Distribution Roundup: ScanSource Services Group, D&H Closeouts

Distribution News Roundup

Acquisitions, hires and new services partnerships highlight this latest roundup of news from distributors Avnet, Comstor, ScanSource, Tech Data and more.

Avnet Acquires Genilogix

Avnet acquired Genilogix, an IT application life-cycle management firm, to help channel partners and customers improve security, quality, performance, availability, governance and regulatory compliance for mission-critical applications, according to the distributor.

Genilogix is an HP Software Enhanced Elite Partner that specializes in helping businesses with all aspects of application life-cycle management from design to implementation to long-term support of the HP IT Performance Suite, according to Avnet. The Pittsburgh-based company generated $23 million in 2011.

"Genilogix's portfolio combined with the offerings available through our recent acquisition of Pepperweed Consulting greatly enhances our ability to deliver a comprehensive IT solution for our business partners, including those focused on high-growth markets such as healthcare and government," said Jeff Bawol (pictured), president, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas.

Comstor Hires Cisco Veteran

Westcon Group's Comstor business unit hired ex-Cisco veteran Geoff Fancher (pictured) as a senior vice president. At Cisco, Fancher championed the field partner organization, which included more than 200 partner account managers and engineers and accounted for more than $8 billion in revenue for Cisco. Fancher will be responsible for Comstor's profit-and-loss activity, according to Westcon Group.

In addition, Westcon has named Andy Banks as vice president of its data center practice in North America.

New ScanSource Services Group Supports VARs

ScanSource created a new business unit that focuses on support programs and services for solution providers. The ScanSource Services Group offers assessment, configuration and implementation services, as well as education and training, marketing and partnership opportunities around Avaya solutions, according to the ScanSource Services Group, which is led by Mike Burns (pictured). Burns previously served as vice president of ScanSource's OUI Managed Services business unit.

Specifically, ScanSource offers Avaya IP Office R8.1 custom configuration, training classes for resellers of the Avaya Aura communications platform, and access to the Avaya Networking Enablement Program, which allows Avaya voice resellers to build their data practice with the help from ScanSource design architects, systems engineers and sales resources.

D&H Launches Closeouts

D&H Distributing revamped its dandh.com website to add more functionality and customization to its shopping cart, according to the Harrisburg, Pa.-based distributor.

The company also has created a new Deal Spot page for certain close-out and refurbished product specials. It includes links to merchandise offered at discounted pricing because the products are being discontinued, overstocked or refurbished. Deal Spot products could include notebooks, tablets, servers, monitors, desktops and IP webcams, according to D&H. The items will change frequently according to availability.

Meanwhile, the shopping cart now includes a personalized welcome; a dynamic "flyout" cart window with new animated feedback; a link to the customer's Watchlist; and an improved, quick-order functionality, according to Jeff Davis (pictured), senior vice president of sales at D&H.

Tech Data Adds Amazon Web Services

Tech Data added Amazon Web Services to its Solutions Store, giving VARs access to resell Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), AWS Storage Gateway, and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), according to the Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor.

"Having many of the AWS services available on the Solutions Store enables our resellers to offer more complete cloud services and provide industry-leading, scalable cloud solutions to their customers. Our dedicated TDCloud business unit is also able to assist, educate and train our resellers to profitably build and scale their cloud business," said Stacy Nethercoat (pictured), vice president of software product marketing at Tech Data, in a statement.

Ingram Adds M&A Technology

Ingram Micro signed a deal to distribute M&A Technology's tablets, workstations and high-performance computers. M&A Technology focuses on the K-12 marketplace and 21st century classroom solutions, according to Kirk Robinson (pictured), vice president and general manager, Ingram Micro Commercial Markets Division, U.S.

"The addition of the M&A Technology portfolio gives Ingram Micro channel partners the flexibility to offer customized hardware solutions that can be easily managed as part of a classroom's, school's or educational institution's larger IT infrastructure," Robinson said in a statement.

Arrow Q3 Sales, Earnings Drop

Arrow Electronics' third-quarter earnings fell 19 percent to $103.6 million, or 94 cents per share, for the third fiscal quarter ended Sept. 29. In the year-ago quarter, the Englewood, Colo.-based distributor earned $132.2 million or $1.15 per share in the quarter.

Arrow's third-quarter sales fell to $4.96 billion from $5.19 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 98 cents per share on $4.94 billion in revenue.

Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions saw sales increase 3 percent to $1.6 billion, in line with the company's expectations for the group. "This represents the 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year organic growth for Global ECS," said CEO Mike Long (pictured) on a conference call with analysts.

SED Names O'Malley New CEO

SED International named longtime channel executive Bob O'Malley (pictured) as its president and CEO, succeeding Jonathan Elster.

O'Malley most recently was CEO of InFocus, leaving in May, and previously held senior executive posts at distributor Tech Data and IBM.

"We welcome Bob's experience and leadership to SED," said Samuel Kidston, SED's chairman. "Bob's strong experience as a public company CEO and deep industry relationships were important considerations in the board's recruitment process. In his role as Chief Executive, he will be responsible for returning the company to profitable growth, improving gross margins and driving improved return on invested capital and shareholder value."