Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) announced its cloud services offering as well as advanced technology centre this week.
The Ingram Micro Cloud announcement is truly significant because several solution providers are being inundated with questions and demands from customers to figure out the cloud for them. Ingram has the power and the resources to help those smaller resellers who don’t yet understand cloud computing’s potential or do not have the time and resources to make it happen in their business.
Ingram’s new partner enablement cloud platform will include a specially designed partner-only Web site (www.ingrammicrocloud.com) as well as programs such as Ingram Micro Cloud Services Network and online Cloud Marketplace. All this is meant to spur on cloud adoption in the channel.
Renee Bergeron, vice president, managed services and cloud computing, Ingram Micro North America, said Ingram Micro Cloud is a growth catalyst for the IT industry and will help alleviate the fear and uncertainty many channel partners have around cloud computing.
“Focused on education, training and sales enablement, Ingram Micro Cloud simplifies cloud computing from all angles and gives channel partners both a technical advantage and a sizable business advantage when it comes to delivering cloud services,” she said.
In the Cloud Marketplace, the distributor will provide several business, sales, marketing and technical resources, but it will feature detailed information on a growing number of cloud computing solutions and services. This is exactly what solution providers want. They need blueprints for solutions from the many hardware and software vendors out there.
Ingram’s Seismic managed services program will also be in the mix as well as Ingram’s line card and affiliate strategic alliances.
Offered as an extension of the Ingram Micro Services Network (IMSN), the new Cloud Services Network is an aggregation of best-of-breed cloud computing professional service providers whose delivery capabilities and technical expertise include private and public cloud consulting; cloud computing assessments; design and deployment of cloud solutions; and integration, configuration, implementation and customization services. The Cloud Services Network uses a partnering ecosystem and infrastructure of the IMSN to enable channel partners to work together to meet the needs of their customers throughout North America.
The Experience Center
Ingram also unveiled its Experience Center, a multi-million dollar advanced technology solution facility in Buffalo, N.Y. The Experience Center is a 1,000 square feet showcase for mostly Cisco data centre, borderless networks and collaboration products. It will also include a full-size TelePresence facility.
The Experience Center will be available to channel partners in North America as a sales, marketing and proof of concept tool. I think it’s great that Ingram has done this, but I also believe it is a stretch to think that resellers in southern Ontario or any place else in Canada will use it. The border crossing alone is a huge variable for solution providers. At minimum you will have a 40 minute wait at the U.S. border in the Niagara region. At worst it can be as long as three to four hours in a line up that you cannot escape from. Also solution providers will have to tell customers to bring a passport.
Before September 11, 2001 I would think having a facility such as the Experience Center just across the border would be a great idea since America and Canada share an undefended border where people could cross easily and without a passport, but times have changed and let’s face it crossing into the U.S. has become a big hassle for Canadians and vice versa.
But I still applaud Ingram for building this center as it will help Western N.Y.-based solution providers. The Experience Center is equipped with more than $2 million in new equipment and doubles as a best-in-class training lab and hands-on education classroom for channel partners who sell Cisco solutions.
I believe now that Ingram has completed its first advanced technology facility it will only be a matter of time before Canadians get one all to their own either in the Greater Toronto Area or in Vancouver.
One way to include Canadian solution providers without going through the border is by use of video conferencing and that’s where TelePresence comes in, but the challenge will be to link up a view of the lab and some of the proof of concepts to customers. Seeing is believing but video conferencing could be the next best alternative for the Experience Center when it comes to Canadian solution providers.
Westcon’s Express to Success
Westcon Group, Inc. has partnered with Check Point to develop a security business practice. Called Express to Success, this program is designed to help resellers sell Check Point solutions by improving their competency levels.
Express to Success offers four core elements: market development, sales materials, personalized training, and demand generation. The program is offered at no charge for all qualified Westcon Security resellers.
