Distribution Watch: Ingram Micro, Avnet, Westcon

Happy Thursday, and welcome to Distribution Watch. This week we've got the latest news from our friends at Ingram Micro (IM), Avnet (AVT) and Westcon.

Ingram Micro: Ingram signed an agreement with communications solution provider Teo Technologies that will allow the company to distribute Teo's Premise, Cloud and Hybrid Technology solutions in the United States. The deal is expected to help Teo boost its reach within the IT channel community and create opportunities to reach new vertical markets, according to the announcement.

Teo said it hopes to eliminate the confusion associated with choosing between the various unified communication options on the market by working with Ingram Micro to educate customers on which solutions are right for their businesses.

"When manufacturers create products that are only focused on small business or only on enterprise business customers, channel partners face a daunting task in choosing who to work with. With Teo's solution portfolio and Ingram Micro's channel reach, that confusion is a remnant of the past," said Thomas Beck, vice president of sales and marketing at Teo, in a statement." Working together will definitely help eliminate the barriers that companies have run up against in migrating to the mobile, multi-media, and 'always on' environment that the current workplace has become."

Avnet: Phoenix-based Avnet will participate in this year's Junior Achievement of Arizona's signature program by providing financial and volunteer support to help grade school and middle school students learn about simulated business processes. The program, which is also known as JA BizTown, allows students to operate faux-businesses in a student-sized town to help them understand the connection between classroom lessons and the technology industry, according to the announcement.

Avnet will host two technology stores within JA BizTown to help students learn about career opportunities related to the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Avnet has donated more than $41,000 to build the two stores.

In other Avnet news, the distributor recently celebrated its fortieth year of partnership with Grayhill, a designer and manufacturer of human interface solutions. Both companies have been in partnership since 1975.

“Both Avnet and Grayhill are very different companies today than we were 40 years ago when we first began working together, yet through all the changes, we continue to find ways to leverage our collective strengths to fulfill growing customer demand for industry leading human interface solutions that push the technological envelope,” said Ed Smith, president of Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas.

Westcon: Westcon will now offer ForeScout Technologies' CounterACT automated security control platform to solution providers in North America through a new distribution agreement. CounterACT is an agentless security appliance that provides IT organizations with the ability to see sevices as soon as they connect to the network, according to the announcement.

“As more people connect to corporate networks—especially with their own devices—businesses need a solution that can easily discover, assess and prevent unknown and unwanted users from gaining access,” said Andrew Warren, Westcon’s vice president of security. “Westcon offers the most innovative and leading-edge security technologies on the market and ForeScout is a great addition to that lineup.”