If you thought Google's problems with Gmail over the past few months may be enough to keep everyone out of the company's Software-as-a-Service path to the channel, you’d have thought wrong.

Isos Technology, a Tempe, Ariz.-based solution provider, says it has signed up for the Google Apps Authorized Reseller program. (You can read more about the Google VAR program here.)

According to the press release announcing the partnership, the folks at Isos say they like the Google offering and point to the fact that it's hosted as a big advantage. That goes to the notion of cloud computing as a killer solution -- since it takes out a lot of infrastructure cost for customers and makes information technology, in essence, a utility.

However, the hosted model isn't yet an exact science as Google painfully suggested last week during its most recent widespread Gmail outage.  But for many customers, cloud-based applications make sense and Google has adopted a market-leading approach to hosted productivity software. Winning over solution providers to its channel program, even if it's only one at a time, is certainly a good sign.

Outages don't help, but channel partners can do Google a world of good by bringing hosted solutions to the right customers and educating them about how strong those solutions can be -- but also educating them about their limitations.

As a solution provider, would you consider Google's channel program?