San Francisco, CA – May 18, 2016 – AppDirect, the leader in cloud service commerce, today announced the launch of its Developer Certification Program. The initiative provides criteria that developers can meet that makes it easy for AppDirect’s service provider, independent software vendor (ISV), and value-added reseller (VAR) partners to quickly add and begin offering certified applications to their business customers. Trend Micro, a global leader in security software and solutions, and Mozy®, an industry-leading online backup service from EMC Corporation, are some of the first partners to be accepted and certified under the new program. These, along with other certified vendors, have exhibited their commitment to delivering high quality solutions along with sales, marketing, and service readiness in order to help enable successful selling of their cloud services and create optimal usability for customers.

In order to be considered for certification, a vendor’s app must go through a comprehensive assessment in three areas that are critical for customer success: technical integration and user experience; marketing and sales readiness; and customer service commitment. As part of the Program, provider partners have a faster track to enabling certified applications on their marketplaces, often without additional contractual obligations or paperwork.

With the SaaS market slated to reach nearly $38 billion in 2016, accelerating time-to-market is more critical than ever before. The AppDirect Developer Certification Program gives service provider, ISV, and VAR partners a fast and seamless process to select market-ready applications from the AppDirect catalog and quickly start selling the cloud services that businesses demand.

Provider partners also benefit from optimized technical integrations and user experiences, sales and marketing collateral, and an established support and escalation model that results in quicker resolution to support issues. End users benefit from high quality integrated applications along with established and efficient support if needed.

“The opportunity for service providers, ISVs and VARs to sell third-party cloud services has never been greater,” said Daniel Saks, President and Co-CEO of AppDirect. “At the same time, provider partners often spend extensive time performing diligence and building personal relationships with individual vendors. Now, with the AppDirect Developer Certification Program, provider partners can sign one agreement with AppDirect and avoid unnecessary negotiations and technical vetting of ISV partners through our catalog.”

“AppDirect’s partner network reaches more than 30 million businesses worldwide and presents a fantastic opportunity for us to reach more customers,” said Richard Ku, Senior Vice President, Products and Services Management at Trend Micro. “Being a part of AppDirect’s Developer Certification Program means provider partners can trust that our security products and services, with technical integration and product support, are complete right from the start.”

“There’s huge market demand for trusted, reliable data protection for businesses,” said Simon Kingston, Global Sales Director, Mozy Service Providers, EMC Corporation. “Working with AppDirect as a Certified Developer Partner means service providers, ISVs, and VARs can put Mozy’s cloud backup in their customers’ hands quickly and trust that they are using the right solution.”

Cloud service providers interested in leveraging AppDirect’s platform to sell third-party cloud services can go to here for more information.