Parallels´ Nils Hueneke and Jesper Frederiksen (right) at OX Summit 2012
This week, we will get together with our friends at Parallels Summit for the largest gathering of the Cloud industry in the US. Open-Xchange is partnering with Parallels since 2007 to provide partners with a strong messaging and collaboration solution underpinned by a complete automation platform capable of supporting on-premise, on-device and software-as-a-service (SaaS) usage models. Recently, at our own OX Summit 2012 in Berlin, we interviewed Jesper Frederiksen, General Manager for Parallels activities in the EU and North Africa, on his personal experience with Open-Xchange. Here are some excerpts from that discussion.
Compete with the giants
Dominated by the likes of Microsoft and Google edging into this space, Parallels received feedback from partners about the need for a powerful, easy-to-use, slick messaging solution for the consumer and enterprise market. OX met that requirement, says Jesper Frederiksen as “ … it enables service providers to build a very powerful solution that can compete with the giants – you could argue that OX is capable of competing all the way up the food chain and therefore offers an alternative to the incumbents”.
A clever business model
The Open-Xchange business model works well for Parallels because it demonstrates to partners and customers that OX is in it for the long term, “OX, like Parallels, has a partner centric business model, whereby they are not in this business to get you to pay millions of dollars up front. They are in this business to get you off the ground, and then benefit from your business and grow with your business, and get paid as that business grows,” Jesper Frederiksen went on to say.
A good business partnership
Open-Xchange has a very good product with a compelling vision, but more important than that, they have a good business partner to work with. The transparent and open business partnership means that at times the two companies are aligned and at other times have different interests, “It is key, when you have a long-term business relationship, to deal with people who are open and honest, transparent. OX would definitely qualify in all of those categories.”
Makes story complete
The biggest benefit for Parallels is that Open-Xchange enables them to have a more complete line up in their catalogue of services, enhancing their portfolio, “The value is that OX makes my story more complete” says Jesper Frederiksen. Parallels can say with confidence that OX is a very stable, proven, scalable solution, because they know large service providers are running it, “We know that if they can do it for 1&1, it works, it scales. It stacks up.” And, it helps hosters and telcos to position themselves and their value against the global giants.
“OX has a compelling vision of where they are taking this product, and are pitching a good road map. They offer differentiation, partnership, and a strong product.” This, Jesper Frederiksen believes, is what their mutual customers are looking for. It will also help bring their customers differentiation and growth. “Our partners want to have cool offerings that people want to use and pay for, that attracts users onto the platform. And that is what they get with OX. “
If you are at the Parallels Summit this week, stop by booth #205 and see for yourself how Open-Xchange is changing the game for hosting and telco companies worldwide.
