Dan Timko, Chief Strategy Officer at ThinkOn, is quick to point out that a significant transformation is taking place within the cloud solutions and services market. Sovereign clouds have taken center stage as a requirement as more enterprises strive to address the compliance needs of an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
“One of the things that immediately sets ThinkOn apart in the cloud arena is that we only sell through the channel and don’t sell anything direct, which is a significant differentiator for managed services providers, value-added resellers, and integrators that want to work with an established white label partner,” says Timko. “They have also come to appreciate that offering a fully sovereign cloud – something we have significant, specialized expertise in developing and managing – is increasingly a fundamental asset for any organization that handles sensitive information or does business across geographies.”
Timko notes that enterprises today must comply with an ever-expanding array of regulatory requirements that govern not only where data resides, but also who interacts with it and what is being done to keep it safe at all times. The use cases once associated with sovereign clouds for government agencies are now broadly applicable and required to ensure compliance in virtually every industry.
Notably, ThinkOn has a long track record of success providing sovereign clouds based on proven VMware by Broadcom technologies to numerous government agencies in Canada – work that has been an important focus of the company since CEO Craig McLellan founded ThinkOn more than a decade ago. It’s a core competency that’s possible not only because of ThinkOn’s extensive cloud and data protection expertise but also the fact that it’s based in Canada and able to ensure that data is only accessible to extensively trained and fully vetted Canadian citizens.
Timko says the company’s Canadian roots benefit it in other ways as well, not only as it relates to the high-performance data centers it operates in Canada, but also in Australia, the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom – all locations that are not subject to the Cloud Act and where ThinkOn is adept at offering sovereign clouds. The company also offers sovereign clouds in the United States, subject of course to its regulations and laws, including the U.S. Cloud Act.
“As data sovereignty has become a bigger issue for enterprises that need to tightly manage and control data – whether it’s sensitive information on government systems, a bank’s financial records, a patient’s electronic health record, or intellectual property for manufacturing processes – being a Canadian company is a significant advantage,” he adds. “Our locations outside of the United States are not subject to the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act) that requires U.S.-based companies, including most hyperscalers, to provide access to data even if it’s on foreign soil – something that creates significant issues for organizations that must simultaneously comply with requirements like Europe’s General Data Protect Regulation (GDPR).”
Simultaneously, Timko stresses that ThinkOn’s integrated platform of cloud solutions – including a single tenant and multi-tenant cloud based on the VMware by Broadcom technology stack – and services including Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Backup-as-a-Service, Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service and Object storage-as-a-service – are just as applicable for partners outside of government, including those that want to pursue a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy.
“There is a definite need and value for hybrid cloud deployments – something we enable our partners to provide in a turnkey, simplified, and standardized way that can be managed with ease through a single pane of glass – but at ThinkOn we believe most use cases and workloads are best addressed with the VMware by Broadcom technologies enterprise IT departments know and trust,” he says. “And that’s even more true today with Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation, which makes it even easier to realize the full potential of the entire stack while providing partners with complete cost transparency and greater opportunities to generate reoccurring revenue – all without the ingress and egress charges, and sovereignty-related challenges often associated with the public cloud.”
It’s a recipe for success that makes him even more excited about ThinkOn’s future with VMware by Broadcom.
“VMware technologies are at the very core of our solutions,” adds Timko. “Broadcom’s new, more integrated go-to-market strategy enables us to provide our partners with even greater value while enabling them to focus even more on the specialized skills their customers value with the confidence that they are providing them a best-in-class and proven cloud platform.”
For more information on ThinkOn and the importance of a sovereign cloud strategy, see the CEO Craig McLellan’s TEDx Talk “Mastering Your Digital Destiny: The Power of Data Sovereignty.”
Learn more about Better Together in cloud services: Broadcom, VMware, and ThinkOn: VMware by Broadcom | Pinnacle Partner – Thinkon
In the months to come, look to CIO.com for stories about the industry-leading providers in the Broadcom Advantage Program and insights on how they are helping enterprises succeed in their private, hybrid, and multi-cloud endeavors.
