IBM (News - Alert) is beefing up its cloud play once again with the announcement of five new partners focusing on the U.S. Federal Government market. The resellers and distributors are joining IBM in delivering hybrid cloud solutions geared toward federal agencies. Arrow, Avnet Government Solutions, Ingram Micro (News - Alert), Tech Data Corporation and ViON round out the list of new allies for IBM.

The partners will combine and bundle their solutions with IBM Cloud to help federal agencies more broadly adopt cloud solutions and services. Arrow will work with its large network of partners to integrate IBM IaaS into their solutions. Avnet’s goal will be to provide a scalable and secure base for its partners to deliver cloud services, enabling federal agencies to house their data more securely and efficiently.

Ingram Micro will work to sell, market and support IBM Cloud through its Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, taking advantage of its vast network of resources and partners. Tech Data will promote IBM Cloud through its distribution network of 115,000 resellers, while ViON will integrate its on-premise private cloud with IBM’s FedRAMP-certified SoftLayer (News - Alert) to serve Federal hybrid cloud needs.

"Federal agencies are really beginning to view cloud as transformational, but first they need a reliable partner to help them get started," said Anne Altman (News - Alert), general manager of IBM U.S. Federal and Government Industries. "With our partners, we have a strong understanding of the IT investments agencies have made, and how to help them with their migrations to cloud in a secure and strategic way."

In addition to marketing and reselling IBM Cloud Services, IBM’s five new partners will gain access to the Bluemix Cloud platform and IBM’s SaaS (News - Alert) portfolio. IBM’s SoftLayer Federal cloud is becoming an increasingly popular choice for federal agencies, offering a hybrid environment for managing and securing data. The offering complies with the mandates of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) as well as the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). IBM also provides a portfolio of FedRAMP compliant services specifically geared toward the needs of the federal market.