Dell Invests In Faction: MSP for VMware Cloud on AWS -

Dell Technologies Capital has invested in Faction, an MSP that supports VMware Cloud on AWS. The total round, including additional investors, was $14 million.

Faction will use the funding to expand its MSP and cloud services footprint worldwide, while also supporting data protection and storage connections across Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Dell Technologies Capital led the round. Existing investors River Cities Capital Funds, Sweetwater Capital, Meritage Funds and Charterhouse Strategic Partners also participated. Faction also secured new debt financing from ORIX Growth Capital, the MSP said.

Faction: Cloud MSP Expansion Plans

Faction will use the investment to drive three core priorities:

Hybrid Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (HDRaaS), which provides a warm standby approach to Disaster Recovery with VMware Cloud on AWS.
Multi-cloud storage known as Faction Cloud Control Volumes. The effort extends across Faction private cloud, public clouds, and VMware Cloud on AWS. The effort includes low latency connections to AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform
Global Expansion of VMware Cloud on AWS: Faction is rapidly expanding its VMware Cloud on AWS availability zones throughout the U.S., EMEA and APAC, the company said.

In a prepared statement, Faction Founder and CEO Luke Norris said:

“Throughout 2018, Faction saw an explosion of interest in customers looking for cost-effective solutions for running VMware Cloud on AWS. We have experienced impressive growth in our Hybrid Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service and Faction Cloud Control Volumes for VMware Cloud on AWS offering. The need for high-performance and scale-out storage that can expand with customers’ needs across clouds including Azure, AWS, Google Compute Engine and VMware Cloud on AWS is only going to increase. This investment will enable us to reach more customers faster with an even stronger portfolio of managed multi-cloud solutions."

Added Daniel Docter, managing director at Dell Technologies Capital:

“Faction’s patented technologies and services provide a powerful best-in-class solution for enterprises looking to extend their data centers or migrate workloads to cloud. VMware Cloud Foundation and Faction, powered by leading storage platforms, are directly addressing customer demand for a multi-cloud world.”

VMware Cloud on AWS

VMware Cloud on AWS is still a relatively small service but it appears to be gaining momentum. Customer usage of the service generated only around $25 million in AWS fees in 2018, but that figure climbed to roughly $15 million during the first month of 2019 alone, The Information recently reported.

Multiple MSPs and IT solutions providers now support VMware Cloud on AWS, and the virtualization company this week unveiled a new partner certification effort for the platform.

Dell will need to move carefully amid the Faction Inc. investment, assuring partners that it won't play channel favorites in the era of multi-cloud managed services.