At the ConnectWise Partner Summit today, Nov. 4, managed service provider Network Management Group, Inc. and Zlago, a provider of cloud-based Microsoft applications and services, will announce a strategic partnership to form a master VAR relationship to enable resellers to deliver cloud apps to the accounting market.

According to the joint announcement, NMGI will resell Zlago's applications—including Microsoft Exchange and Office apps, virtual servers, VOIP (voice over IP) and business applications—to its existing customer base. NMGI will also develop a consulting practice with Zlago to enable solution providers to adopt and deliver cloud solutions to their customers. And NMGI will serve as a "master VAR" through which it will recruit partners to deliver Zlago cloud applications to the accounting vertical.

"We believe Zlago will be one of our most significant vendor partnerships as we move into 2010 and the cloud services market continues to gain momentum," said NMGI CEO Steve Harper. "Zlago is a single-source provider for a broad range of world-class services, and that is a compelling value proposition for us and our partners."

Three things are interesting about this partnership:
1) targeting a specific vertical
2) customizing a suite of cloud offerings; and
3) enabling partnerships through a single point of contact.

Solution providers are seeking their place in the cloud, and many have expressed concern about how to select the right cloud vendor partner and finding the right set of applications that meet the needs of their customers. What complicates the building of cloud computing practices is having to source multiple applications from multiple providers, and then managing those deliveries and ongoing management.

Unlike other master VAR relationships in cloud computing, the Zlago and NMGI partnership has the benefit of collective applications that target a specific vertical. A similar effort is being undertaken by The ASCII Group (a Channel Insider partner) and its partner Cetrom Information Technology to build and deliver customized applications suites that target specific verticals. The aggregation of multiple applications that are targeted toward specific verticals could make solution provider adoption and go-to-market simpler and faster.