Distribution Day: Stimulus Dollars, Digital Signage and POS

The VAR Guy must concede: He’s flooded with distributor news. So, he has an idea: How about a weekly distribution wrap-up? Here’s a first attempt at the effort — including a look at news from Avnet Technology Solutions, Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Westcon, among others.

First, the big picture: The “worst” may be over in relation to the sharp downward IT industry sales that occurred over the past year, according to the industry association that represents IT distributors. This press release from the Global Technology Distribution Council offers more perspective.

Stimulus Dollars: All of the major distributors are taking a close look at how government stimulus dollars can benefit the channel. Here’s the PR spin from Westcon Group.

Storage: Avnet Technology Solutions launched its latest a new business practice focused on storage optimization. Curious to know: Will ATS StoragePath help VARs to focus on storage clouds in addition to on-premise storage? The VAR Guy needs to poke around a bit more on this.

Point of Sale: Admittedly, the market for point-of-sale devices might be hurting a bit as major retailers implode during the recession. Still, Ingram Micro is telling the world that there are POS opportunities in government, health care and other verticals. The distributor says it had record attendance at an annual Data Capture/POS Partner event Phoenix, Ariz.

Ingram also has appointed Peter Gambino to to lead the DC/POS sales team. Gambino also will maintain his role as the lead sales boss for Ingram Micro’s Apple, Digital Signage and Content Management Specialty-Sales teams.

Digital Signage: Watch for a flood of news out of Tech Data over the next few days. To kick things off, Tech Data says its Digital Signage and Projectors Specialized Business Unit (SBU) established distribution agreements with HANNspree North America Inc., Hitachi Home Electronics Inc., and Vivitek Corp.

The VAR Guy and our sister site, MSPmentor, have been closely tracking the convergence of managed services with digital signage.

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