CMP Channel Acquires Vision Events

CMP Channel, of Manhasset, N.Y., purchased Vision Events from Gartner, the Stamford, Conn.-based analyst firm, for an undisclosed sum.

As a result of the acquisition, the Vision Events will be merged into the CMP Channel Events group. That group includes the XChange conferences, CMP Channel Custom Events, and CMP Channel eVents, the latter of which includes online netseminars and virtual trade shows.

CMP Channel also includes the ChannelWeb online news site as well as such print publications as CRN and VARBusiness.

Face-to-face events are an important part of the overall channel-focused portfolio of CMP Channel, and adding the 16 Vision conferences will expand channel partner opportunities into new areas, including international venues, said Robert Faletra, president of the organization. "In order to do face-to-face events, and do them well, we need to expand worldwide," he said.

The acquisition will also help bring the channel closer to other parts of the IT market such as retail, Faletra said. "Just look at what Hewlett-Packard has done in retail," he said. "It's important to them, and to companies like Toshiba and Dell. In many cases, VARs are buying from retail. And end users are buying from the channel. This is important to expanding our footprint with the vendors and the solution providers."

The acquisition will help solution providers expand their face-to-face business opportunities, said Greg Knieriemen, vice president of marketing at Chi Corp., a Cleveland, Ohio-based solution provider who has attended several XChange and Vision events in the last couple years.

Knieriemen said he sees several ways in which combining the two competing events into a single entity will improve the experience of attendees such as himself. For instance, he said, the XChange conferences have a great production quality and visibility, just a step above the Vision events. However, he said, he felt that the Gartner events seemed to attract larger-sized solution providers on the average.

"And there are a number of vendors that came more often to one or the other," he said. "For example, FalconStor [Software, of Melville, N.Y.] came to XChange, but I never saw them at Vision. And ATEN [Technology, of Irvine, Calif.] did the Vision events, but not XChange. So now we'll also see a broader universe of vendors as well."

Knieriemen said he looks forward to the two merging into a single organization. "I really think having these things under one umbrella serves both the solution providers and the vendors," he said. "And it serves CMP as well."

There are seven XChange events slated for 2008, including conferences for solution providers looking for opportunities in new technologies, managed services, government, and Latin America. The next event, XChange Solution Provider, will be held in Los Angeles March 5 - 8.

The Vision acquisition brings 16 conferences to CMP Channel, including events focused on the indirect sales channel, retail, government, midsized enterprises, enterprise project portfolio management, printing and imaging, and energy and utilities, with events being held in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.