Ingram Micro is at it again, this time launching a division to sell networking and infrastructure solutions to organizations with less than 1,000 users.
The Infrastructure Technology Solutions Division will include complex technologies such as blade servers, networked storage and virtualization, which in the past were targeted at larger enterprises. This will help reseller partners hone in on the SMB space that has, until now, been underserved in these areas.
This is part of Ingram’s strategy to reach new markets by developing or acquiring divisions that focus on specific technologies or market segments. In this case, it’s a smart move, since products designed for the SMB space are finally making inroads (whereas in the past, vendors packaged dumbed-down versions of enterprise products for SMBs, which never really went over that well).
Ingram says because of its SMB focus, it won’t be competing against niche distributors Avnet and Arrow, which earn their bread and butter on enterprise networking solutions. However, this move could still bring Ingram in direct competition with the two disties, since there will inevitably be some overlap in the mid-market.
What could make or break a reseller’s decision to stick with Avnet and Arrow or do more business with Ingram could ultimately lie in the service and support Ingram will be able to offer around these technologies. The broadliner’s goal is to put sales, support and service resources under one umbrella, while allowing resellers to continue to work with their regular contact in the sales department. And Ingram says its tech support personnel will be trained on these solutions.
About 100 people will work in the new division, including marketing development specialists and vendor managers (vendor partners include IBM, HP and VMware). Scott Look, formerly of Avnet, will head up the division – and will clearly bring a specialist focus to the table.
In other news, Tech Data Canada says the expansion of its integration centre earlier this year has created a 10-fold increase in order and unit production. The Mississauga facility is one of the largest in Canada, and can accommodate up to 360 desktops/laptops or 270 servers at any time – which is equivalent to 1,000 units a day.
This allows solution providers to custom-configure products for their end-user customers, from imaging and operating system setup for PCs, hardware installation and network OS setup for servers, server rack assembly, router installations and upgrades, and customized rollout management.
It’s another sign that distributors are expanding their capabilities to help VARs through the entire supply, configuration and shipping lifecycle – and upping the ante with their competitors.
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