Tag: Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro teams up with Legrand

ingram-mico-hqIngram Micro U.K. & Ireland has entered into a partnership with digital infrastructure specialist, Legrand.

The idea is to strengthen Ingram Micro’s end-to-end enterprise solution and offers services specialist Comms-care further value-add solutions to Ingram Micro’s resellers.

For those who came in late, Legrand is a global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructure. It has Cable Management business unit brands such as Cablofil wire mesh, Swifts Cable trays, and Ladder rack, Salamandre Trunking and the EZ Path. These solutions will complement the Ingram Microenterprise business unit and vendors such as Cisco, HPE and Dell Enterprise infrastructure offering for resellers.

Legrand offers gear for data centres including enterprise cabling, racking, and connectivity. The company’s specialist brands include Minkel, Raritan, Electrak, and Zucchini. Legrand is a leader in Enterprise Connected Infrastructure solutions for data centres and large infrastructures.

Scott Murphy, Advanced Solutions Director at Ingram Micro, said:  “The addition of Legrand and their brands/solutions further demonstrates Ingram Micro’s vision to offer our reseller partner’s incremental but complementary end-to-end solutions to their existing customers. We are positive that our Ingram Micro Services (including Comms-care) ability to design and install Legrand’s Connected Infrastructure solution will bring incremental revenue and margin to our reseller partners both on the hardware and wraparound services.”

Jeff Platt, Sales Director for the Cable Management Business Unit at Legrand, added: “Deploying a large Cisco or HPE infrastructure will require Cable Management, Fire stopping, and other products across the Legrand portfolio. We will work closely with Comms-care to ensure the right solution today while future proofing. We currently operate closely with Cisco, HPE, Dell Enterprise and other Enterprise vendors to tailor our solutions to complement their solutions.”

Ingram Micro denies it is to be sold to Synnex

ingram-mico-hqIngram Micro’s Chinese parent company has denied it is flogging the distributor to US-based Synnex.

The rumors started after one of Tianhai Investments’s subsidiaries suspended the trading of its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange pending a “major announcement”.

A statement sent to the SSE yesterday claimed:  “Ingram Micro is an important, strategic investment project to the company and is a key cornerstone and asset to the company’s transformation and development.”

Ingram Micro said: “We have spoken with executives at HNA Group and Tianhai Investment who have confirmed that the trading halt in Tianhai Investment shares is not related to any plan to sell Ingram Micro.

“Per the HNA executives, Ingram Micro is a major strategic investment for HNA Group and a cornerstone in Tianhai Investment’s development and technology transformation.”

HNA acquired Ingram Micro for $6 billion in 2016.

 

Sky is the limit on Ingram Micro cloud

grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloudIngram Micro is expanding the automated services it can provide resellers to encourage more to sell cloud services

The idea is to encourage more partners to get involved with the hosted services market.

The improvements to the services follow changes to Ingram Micro’s Odin platform, which is now offering automated processes to reduce the complexity of providing hosted services. Odin was the Norse god of wisdom, who unfortunately was also one eyed and prone to hanging to get the sort of information he needed.

Ingram Micro is offering two options with its Automation Premium and Essentials packages. The first level combining automated processes with data analytics to help resellers keep an eye on what’s happening with their customers.

The essentials option gives the partner the chance to automate the purchasing, provisioning and reselling of cloud technology.

The distributor has launched a cloud referral programme and is generating pre-negotiation distribution agreements with pricing to speed things up for the channel.

Apay Obang-Oyway, director cloud & software, UK&I at Ingram Micro, said that all the expectations were for more spending around cloud and resellers needed to be supported in their efforts to capture some of that revenue.

With enterprises now saying that their cloud and hosting budgets are likely to grow more than their general IT spend in 2017, this is an opportune moment for partner organisations to grow a cloud business that can address their needs, he said.

Channel is now cloud-ready

grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloudIngram Micro’s UK Cloud Summit was told that the channel has understood the opportunities that cloud can deliver.

The Summit was told that while the Channel was slow most now accept that the cloud is an unstoppable force changing business and their approach to the market.

