(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Dec. 20.)

Partners of Amazon Web Services (AWS) fear potential channel conflict after the cloud services behemoth launched its new managed services offering for its largest multinational customers.

Partners said the AWS decision also muddies the waters on where they should focus their AWS consulting practices.

"I think the fact they're getting into this business is not a positive thing for partners, whichever way you put it," said one partner, who wished to remain anonymous. "Working with AWS you should know by now as a partner, especially on the technology side, that they eat into your business as they grow."

[Related: 6 Key Things To Know About Amazon Web Services' 'Sentinel' Managed Services Offering]

Amazon has many times in the past launched products that directly competed with those from ISVs, essentially gutting their businesses. For those technology partners, the name of the game is trying to stay ahead of AWS, the partner said.

"None of that has affected us on the consulting partner piece until now," the partner said. "Am I surprised? No. Am I a little peeved? Yes. But it's business."

AWS Managed Services, which was launched last week, delivers a toolkit that enterprises can use to manage their AWS infrastructures, as well as some services — monitoring and incident investigation — provided directly by Amazon's internal engineers.

The product is geared for Amazon's largest customers: multinational corporations that, by all accounts, are looking to avoid contracting with MSPs and have been clamoring for a product to free them from doing so.

AWS did not provide pricing on the new AWS Managed Services and did not return repeated phone calls and emails for comment.

The "service is designed to accelerate cloud adoption," wrote Jeff Barr, Amazon's chief evangelist, in the AWS blog. "It simplifies deployment, migration, and management using automation and machine learning, backed up by a dedicated team of Amazon employees."

Barr, in the AWS blog, said, "AWS Managed Services was designed with partners in mind."

To that end, Amazon has established two new training programs — AWS MS Business Essentials and AWS MS Technical Essentials — to educate partners on building practices around AWS Managed Services.