Google opens Apps to resellers

Google has launched a new reseller programme for its online apps

Google today launched a new reseller programme for its Google Apps Premier Edition online enterprise applications suite, designed to make it easier for firms to sign up to the cloud-based service.

The search giant will provide sales and technical training, customer marketing materials, and representational state transfer (rest)-based integration APIs for directory synchronisation, migration, reporting and single sign-on.

As part of the initiative, Google is also providing a portal containing business and technical information, online discussion groups and tools to help resellers set up business customers and provision end users.

Resellers will be able to bundle additional services and support with Google Apps Premier Edition, which features Gmail, Google Docs and Calendar.

"Google Apps has reached a level of maturity where it is useful and valuable for almost any business," said Dave Girouard, Google's president of enterprise.

"This programme gives IT solution providers an easy way to introduce cloud computing to their service offerings, while helping more businesses make the transition to this new era of technology."