Some additional information on our SPC program. We have leveraged a tool that Sage uses to manage our own hosting environments called Sage Provisioning Portal to allow partners (who want to avoid third party hosting companies) to provision and manage 100 in Azure much more easily than working with Azure directly. SPP provisions optimized VMs with fully deployed and ready versions of 100, and provides other tools like automatic backups, user management, security, and other things too numerous to mention here. It's not unlike what you're suggesting (partners avoiding the "wild west" of hosting providers), but expands that with a portal that makes deployment and management easier. 

Microsoft seems to be acting as portal with Azure off loading the hosting to sub-contractors and partners. With AWS you only have one number to call.

I don't believe Azure sub-contracts any hosting. They do, however, work with CSPs like Insight (who we use with the program) to sign up partners, sell/bill subscriptions, etc. A partner can work with any CSP they want, but we wanted to work with one who understands our technical environment and can handle Azure escalations that a partner can't. You're right, however, a customer would not call MS directly. I"m not sure how AWS handles their support.

I have never lost an instance or needed to call AWS for  support. They have a great support forum that is responsive and free if you have a question about the service. 

Do hosting companies like Cloud@Work, RKL or Summit allow Sage or the customer's partner access to the instance to provide support or is that  only done by the hosting companies staff?

Something isn't right when hosting cost more than your Sage 100 subscription.

The first step before considering a move off premise is do you have the internet bandwidth to support multiple RDP sessions if employees still work from the office? I wouldn't consider going cloud without a fiber connection. The second step is creating a list of local resources / devices that must remain on-premise. (printers, scanners, ...) If these devices aren't connected to local workstations than a VPN is required. 

My suggestion is build an EC2 instance as a disaster recovery solution first, try it and see what you're missing. If all goes well transition to your EC2 instance and keep your on-premise system as a backup if the internet goes down.

AWS offers a free year of its services to new customers. Granted you can't run 100 in a free teir instance but you can try many of their optional services for free for a year.

https://aws.amazon.com/free/

@M Ritchie,

Sage should offer a version of 100 that runs like Standard but uses SQL server like Premium for cloud hosted installs.

Can Sage generate an AMI for the AWS Marketplace which includes Sage 100? All you need to do is enter your licence info and copy your Sage 100 data directories to use the instance. All the setup is done for you. 

To minimize my services and cost that is how I setup instances by using an AMI.

Sage Partners interested in offering AWS EC2 cloud hosting for their customers and would like assistance getting up to speed with this hosting option,  give me call. AWS offers 24/7/365 support billed monthly. No long term contracts. I can provide you with a pre-configured AMI ready to run with Sage 100 Standard installed. Moving to the cloud doesn't get any easier and costs considerably less than other third party hosting solutions.

Sage Intacct is already available on AWS via the Marketplace. Sage 100 tuned for cloud hosting should be available as well.

aws.amazon.com/.../

That’s not Sage Intacct. Read the page. Sage Intacct is a native web application hosted by Sage.

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Thanks for the reminder, Kevin.

This thread has had a lively and thorough discussion, and there are a lot of options in this area of hosting, some of which will suit some users and some of which will suit others.  There is no one perfect answer for all situations.

Thanks for everyone who has contributed to this thread in a constructive and respectful manner.  It will now be closed to further discussion.

Thanks,

Derek

Senior Community Manager