Now here is an interesting move. The UK end of probably the world’s biggest distributor of IT systems, products and supply chain management services, Ingram Micro, has joined the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) as part of its wider strategy of launching a portfolio of solutions under the brand of Ingram Micro Cloud .
The company is pitching to play a role in the Cloud Brokerage business, which is now starting to ramp up as more businesses move towards utilizing Cloud base service delivery. As a distributor its traditional business model has been selling systems to and through resellers that have brand recognition with a marketplace. Many of those resellers, especially those with established IP invested in the development of end user solutions, are now turning to the Cloud as a delivery platform that can speed customer implementation and lower the costs for both customers and vendor.
As the traditional source of much of the resellers’ `raw materials’ the distributor community is well placed to extend their role to this new market as a supplier of service and compute resources. Ingram Micro recognises this opportunity for the distributor, providing resources that enable resellers to access a broad range of services in a common and consistent way.
Joining CIF follows on from Ingram’s recent partnership with Cloud service provider RISE and the forming of an alliance of key manufacturers under the banner of the Channel Transformation Alliance. Membership includes vendors well-known to the reseller community, such as Microsoft, CA, HP, Symantec and storage industry grouping, SNIA Europe.
Ingram’s UK Managing Director, Matt Sanderson, sees CIF’s Code of Practice as a key component in brokerage plans.
CIF chairman, Andy Burton, also sees the connection between the Code of Practice and the need for Cloud brokers, and all other contributors to the Cloud services supply chain, to use - and be seen to be using - best practices when selling and supporting Cloud solutions.
