The tie-up, which was finalised in June, has seen the number of Microsoft Gold and Silver certifications held by the expanded organisation increase to seven.
It now holds Microsoft Gold certifications in Communications, Hosting, Customer Relationship Management and Midmarket Solution Provision, along with Microsoft Silver certifications in Datacentre, Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions, and Cloud Productivity.
As a Cloud provider, 2-Tier Microsoft certification enables GCI to service the partner channel community, a huge step up from being a 1-Tier end-user service provider. While there is an abundance of 1-Tier service providers in the UK, achieving 2-Tier is a rare achievement.
GCI’s chief strategy officer, Scott Riley, said: “It’s been great to watch the Olympics this year and see so many athletes notch up gold medals for Team GB. Here at GCI, we are equally proud of our own tally of Microsoft Gold and Silver certifications, which are testament to the quality of service we can provide to our partners and clients.”
In July, GCI launched its new range of Microsoft Azure-related services, which built on the product development undertaken by Outsourcery, whose assets were substantively acquired by GCI in June.
Targeted initially at the partner channel, GCI can now resell and support Azure virtual machines, storage and connectivity – either as discrete Azure services, or as a hybrid deployment with its own accredited IaaS.
GCI is one of only ten Cloud providers in the UK which can create and manage Azure tenants for partners, who can, in turn, manage and deploy Azure services for their end customers.
GCI’s partners benefit from one point of contact and a single contract, with support coming directly from GCI. They will receive just one consolidated and reconciled invoice to ensure that administration is also kept simple.
Scott Riley added: “Alongside these certifications, we also have a substantial footprint in Skype for Business, with 120,000 deployed seats and a pipeline exceeding a further 100,000 seats, so our investment in our Microsoft partnership runs deep.
“The further strengthening of our Cloud service provision reflects just how much the team here at GCI has strengthened and matured as a result of the Outsourcery acquisition. It means we can really make the most of the skills and assets we now have at our disposal to continue to offer clients a service which delivers maximum value.”
GCI will be showcasing its Cloud offering on stands 4 and 35 at the Convergence Summit South, at Sandown Park Racecourse, on 27 and 28 September. Free delegate places can be booked online at http://south.convergencesummit.co.uk.