Distribution Watch: Tech Data, Avnet & Pax8

Congratulations on making it past Monday. Your reward? This week's installment of Distribution Watch. Today we have some recent news out of Tech Data (TECD), Avnet (AVT) and Pax8.

Tech Data: Tech Data is putting an increasing focus on its Cloud Solutions Store, and they're continuing to invest. The distributor has announced the appointment of Bob Kruger as vice president of its StreamOne cloud marketplace and integration solutions. Kruger comes to Tech Data from cybersecurity startup Apakau, Inc., where he was chief executive officer. He brings almost 40 years of experience in IT in a range of areas including systems management, data management, archiving and data protection, networking, security and virtualization. In addition to his experience leading both startups and teams at such behemoths as Citrix and Microsoft, Kruger holds a special place in The VAR Guy's hearts for his writing chops. He was a contributor and technical reviewer for "Business @ the Speed of Thought" by Bill Gates, as well as a contributing author to Aspatore Books' "Inside the Minds: Making Critical Technology Decisions."

Avnet: Avnet's got some news in conjunction with EMC that's worthy of mention. Riding the wave of hybrid cloud technology, the distributor announced it will be offering a new solution that combines an EMC Hyper-Converged Infrastructure appliance with Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility Suite to link private cloud, public cloud and mobile device functionality. It creates an end-to-end platform that enables organizations to build their own mobile service delivery programs from a data center or the Microsoft Azure cloud. 

“Mid-market data center teams are confronted with an ever-increasing demand for new applications, new services and new ways of doing business,” said Eric Barnhart, vice president of Avnet’s EMC solutions business unit in the Americas. “Since each mid-market organization has its own view of how and where mobile applications would best enable and extend their business goals, Avnet worked with EMC and our partner base to develop a mid-market mobility framework based on standards and best practices gleaned from our combined years of experience. This mobility solutions framework enables our partners to discuss a client’s business goals and requirements in the context of a Mobility Solutions Catalog and help deliver real solutions.”

Pax8: The cloud distribution news continues with Pax8, which recently announced it would be offering remote monitoring and management (RMM) capabilities through DataMAPt. The value-added cloud distributor says the new partnership is specifically geared toward their small and medium-size business (SMB) customers. The DataMAPt platform will be offered through Pax8's cloud marketplace, which lets channel partners configure and automate solutions and services.

“As channel partners drive the need for a highly-flexible built-in network monitoring service, we are excited to introduce DataMAPt into our cloud marketplace,” said Ryan Walsh, senior vice president of Partner Solutions at Pax8. “DataMAPt provides a reliable, agentless cloud-based monitoring solution that helps partners build greater stickiness with their customers. Through the new partnership, we are providing the tools and enablement our SMB partners require to become a trusted advisor.”