Ingram Micro First to Market with New Vblock Virtualized Technology Solutions

No. 1 Global Distributor Uniquely Positioned to Offer Channel Partners Access, Expertise and Technical Support for New Virtual Computing Environment Coalition Solutions

SANTA ANA, Calif., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Providing IT channel partners with the first-movers advantage, Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) today announced the immediate support of the new Vblock Infrastructure Packages developed as part of the recently announced joint venture by Cisco, EMC and VMWare, called the Virtual Computing Environment coalition.

Ingram Micro is now offering their Cisco, EMC or VMWare partners immediate access to the training and enablement support needed to deliver Vblock reference architecture. More than 2,500 partners served by Ingram Micro are eligible to take advantage of data center technology solutions provided in addition to the virtualized technologies under development by the Virtual Computing Environment coalition.

"The Virtual Computing Environment coalition represents a significant business proposition for the IT channel and Ingram Micro is eager to provide our channel partners with an early market advantage," says Keith Bradley, Senior Executive Vice President and President, Ingram Micro North America. "Our existing working relationship with EMC and VMWare, combined with more than a decade of experience enabling partners to succeed with Cisco's complete solutions portfolio, allows us to outpace the competition and deliver a full go-to-market advantage for virtualized solutions not available from any other distribution partner right now."

As part of its Vblock launch, Ingram Micro is able to tap the expertise of its established Cisco Business Unit resources and Infrastructure Technology Solutions (ITS) Division associates. Handling more than 90,000 technical support calls and nearly 400,000 orders annually on behalf of Cisco, these teams are prepared to offer highly-targeted training and education courses highlighting the business value of virtualized technologies and the new technical certification requirements. In addition, Ingram Micro's advanced technical support and sales teams are standing by, ready to assist channel partners with any pre-sales needs around the Vblock Infrastructure Packages. As the only distributor offering the full suite of Cisco, EMC and VMWare solutions, Ingram Micro has successfully executed more than 350 onsite partner training sessions and 270 enablement trainings for partners to date. And, Ingram Micro's Cisco SMARTnet services team has provided expert consulting and services sales on behalf of Cisco for more than a decade.

"The Ingram Micro team has been a growth catalyst for our Cisco, EMC and VMWare business over the last two years," says Bill Hall, CEO of Boice.net, a technology solutions provider in New Albany, Indiana. "By tapping into Ingram Micro's ITS Division, the continued support of their experienced sales team as well as its field sales engineers, Solution Centers and custom configuration services, we've established a thriving data center practice that truly sets us apart from other solution providers. Now with the new VCE coalition, it's great to see Ingram Micro take the lead and give us a first mover's advantage on supporting these new infrastructure solution sets."

In addition to the launch support, Ingram Micro's VPN Dynamics subsidiary will provide ongoing technical training and certification support for engineers and data center technicians seeking Vblock certification. Furthermore, the distributor plans to spotlight the Vblock 0 and Vblock 1 Infrastructure Packages within its bi-coastal Solution Centers located in Santa Ana, CA and Buffalo, NY in early 2010.

"These are just the first of many strategic initiatives and resources that Ingram Micro is bringing to bear to support the growth of virtualized computing technologies and our channel partners' pursuit of scalable data center solutions," continues Bradley.

Ingram Micro offers dedicated Data Center resources and experts within its Cisco Business Unit and ITS Division. Bradley concludes, "In North America alone, we support more than 400 partners who provide integration and hardware solutions for IP switches, WAN connectivity, desktop virtualization, NAS appliances, security and infrastructure technologies. However, these efforts are just the tip of the iceberg. There's much more to come from Ingram Micro in 2010."

For more information on Ingram Micro's Vblock support, channel partners should contact their Ingram Micro sales representative.

About Ingram Micro

As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves approximately 150 countries and is the only global broad-based IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.

SOURCE Ingram Micro Inc.

Released December 8, 2009