $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 380 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and IT services company. For more information, visit www.sungard.com.

Trademark Information: SunGard and SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE SunGard Availability Services