Synnex Becomes First Distributor To Offer Google Play For Education To Partners
Synnex Thursday added another solution to its growing Google portfolio, becoming the first distributor to offer Google Play for Education. Building on the success of its Chromebook business for K-12 education, Synnex will now offer its resellers Google Play for Education, a specialized version of the Google Play store with thousands of teacher-approved apps, digital textbooks and video content. Google Play for Education, which is designed for Android tablets, allows solution providers to manage both the device as well as the content.
"This is a big plus for us because it's another solution that our resellers can offer their education clients," said Eddie Franklin, vice president of sales for public sector and vertical markets at Synnex, during Synnex's Red, White & You public sector conference. "There's a lot of interest in the Google platform right now in K-12."
[Related: Google Names Synnex First Distributor To Offer Chrome Management Console ]
The addition of Google Play for Education builds upon Synnex's already-strong partnership with Google. In January, Synnex became the first distributor to offer the Google Chrome Management Console to solution providers, which allows them to remotely manage large numbers of Chromebooks. During her keynote at Red, White & You, Lauren Miskelly, head of small and midmarket education sales at Google, told solution providers that Google Play for Education was a key component of the company's overall education strategy, which includes personalized learning solutions.
Specifically, Miskelly said Google's end-to-end solution for K-12 education includes three aspects for tools, devices and content: Google Apps for Education, Google Chromebooks, and now Google Play for Education.
Lester Keizer, CEO of Business Continuity Technologies, a Google Chromebook solution provider based in Las Vegas, said the addition of Google Play is important because it's another aspect of the Google education solution that solution providers can manage for education clients. In addition, he said providing the right educational content for K-12 clients is a major plus that creates stickier relationships.
"It's all about the content," Keizer said. "There's so much content out there and it's hard for teachers to pull it all together, and that's where we come in. We can pull it together and customize it for each individual classroom."
Four Android tablets currently are compatible with Google Play for Education: Google Nexus 7, ASUS Transformer Pad, HP Slate8 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Tab for Education. All four devices are available through Synnex.
PUBLISHED APRIL 17, 2014