Google enlists Ingram Micro to advance enterprise push

Google on Wednesday inked its first reseller deal for United States distribution, enlisting Ingram Micro to help sell Google’s search appliances and establish the company as a corporate applications provider.

Google’s deal with Ingram Micro, one of the largest IT distributors in the world, is the first global distribution deal Google has negotiated, according to company officials. Google currently has localized reseller deals for its search appliances in various locations around the world, including Japan, Australia and Latin America.

Google said Ingram Micro will focus on selling the Google Search Appliance and Google Mini to small and midsize companies, and the education and government sectors. The deal will begin in the U.S. market, with a phased rollout in other regions at a later date.

The two appliances are identical except for the number of documents supported. The Mini scales from 50,000 to 300,000 documents, and the full Search Appliance can handle 500,000.

Google says it has 9,000 search appliance customers, up from 7,000 in March.

Despite the deal with Ingram Micro, Google plans to continue direct sales of its search appliances and will keep its sales division in place.

But the deal signals an important milestone for Google in establishing itself as a provider of applications to corporate users.

Critics have been watching Google over the past few years emerge with the support, services, software tools and APIs that are starting to make the search giant look more like an enterprise applications provider. Google’s enterprise business, however, remains at approximately 1% of its overall revenues.

But the company has made a series of separate deals and software advances over the past 12 to 14 months designed to ensure that it can answer questions from corporate customers concerning tools, services and support to back up Google products and services.

Earlier this week, Google introduced migration tools to help companies move from their existing mail systems to the online suite Google Apps. And it recently introduced the Premier edition of that same suite, including support as part of the US$50-per-user fee.

Last October, the company launched its Google Enterprise Developer Program and an API to encourage developers to write modules that link corporate applications to its OneBox search features.

In February 2006, Google announced a partnership with BearingPoint, its first with a major professional services firm, in hopes of attracting vertical industries to its search appliance with support and customization services.

BearingPoint, a system integrator, launched a new practice centered on search using its own software platform and Google’s APIs for integrating the Google Search Appliance with diverse corporate data stores.

Google also has smaller system integrators and professional services companies in the United States and more in Europe that are part of its Google Enterprise Professional Program, which was established in September 2005 to help users deploy the Google Search Appliance.

The deal with Ingram Micro is not an exclusive deal, according to Google, which refused to say whether any more such deals are imminent or how big a distribution channel it plans to create.

“This is a large operation for Ingram and us, and we are going to take our time to do this right,” said Rodrigo Vaca, channel marketing manager for Google. “We are committed to working with them and roll this out.”

The companies said the Search and Mini appliances, which are used to retrieve data housed on corporate networks, are available immediately from qualified Ingram Micro solution providers in the United States. The company has 165,000 providers, but not all of them will handle the Google appliances. Google and Ingram also are planning a phased rollout in Latin American, Europe and Asia Pacific but would not supply a timetable. Ingram Micro operates in more than 150 countries.

Ingram Micro also said it will create a comprehensive reseller recruitment plan in select regions to identify, recruit and train suitable reseller partners to sell both products, and provide technical support.

Google officials would not say if the Ingram deal would lead to the company providing services for other Google products aimed at the enterprise, most notably Google Apps Premier Edition.

The suite of online collaboration and productivity applications currently includes Gmail with 10GB of storage, Goggle Docs & Spreadsheets, integrated instant messaging and search tools, Google Talk for IM and VoIP services, support for Gmail on BlackBerry mobile devices, Google Calendar, a set of APIs and partner technologies to integrate with existing enterprise applications, and 24/7 phone support.

Comment: [email protected]

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Related Tech News

Featured Tech Jobs

 

CDN in your inbox

CDN delivers a critical analysis of the competitive landscape detailing both the challenges and opportunities facing solution providers. CDN's email newsletter details the most important news and commentary from the channel.