Ingram forms GovEd Alliance

Ingram Micro Inc., a wholesale provider of technology products, announced

this week the birth of an alliance designed to boost sales opportunities

for value-added resellers in the government and education arenas.

The Ingram Micro GovEd Alliance was developed to offer value-added resellers

"information, tools, support and [the] solutions they need to increase sales

in the government and education marketplace," said Bob Stegner, Ingram's

vice president of U.S. marketing and channel development.

Stegner said that in recent years, sales in the public sector have no

longer been driven by price and hardware. In turn, Ingram's Partnership

America program evolved into the GovEd Alliance, he said.

The main focus of the alliance is to ensure that value-added resellers

have access to increased service offerings and resources. "Today, the market

needs are focused on services, infrastructure/networking, and the continuing

buzz of solutions vs. product, to name a few," Stegner said.

Prior to the development of the alliance, the value distributor polled

more than 60 government and education resellers and vendors to determine

the tools they needed to serve the public sector. The results from that

survey are the basis for the new alliance.

"Although there will be a slight cost increase, being part of their

new program is very important to us," said Sean Burke, president of GovPlace

Inc., an alliance participant.

New programs, such as bid notification, and expanded online resources

clearly illustrate a significant improvement over the old program, he added.

The future of the new alliance, according to Stegner, depends on the

changing needs and desires of the customer. "The world has changed economically,

and resellers are changing their business models as well," he said. If an

adjustment is necessary for the success of our resellers, Ingram will continue

to add services and resources, he said.