Ingram Micro’s UK Cloud Summit heard from the distributor and vendors about the trends in the market.

Ingram Micro director of cloud & software UK&I Apay Obang-Oyway said that it was  one of the first times that he had seen that the Channel has got the message and people were nodding their heads.

He cited Blockbuster, which failed to spot the streaming revolution until it was too late, as an example of the risks of not adapting to change.

“A lot of CEOs are petrified of being Blockbusted. A lot of partners can see the changes.”

He said the industry was at the start of the fourth industrial revolution and technologies including IoT, big data, social and cloud were driving those changes.

“While it is all very good and exciting it is bringing a lot of disruption, which you can look at negatively or positively. Within that there is a load of opportunity for channel partners but you have to understand this is a different reality and it is no longer business as usual, its business unusual. The opportunity is huge and represents significant numbers,” he added.

 

Security worries delays Ingram Micro take over

ingram-mico-hqWorries about security have forced the delay of Ingram Micro’s take over by a Chinese outfit.

Ingram says that the deal, which would see it part of the Tianjin Tianhai Investment Company  is  now being delayed until towards the end of the year

The first delay to the deal came last month when the Shanghai Stock Exchange sent a letter to Tianjin Tianhai asking for more details about the takeover. In that case the Exchange was worried about how the deal was being funded.

But now the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States wants to take a close look at the deal.

“Ingram Micro today announced that the End Date by which the acquisition of Ingram Micro by Tianjin Tianhai Investment Company must be completed has been extended to November 13, 2016,” Ingram said.

Despite the CFIUS activity the expectation from both Ingram and on the Chinese side is that the deal will still close this year.

However it might not be that easy. The US is getting increasingly concerned about the involvement of the Chinese in business. Earlier this week it became clear that the Chinese company that is one of the main investors in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station is facing charges of nuclear espionage in the US.

Ingram Micro launches Surface as a Service product

surface-pro-2Ingram Micro has signed up for Microsoft’s Surface as a service programme and launching its own version.

Under the deal, the distributor will be able to offer resellers in the UK the chance to provide Surface and the Microsoft suite along with the chance to take advantage of leasing options that should make it an easier decision for users.

Brian Windsor, senior business manager for Microsoft at Ingram Micro, said that it would be able to lean on its knowledge of the vendor’s software and hardware products.

“This offering will permit our resellers to assist their customer’s transformation to digital with ease. What’s more, we have strived to build our leasing options with recurring business in mind in order to maintain longevity of customer investment for our resellers,” he said.

Microsoft launched the programme last month.  The big idea was to expand the number of partners that would be offering the same managed services approach. It is open to Cloud Solution Providers who are authorised Surface distributors and provides a managed service offering that can be taken out through resellers to users.

At the time Vole said that the Surface was having a real impact in the business market and Surface business has grown from generating $1bn in revenue in a year to $1bn in revenue per quarter.

“With our growing portfolio, we are creating not just great devices, but breakthrough categories that open up a world of new opportunities for partners to build capabilities in new areas, and to create solutions and services for customers. This year, we are investing in programs that increase partner revenue and profitability,” he added.

Ingram Micro takes one to the bottom line from Tech Data

58850228bbb485cfb1859a8fbb9f8f98Tech Data has said it is countering the slowdown in IT spending across Europe by kicking its rivals in the market share.

It did not say which rivals it has been targeting but it is pretty likely to be Ingram Micro. The results appear to have netted the outfit a a a general one percent rise in the first quarter.

The IT distie titan reported group sales of $6 billion. In the Americas that figure was $2.4 billion and a two percent rise . European sales were $3.6 billion and up one per cent.

CEO Bob Dutkovsky told analysts on a conference call that its teams made the most of “pockets of demand and delivered above market sales growth”.

Dutkovsky  said that the cunning plan in the Americas was based around the “right mix of business, gained select market share” and “deselected less profitable business.”  The US team has moved technical and field sales folk to higher growth areas of cloud, supply chain and unspecified services.

In Europe data centre related kit sales stumbled and there was a “sharp decline” in mobility products. Notebooks, tabs, software, consumer electronics and security business picked up the slack.

