Amazon Web Services Inc. relies extensively on partners to assist enterprise customers with their cloud projects. Today, Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing unit launched new partner programs to address two types of cloud projects that account for an increasingly important part of its business.

First up is the ISV Workload Migration Program. It will provide resources for consultancies and other partners that help enterprises move their on-premises applications to the AWS’ cloud platform.

One of the incentives that AWS offers is project funding. The Amazon.com Inc. subsidiary will provide partners with up to 15% of its projected annual revenue from a migrated application to help offset the cost of moving the workload to the cloud. Lower project costs, in turn, mean that partners can realize higher profit margins in projects.

AWS will also work with participating firms develop technical best practices for carrying out migrations more effectively. By empowering partners with more tools, the provider hopes to improve the migration experience for customers and thus increase the number of applications that end up being deployed on its platform.

A similar goal lies behind Authority to Operate on AWS, the other ecosystem program announced today. Authority to Operate focuses on a niche but strategically valuable market: companies that develop technology solutions for the public sector.

Such firms need to prove that the infrastructure on which they store government customers’ data meets relevant security and privacy regulations. If their infrastructure runs on AWS, they can use the Authority to Operate to receive help with demonstrating compliance.

The program enables companies to request assistance from the cloud provider’s in-house regulatory and security experts. Customers also have access to a select group of consulting partners that AWS checks in advance to make sure they possess the right credentials.

The public sector is an important market for the Amazon subsidiary. AWS provides infrastructure services for much of the U.S. intelligence community and is seen as the front-runner to win the Defense Department’s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract.

Photo: AWS