Synnex Intros New Channel Partner Community Emphasizing Security, Networking And Communications

Synnex on Tuesday unveiled the formation of a new solution provider community dedicated to helping channel partners keep up-to-date on security, networking, and communications issues.

The new Advanced Technology Solutions Community will eventually become centered around Fremont, Calif.-based Synnex's Varnex group of solution providers, said Reyna Thompson, vice president of product management, security, networking, and unified communications and collaboration.

The Advanced Technology Solutions Community is a technical community helping partners expand their footprint in security, networking, and communications by taking advantage of the impact these areas receive from cloud and services, Thompson (pictured) told CRN.

[Related: Synnex's Varnex Community Evolving To Meet New Digital Economy, Other Customer Initiatives]

Partners joining the new community will find it a valuable way to understand multi-technology solutions that will help their clients, Thompson said. "Partners are looking to expand their solutions, but having the vendor support, the capital, and the experience has been a barrier," she said. "So we are looking to help them cross the barrier."

The new community had its first meeting this month, Thompson said. It plans to offer about four meetings per year, each with a different focus. During those meetings and at other times throughout the year, the community will offer activities such as training classes, technical assessments, vendor-provided interactive playbooks and support, she said.

The Advanced Technology Solutions Community already has about 100 partners who have signed up to join, and is currently open to anyone who wishes to participate, Thompson said. Eventually, she said, there will probably be a limit on the number of partners who can participate due to the bandwidth Synnex needs to provide pre-sales support for the subject matter.

While being part of the Varnex community is currently not a requirement, that will likely change, Thompson said.

"In the future, it will roll out through Varnex," she said. "We expect to formally roll it out during the Varnex Fall conference. But non-Varnex members will be grandfathered in."

It is a community that will prove valuable to many in the channel, said Greg Tinker, president and managing partner at SereneIT, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based solution provider and Synnex partner specializing in security and automation who took part in the initial meeting.

"It's crazy difficult to keep up with the latest hacking and security issues," Tinker told CRN. "It's a constant evolution. You have to staff up. It's expensive."

The new Advanced Technology Solutions Community, on the other hand, brings the latest trends to partners who might not get the attention they need from their vendor partners, Tinker said.

"It was nice to see Synnex bring the information we needed," he said. "When you go to a big conference with 5,000 people, it can be OK, but it's grandiose. But I like venues where people come who may not know everything, but they can provide the latest information on the specific topics we're interested in."

At the inaugural meeting, Synnex brought partners together with vendors who had the opportunity to present to a targeted audience, Tinker said.

"Synnex helped us get the bleeding edge information," he said. "They were keeping us up on current trends, but in an intimate setting. We could have more of a one-on-one dialogue. And I got to sit with my like-minded peers. We build friendships and trust, and can discuss things in the industry that happened in just the last month or two."