The 2-Tier distributors are the heavy-lifting partners of the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) system -- dealing with Microsoft on one side of the transaction and interacting with hundreds or thousands of 2-Tier resellers on the other side.

Some of these partners, also referred to by Microsoft as cloud distributors, are bundling up other products for the 2-Tier resellers to offer. In many cases, the 2-Tier distributors provide the billing and provisioning back-end on the 2-Tier resellers' behalf and, in some cases, these distributors are offering white-label support, as well.

According to a Microsoft map (see below) of authorized 2-Tier distributors, there are 34 of them worldwide, with anywhere from five to 10 of them in a given geographic region.

Following is a directory of the U.S. 2-Tier distributors. Click through each entry for a Q&A with a senior executive of that company about their program for Microsoft CSPs.