Tech Data isrumoured to be putting together a stand-alone security business unit across many ountries and it is believed to be centred in the UK.

Dutkovsky said it had swiped share from rivals but added that Dell opening up more business to the channel had helped and that market share gains don’t just come at the expense of the competitors.

He did not say if he was dancing on Ingram Micro’s grave. The outfit is being bought by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group and saw European sales which were pants.

Gross profit was $298.8 million which was $6.7 million higher than last year due to the sales increase. Gross margin was up by five basis points to 5.1 per cent and a richer mix of higher margin stuff was at play here.

Operating expenses jumped to $246 million from $209 million. This was helped by a $38.5 million settlement from LCD vendors for price fixing that was paid to Tech Data in the first quarter.  This caused a drop in operating profits, which slipped to $52.5 million from $81.9 million.

 

Ingram Micro teams up with Dropbox

ingram-mico-hqIngram Micro has announced an expanded distribution agreement with file sharing and collaboration outfit Dropbox.

The move will see it extending availability to channel partners across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

The scheme has been operating over the pond in the US and Canada. Ingram Micro said that the expanded agreement will make it the ‘premier distributor’ of Dropbox in the new regions.

Renee Bergeron, vice president, Global Cloud, Ingram Micro said that Dropbox is one of the most widely adopted collaboration platforms on the market, with unique business-focused capabilities that we expect will deliver significant value to our cloud portfolio and global partner community.

“Dropbox and Ingram Micro’s strengthened relationship reaffirms our joint commitment to meet the growing demands of channel partners and their customers for secure and controlled file sharing and collaboration environments. Through this expanded agreement, we will leverage our combined technical capabilities and expertise to build a value-added solution for strategic customer segments and vertical markets.”

Dropbox has been pushing into the enterprise market lately and Ingram Micro says that its channel partners will have greater cross-sell opportunities by attaching Dropbox to Microsoft Office 365 via Ingram Micro’s productivity suite.

Ingram Micro bought in Chinese take away

ingram-mico-hqA Chinese outfit has written a cheque for Ingram Micro for $6 billion.

Chinese aviation and shipping conglomerate HNA Group will buy the outfit so that it will become a subsidiary of Tianjin Tianha. Its HQ will remain where it is along with the firm’s executive management team will stay in place, with Alain Monié continuing as chief executive.

All Ingram Micro lines of business and all regional and country operations are “expected to continue unaffected”.

Adam Tan, CEO of HNA Group, stated: “Ingram Micro has clearly established itself as a leading distributor and global provider of IT products and services. The company has a proven and talented team and we believe Ingram Micro is unrivalled in its ability to offer industry-leading, differentiated and easy-to-manage solutions to vendor and customer partners worldwide. We look forward to supporting Ingram Micro’s management team and strategies, including continued expansion into new geographies, while also offering their vendor and customer partners access to new and complementary offerings.

Tan said that Ingram Micro would become the largest member enterprise of HNA Group in terms of revenue, and facilitate the internationalisation process of the group. With the help of Ingram Micro, HNA Group would have access to business opportunities in emerging markets, which have higher growth rates and better profitability. Furthermore, the addition of Ingram Micro would help the logistics sector of HNA Group transform from a logistics operator to a supply chain operator, and provide one-stop services while improving efficiencies.

Ingram Micro sponsors cloud event

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeThe first UK Cloud awards are to be sponsored by Ingram Micro UK.

The awards have been created by the Cloud Industry Forum in conjunction with techUK and Cloud Pro.

The jamboree is set to take place in February 2014, giving gongs to vendors, customers and individuals notable for pushing the edge of the cloud industry.

Apay Obang-Oyway, general maner at Ingrom UK said he wanted to encourage his company’s partners to submit products, projects and services that could win gongs.

Alex Hilton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum, added that the organisation created the UK awards and to showcase the best examples of what the IT world can deliver.

Judges include journos Max Cooter, Maggie Holland and Clive Longbottom of Quocirca.

You can enter the awards by scooting over to www.ukcloudawards.co.uk

Innovaphone signs up Ingram

ingram-mico-hqGerman Voice over IP phone company Innovaphone says it has signed up Ingram to distribute its products through Europe.

