Ingram Micro is furthering its value-added aspirations with the acquisition of Annapolis Junction, Md.-based value-added distributor Promark Technology.
Promark is noted for having expertise in enterprise storage along with document imaging. The 40-person Promark does not operate in Canada, but according to Scott Zahl, vice president and general manager of Ingram Micro’s Advanced Computing Division in the U.S., Ingram will begin cross selling Promark’s line card at Ingram Canada sometime in 2013. Ingram confirmed that the Promark deal will close on Nov. 30th. While financial details of this deal were not released Dale Foster, CEO of Promark told CDN that the company has revenues of $100 million.
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“We did some limited business in Canada with Direct Market Resellers but this deal gives us more presence and breathe than we have right now in Canada,” Foster said.For Ingram, Promark brings an expertise to emerging technology vendors that the broadline distributor did not have. “Ingram would absolutely love to have this kind of expertise to expand our footprint in storage and be able to refresh the category and get into the early lifecycle business in the U.S. and in Canada in the first half of next year,” Zahl said.
He added that Promark furthers Ingram’s entrance as a value-added distributor. “I would tell you we are one today. If you look at our presence in virtualization and with the addition of Promark in storage we have an excellent footprint in technology and support capabilities that we built out in the last two years. So we can compete with other value-added distributors,” he said.Currently Promark has about 1,000 active resellers each quarter. These are channel partners that focus on emerging technologies and Ingram is interesting in introducing them to a broader technology portfolio to increase their share of customer wallet and expand the customer opportunity for Ingram.
Next Gen Storage and Nexsan are just two of the emerging technology vendors Promark has that Ingram covets. Promark’s line card also features technology products from Dell through the Compellent acquisition, Dot Hill, QLogic, Overland Storage, ExaGrid, FalconStor, Enterasys, Panasonic, Fujitsu and Veeam Software.
Another aspect of this deal for solution providers is that with Promark’s line card of up-and-coming vendors solution providers will have the ability to look at products that are two to three years from being mature and eventually becoming significant contributors to the marketplace.
