lassedesignen - Fotolia
Ingram Micro, SYNNEX authorized to grow Dell Federal businesses
Dell has authorized Ingram Micro and SYNNEX as Dell Federal distributors, marking a shift to the vendor's approach to the Federal marketplace; plus, more channel news.
Dell Inc. has made a game-changing move as this year's Federal buying season approaches. The company, which has always sold into the Federal marketplace directly, this week authorized distributors Ingram Micro Inc. and SYNNEX Corp. to distribute Dell technology to their respective Federal reseller partners. As a result, both Ingram Micro and SYNNEX have enhanced their channel partner resources to grow their Dell Federal businesses.
"Our relationship with Dell goes back a ways on the commercial side of the market," but this was the first time Dell decided to open up the distribution channel for the Federal market, said Anthony Vottima, executive director of Vertical Markets at Ingram Micro.
To help foster the growth of its Dell Federal business, Ingram Micro has created a dedicated team of 30-plus Ingram Micro/Dell-focused sales, marketing and engineering specialists. Mutual Ingram Micro and Dell partners will have access to the distributor's program managers, as well as the Ingram Micro Solution Center, Configuration Center, and Professional Services and Training Academy.
A channel partner hotline for after-hours requests, escalations and support is also available during the Federal buying season.
"It's really a win-win for both Dell … [and Ingram Micro]," Vottima said of the expanded partnership.
'It makes our life a bit easier'
According to Joe Brown, president and COO of Accelera Solutions, a solution provider specializing in virtualization and the cloud, Dell's expanded distributor relationship with Ingram Micro and SYNNEX will give partners a competitive edge this year. "[The authorization] does help companies like Accelera. We are able to leverage our long-time relationships [with Ingram and SYNNEX] and multi-vendor aggregate buying power to be more competitive with Dell products through these distributors. SYNNEX and Ingram are significantly better at dealing with partners than Dell. They understand the government contracting world and the pace of business that we need to keep in order to be competitive."
Joel Moore, director of marketing and strategic alliances at Force 3, a network security and data center technology company, agreed. "Overall, it's a huge move for Dell, since it's always been a direct model on the public sector side. For vendors like Force 3, it makes our life a bit easier leveraging current distributors."
Dell previously had a select group of Letter of Supply holders, which are resellers or solution providers that represent product vendors on the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule. Courtney Roche, partner account manager at Force 3, said her company was a Dell Letter of Supply holder. "Dell previously had a select group of Letter of Supply holders, Force 3 being one of them, and by opening up distribution, this allows the multitude of other resellers access to Dell via GSA," she said.
Distributors prepare for the Federal buying season
In addition to obtaining the Dell Federal authorization, Ingram Micro has bolstered its Federal Advantage Program, providing access to a GSA schedule and GSA order desk supported by Promark, as well as a range of engineering, sales and professional services. Services include DPAS ordering processing, request for proposal support, contract management services and unique identification tagging. Additionally, partners can use VDI and wireless assessment services, asset management/disposal, secure supply chain certifications and trade compliance cataloguing.
SYNNEX offers its Federal resellers access to the Dell portfolio, a dedicated Federal sales team and technical resources, and deal registration support.
IT channel news roundup from the week of Aug. 24
Here's a look at the channel news highlights from the week:
- SolarWinds N-able said it will launch an IT service management platform for managed service providers (MSPs). Dubbed MSP Manager, the cloud-based service management offering is geared toward small to medium-sized MSPs and will provide service-level agreement management, contract management, ticketing and billing among other features. JP Jauvin, general manager at SolarWinds N-able, said the MSP Manager is easier for MSPs to implement than professional services automation (PSA) software.
"The feedback we got from the majority of our customers was they don't want to have to hire staff … to manage and maintain a PSA system," Jauvin said.
MSP Manager is scheduled for availability in September 2015 and will be sold on a per-month/per-user subscription basis, according to the company.
- Distributor Tech Data Corp. rolled out an online portal for partners to access new mobile services available through the Mobile Solution & Retail division. Partners can access device configuration, application support, deployment services, product care, renewals and carrier activations.
- Backup vendor Datto said it had its best second quarter for revenue ever, citing a 57% increase from the second quarter in 2014. The company attributes its growth in part to the introduction of new products, the impact of its first EMEA Partner Conference, and its expanded distribution in the U.K., Ireland and Europe.
- Managed IT services company Continuum Managed Services LLC promoted Steve Cardillo to vice president of corporate development. Cardillo will continue heading Continuum's corporate development endeavors, which includes establishing relationships with technology partners and executing Continuum's acquisition strategy. He will also continue to lead the company's analytics strategy.
- Intel Security appointed Richard Steranka as the company's senior vice president of global channel operations. In his new role, Steranka will be responsible for developing Intel Security's partner ecosystem. Steranka joins Intel Security from Avaya.
Additional reporting by John Moore.
.jpg)