The aim is to use Ingram’s Micro Unified division to sell its VOiP Unified Communication Solutions products.

Ingram senior manager Cristophe Mory said that the firm’s products are easy to use and will provide its customers – resellers – with a “best of breed” communication tool.

He said that the company was one of the first manufacturers to use the Energy Efficient ethernet 802.3az which means that the port only uses power when data is transferred.

Konstantin Kruse, head of international sales said the agreement will let Innovaphone work with Ingram to educate resellers about the importance of VoIP.

Ingram Micro improves its gross margin

ingram-micro-mobilityMega distributor Ingram sold $10.2 billion worth of kit worldwide in its third financial quarter, and made net profit of $599 millions.

That means its gross margin jumped from 5.02 percent in the same quarter last year to 5.90 percent for this year’s third quarter.

The increase was accounted for by higher gross margin revenues from its mobility business, fuelled by services.

Alain Monie, CEO of Ingram, said his sales teams worldwide managed to grow. The mobility extra margin gave a strong boost after its acquisition. It bought Aptec in 2012.

Ingram made a distribution deal with an unnamed mobility OEM, while it did OK business with its cloud offerings after its acquisition of Softcom.

Ingram expects its gross margn in the fourth quarter of 2013 to also rise.

Ingram Micro and Outsourcery team up for VAR cloud service

IMIngram Micro and cloud provider Outsourcery have conjured up a new cloud service designed specifically for Ingram Micro’s partners and customers.

Under the arrangement, Ingram Micro partners will sell Outsourcery’s hosted version of Microsoft Lync, with enterprise-grade services and unified functionality delivered from the cloud. Cloud computing is a relatively hot trend at the moment, but surveys reveal that almost a quarter of IT organisations are concerned about the lack of staff skills necessary to support cloud solutions. The partnership is supposed to address these concerns.

Apay Obang-Oyway, General Manager, Enterprise Software and Services at Ingram Micro commented: “We have created the Advanced Solutions Division to offer our channel partners a comprehensive approach for identifying and pursuing opportunities within advanced technology categories.

Obang-Oyway said the goal is to help partners grow and diversify while facilitating development in the channel.

“The successful model Outsourcery have already established complements these objectives so taking hosted cloud solutions to market together was the natural next step,” he concluded.

Ingram Micro NZ launches reseller app

ingram-mico-hqIngram Micro has rolled out a new app designed to help Kiwi resellers respond more quickly to customer needs, while at the same time making their lives just a bit easier. The app is available for iOS and Android devices, no word on WP8 or BB10 support just yet.

The apps allow resellers to access Ingram’s e-commerce offering on the go, order products and track shipments in real time, browse products, compare prices and check availability. The app also features a few clever tricks borrowed from consumerish shopping apps. For example, users can scan a bar code using a smartphone camera and the app will check the product details and Ingram Micro’s stock information, reports Reseller NZ.

The apps can also be used to impress customers, by displaying the offer on mobile devices without revealing dealer pricing, which sounds a lot more convenient than doing it on a notebook.

Ingram Micro says it will continue to upgrade the app over the coming months, but so far feedback has been largely positive. Now all they have to do is roll out similar apps tailored for other regional or national markets.

Ingram Micro Mobility could go MVNO

ingram-micro-mobilityIngram Micro Mobility is looking into the possibility of launching its own MVNO, which could help it fuel further mobile growth in the UK. Ingram Micro’s UK and Ireland VP James Bannister told Mobile News that the company is actively looking for new ways to boost mobile revenue.

Bannister said the company would not try to become an established airtime distributor, but it would explore other airtime options, such as SIM packing and shipping phones with SIMs. 

“We may launch an MVNO, but we will do it differently to our competitors, so watch this space is my message,” he said.

Bannister said he doesn’t see the assisted sales model as a big opportunity, as it assumes people can’t get access to the product, but that approach doesn’t work since most IT customers already have someone to take care of that. 

He added that Ingram’s acquisition of BrightPoint was very positive for the company, as it brings a strong balance sheet and a long-term commitment to make the UK business into “something sexy”.