Google will launch on Wednesday a reseller program for the paid version of its Apps hosted collaboration and communication suite.
The program will allow, for the first time, third parties to resell Apps Premier, which costs US$50 per user per year.
Resellers can be IT service providers, VARs, system integrators, consultants, software vendors and ISPs of any size anywhere in the world.
Although most Apps customers are individuals and small businesses that use its free Standard edition, Google has beefed up the Premier edition in a variety of ways to attract the attention of large organizations.
Fostering the creation of an active reseller community for Apps Premier is the latest step in that direction. Resellers are able to provide the dedicated, one-on-one support that large organizations often require throughout the lifecycle of their enteprise software products.
Google will offer Apps Premier licenses at a 20 percent discount to resellers, and provide training, support and tools for sales and marketing.
Resellers will be able to bundle their own complementary IT services with the sale of the suite to generate additional revenue. Resellers will handle the billing process for Apps Premier, not Google.
To further differentiate the Premier and Standard editions, effective Wednesday Google is also capping the number of users an organization can have on the Standard version. This limit doesn’t apply to existing Standard users.
About 50 partners have been participating in the reseller program’s pilot phase.
This Apps reseller program is an extension of the partner programs has had for some time for its enterprise products, like Apps and the enterprise search device Search Appliance.
Google has an Enterprise Partners program for third-parties that offer services for Google enterprise products. For example, Cap Gemini made a deal with Google in September 2007 to offer Apps Premier services to large organizations.
