SANTA ANA, Calif., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM)
, the world's leading wholesale distributor of technology products and services, today announced the addition of 50 vendors to its Partnership America(TM) reseller program. Offered through the Government and Education division, Partnership America offers discounts to resellers servicing the federal, state/local and education markets.
Partnership America helps resellers, VARs and system integrators penetrate the government and education information technology market. The program offers a wide range of services, including government and education sales specialists, business development managers, bid and proposal support, GSA (General Service Administration) and state multiple award schedule support, technology refreshment, credit services and configuration services through Frameworks(TM) Total Integration Services. Since its inception in 1995, Ingram Micro's Partnership America program has signed on nearly 300 manufacturers to provide product discounts for resellers.
"The government and education markets continue to represent a burgeoning opportunity for resellers and integrators. We believe that offering our customers discounts on the most popular products through Partnership America is just one more way we can help them win business and be more profitable," said Shelly Talbott, vice president and general manager of Ingram Micro's Government and Education Division.
"We welcome these 50 new manufacturer participants to Partnership America -- the most comprehensive discount program in the channel -- and look forward to helping them grow their sales in this market," she said.
Will Hanley, vice president of operations and inside sales for Educational Technology Associates, a division of Custom Computer Specialists, Inc. in Commack, NY, finds Partnership America to be a true value-add to business. "Ingram Micro does a stellar job tailoring their business model to help our company be more profitable and efficient. We appreciate the extra discount the manufacturers provide and we take advantage of Ingram Micro's proposal support team. They handle almost all of our back-office work, like identifying bid opportunities, writing proposals and securing firm-fixed pricing from manufacturers. This allows us to spend our time doing what we do best -- selling products and providing value-added service and attention to our customers."
Partnership America is beneficial for manufacturers because it gives them a direct link to Ingram Micro's government and education resellers. Opportunities for participating manufacturers include:
* Monthly point of sale report - Identifies reseller and end-user type [whether a federal agency, state/local agency, higher education entity (colleges and universities) or Kindergarten-Grade 12 schools or districts].
* Integrated marketing communications - Offers participating vendors the added value of promoting their products to top government and education resellers via specially targeted materials, vehicles and events.
* Training - Opportunities for vendors to educate Ingram Micro's dedicated government and education sales team, business development managers and sales support engineers on the latest products and technologies.
Said Andrew May, CEO and president of Largo, Fla.-based Paradyne Corporation, "We are excited by Ingram Micro's aggressive focus on growing government and education business, instead of just fulfilling business. Ingram Micro's Government and Education Division has teamed with Paradyne to extend Local Area Network sales into Wide Area Network solutions. We are extremely impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication to growing our mutual business."
Added Janie Tsao, vice president of sales, for Irvine, Calif.-based Linksys Corporation, "We joined Partnership America almost two years ago. Upon joining, we saw an immediate increase in our government and education sales through Ingram Micro, and this year alone we have grown more than 700 percent (Jan.-June 1998 over same period 1997). The numbers tell our story -- Ingram Micro has helped propel Linksys sales in the government and education market. We are very pleased with these results."
Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM)
, headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., is the world's leading wholesale distributor of technology products and services, and a leading provider of assembly and integration services, with sales of $19.3 billion for the last four quarters. The company and its affiliates operate in 31 countries and distribute more than 145,000 products to more than 100,000 resellers in 120 countries. Ingram Micro can be found at http://www.ingrammicro.com/.
Ingram Micro is a trademark used under license by Ingram Micro Inc. All other logos, brand names and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.
NEW PARTNERSHIP AMERICA(TM) PARTICIPANTS
(Joined January - June 1998)
8x8, Inc. MGE UPS SYSTEMS
Accton Technology Newer Technology Inc.
ACER America Monitors OPTI-UPS
ADC Kentrox Ositech Communications
ADS Technologies Pacific Image Electronics Inc.
Advanced Micro Devices Paradyne Corporation
Allaire Corporation Paragon Memory Corporation
Battery Technology Inc. Philips Consumer
Canary Communications Pinnacle Systems
Cross Pen Computing QMS
Cubic Videcomm Inc. Ramp Networks
Curtis Computer Products Samsonite
Dazzle Multimedia Samsung Hard Drives
Dr. Solomons Software SBE Inc.
Dragon Systems, Inc. SIIG Inc.
Epson America Inc. Simple Network Communications Inc.
Evergreen Technologies Sony Electronics ITA Corporation
Global Data Supply Startech Computer Products Ltd.
Global Village Communication Sun Microsystems Computer Company
IXMICRO Synergy Software
Legato Systems Inc. Tandberg Data
Margi Systems Toshiba Networks Division
Matrox UMAX Technologies Notebooks
Maxell Corporation Verbatim
Maxtech Corporation VST TECHNOLOGIES
Source: Ingram Micro Inc.
Contact: Cindy Ragland, Media Relations, Ingram Micro Inc., 714-382-3364,
cindy.ragland@ingrammicro.com
Website: http://www.ingrammicro.com/