Distribution Watch: Avnet, Synnex, Arrow, Tech Data and Ingram Micro

Happy Tuesday, and welcome to another edition of Distribution Watch. It’s been a busy week for distribution, so let’s jump right in to the latest news out of Avnet (AVT), SYNNEX (SNX), Arrow Electronics (ARW), Tech Data (TECD) and Ingram Micro (IM).

Avnet: The big news out of Avnet this week was, of course, the changing of the guard in the C-suite. CEO Rick Hamada, a 32-year veteran of Avnet, is stepping down following a series of disappointing quarterly financials. Board member Bill Amelio will step in as interim CEO as the board looks for a permanent replacement.

In other Avnet news, the distributor signed an agreement with hyper-converged infrastructure provider SimpliVity to make its OmniStack Integrated Solutions with Cisco UCS available to Avnet channel partners in the United States and Latin America. SimpliVity’s OmniStack Integrated Solutions with Lenovo System will also be available to LatAm partners.

“SimpliVity has quickly become one of the top vendors in the rapidly accelerating hyperconverged infrastructure market by focusing on significant cost-savings, extensive consolidation capabilities, and first-class customer service,” said Cheryl Neal, vice president of Avnet’s Data and Networking business in the Americas, in a statement. “I’m confident that this alliance will further accelerate hyperconverged infrastructure opportunities for partners and their customers.”

SYNNEX: Looking to bolster its Concentrix global services division, SYNNEX announced its plans to acquire Ontario-based business process outsourcing company Minacs Group. SYNNEX hopes the move will strengthen its capabilities in the automotive industry and its marketing and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. The move comes as the distributor moves more of its focus to services-oriented Concentrix and away from traditional distribution.

"Minacs has been able to establish itself as a high-value, unique player in business services," Chris Caldwell, president of Concentrix, said in a statement. "Their investments in IoT and marketing optimization stand out as solutions with growing market demand, which we believe we will be able to leverage across our combined client base."

Tech Data: Samsung and Tech Data have teamed up to sell unlocked mobile computing devices through Tech Data’s channel partners. The deal will give solution providers more flexibility with the mobile computing solutions they provide customers by offering mobile devices untethered to specific carriers.

"When we think about enterprise mobile solutions, strength of security and freedom of choice is always a concern," said Patrick Stokes, senior vice president, Mobile Solutions & Retail at Tech Data. "Samsung KNOX was built with the enterprise business in mind. Paired with the unlocked smartphone, this allows us to give more customers access to Samsung's Galaxy of experiences—along with a leading security offering—from a well-established channel partner."

In addition, Tech Data announced the launch of at new IoT practice this week. Smart IoT Solutions by Tech Data is designed to aggregate disparate IoT solutions for channel partners. The move is reflective of a fascination with IoT technology across all sectors in the technology industry.

"If you were to ask 100 people in the IT channel what IoT means to them, you would get almost 100 different answers—and most would be correct," said Paradell. "As IoT continues to expand and surround us in our lives, much remains to be understood about the market. Tech Data is positioned at a very advantageous point in the IoT ecosystem—right in the middle—to provide our customers with all the pieces necessary to deploy complete IoT solutions. Through our new Smart IoT Solutions business practice, we are helping solution providers understand and enter the IoT market, as well as capitalize on the opportunities that currently exist within it."

Arrow: Tech Data isn’t the only distributor making IoT inroads this week. Arrow recently announced it will distribute Cypress Semiconductor’s newly acquired IoT portfolio, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee RF technologies. The distributor will also help Cypress grow its Wireless Interent Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED) brand, a support ecosystem for the development of IoT devices comprised of forums, development kits and other resources for partners and programmers.

“Cypress’ IoT product portfolio and WICED offering align perfectly to Arrow’s go-to-market strategy—allowing us to bring the most comprehensive IoT technology ecosystem in components and digital technologies to a diverse set of customers around the world,” said Aiden Mitchell, global vice president of IoT sales at Arrow.

Ingram Micro: Finally, Ingram Micro announced an expansion of its cloud ecosystem at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference this week through the newest release of its Odin Service Automation platform.  Odin is a cloud commerce automation platform that helps to streamline end-to-end management of such services. The newest version includes a new control panel, enhanced performance and scalability and new software development kits (SDKs) for payment plugins and domains. The news is the latest of investments Ingram Micro has made to what it calls its Ecosystem of Cloud, including the acquisition of cloud application distributor Ensim Corporation.

"Our Ecosystem of Cloud is built on a variety of innovative cloud platforms powered by Odin and Ensim, empowering our partners to lead the market on cloud-delivered Microsoft solutions," said Nimesh Dave, executive vice president, Global Cloud, Ingram Micro. "Our clear direction and close partnership with Microsoft has accelerated this strategy, which is well aligned with rapidly growing market demand, and we look forward to expanding our offerings to drive further business transformation for the Microsoft partner community."