Riverbed hands MSPs digital experience managed net offering

Riverbed has cut the ribbon on its ACE programme, which hands its channel the chance to offer customers a managed software-as-a-service digital experience management (DEM) offering.

The unified observability specialist has been developing its Alluvio Aternity DEM business over the past year, and is looking to ramp that up as well as provide more opportunities for partners.

The ACE programme is aimed at MSPs that are targeting a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customer base that has not taken advantage of what a DEM offering can provide.

“Riverbed is taking its Alluvio Aternity DEM and turning it into a managed service as an expansion of the Riverbed go-to-market strategy, as partners look for technology that can keep pace with evolving business and client needs,” said Alex Thurber, senior vice-president of global partners and alliances at the firm. “Riverbed ACE enables partners to provide DEM-as-a-service to small and medium-sized enterprises, as the need for innovation is greater than ever in today’s digital workplace.”

Riverbed has been carving out a position in the digital experience market with its Alluvio Aternity DEM, which is able to measure what users encounter when they use a range of applications. Known worldwide for its wide area network (WAN) optimisation expertise, the firm has noted the shift to a hybrid world and customers’ rising need to gain more visibility of networks that are being stretched well beyond previously established parameters.

The supplier has seen an increase in the number of customers demanding “experience-level agreements”, putting their channel partners under pressure to demonstrate they can match those requirements.

“Riverbed is enabling positive change in the IT channel by providing partners with opportunities to expand their business with more flexible and modern licensing models that deliver exceptional digital experiences to customers through our industry leading Alluvio Unified Observability and Riverbed Acceleration portfolios,” added Thurber. “At the same time, this new programme will help to further scale our Alluvio Aternity solution in the market.”

The programme is part of an ongoing move by Riverbed to establish itself as a key player in the observability market, which is estimated to be worth $19bn. To tap into that, the vendor made it clear last year that it would be working to a strategy that brings together data, insights and actions across IT and will also revise its identity, including Alluvio by Riverbed as its branding.

Speaking to MicroScope last April, Thurber outlined this strategy: “This launch of Alluvio, as well as the rebranding of Riverbed, is really taking our 20 years of experience in the networking industry, where we really understand the flows of what’s going on in an organisation, and taking that to the next level with this idea of unified observability.”