Online backup and recovery service provider KineticD is moving up from the SMB market to target larger service providers because of its acquisition of Robobak and enhancements to its channel partner program.

Now with more than 1,000 resellers in its channel partner program, Toronto-based KineticD is looking to recruit additional resellers in its modified partner program and start targeting more larger services providers. Whereas KineticD has focused on providing online backup, recovery and data access services for the SMB market, Robobak (which it acquired in early April) has maintained a hybrid cloud backup software business for MSPs and the remote offices/branch offices (ROBO) of smaller enterprises. The combined market offers plenty of opportunities for channel partners, said James Brenzel, CEO of KineticD.

“With the introduction of Robobak’s solution, we’re now able to go further up the channel, if you will, by their focus is on bigger small businesses and attracting MSPs,” Brenzel said.

The integration of Robobak into KineticD is supported by an enhanced KineticD channel partner program. Partners will now not only be able to license KineticD’s software-as-a-service turnkey solution, but they’ll also be able to license the software and host it on a third party like Amazon or Rackspace, or host it in their own data center. The software licensing option is aimed more at larger MSPs, Brenzel said.

“It really allows us to have a much more robust offering for the channel,” he said.

Additionally, KineticD is concentrating on taking the best elements of both its own and its newly-acquired Robobak products. KineticD’s value proposition centres around its ability to provide continuous data backup to the cloud, whereas Robobak’s technology was aimed at providing backup services for branch and remote offices of larger businesses. Two other new areas of focus for KineticD are virtualized environments (the company is a VMware partner) and deduplication.

The updated partner program now targets larger resellers and MSPs, but KineticD will continue to recruit resellers of all sizes for its business. As a channel-focused company, more than 1,000 KineticD resellers serve more than 40,000 small business users.

As part of its enhanced channel partner program, KineticD offers training, an online partner portal with sales and marketing collateral, a customized portal for managing customer accounts, technical support and marketing resources.

“In the past, we’ve had a very simple turnkey reseller program that allows for a 25 per cent ongoing revenue share with the resellers,” Brenzel said. “It’s nice because we’re an annuity-based SaaS business, and we like to pass that on to the end reseller. When you think about introducing this to one or two of your customers, the amount the reseller’s receiving on a monthly basis is quite small, but when you start to exponentially grow that to 10, 20 or 100-plus customers, the ongoing annuity can be quite meaningful with resellers.”

Resellers or MSPs that are interested in selling KineticD SaaS solutions can sign up with the company and be up and running within hours. There are no requirements to becoming a KineticD partner, except that the partner needs to sign up for the company’s services before being provisioned as a reseller account.

“We think there’s a real opportunity to build and expand the independent computer consultants that we have as resellers and the MSPs that Robobak brings to the table,” Brenzel said.