Ingram To Carry HP BCS Products

The products will be available through Ingram Micro's HP ESSN Business Unit inside the distributor's Advanced Computing Division. The unit consists of more than 60 HP-dedicated field, sales, market development and financing associates, according to Ingram Micro.

Ingram Micro is actively recruiting VARs interested in being trained and certified on HP BCS and HP IT Performance Suite because the explosive growth of data has opened up new revenue opportunities for channel partners who specialize in data center solutions and services, according to Scott Zahl, vice president and general manager, Ingram Micro Advanced Computing Division, U.S.

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"Ingram Micro continues to grow and invest in the advanced solutions, services and support our channel partners need to effectively compete and win in the commercial and enterprise markets. Earning this dual HP authorization is a strong testimony to Ingram Micro's expanding role as a value-added distributor and demonstrates our proven ability to support the data center business," Zahl said in a statement.

Ingram's Advanced Computing Division also is working with HP to offer pre-integrated, tested and supported converged systems including HP AppSystems, VirtualSystem and CloudSystem solutions that have been optimized for mission-critical computing, cloud, virtualization, business insight and collaboration, according to Ingram Micro.

At least one current HP BCS solution provider is happy that Ingram is now qualified to carry the lines.

Steve McConnell, vice president of Par 4 Technology Group, a Wakefield, Mass.-based solution provider, said he'd like to ask HP what took them so long to authorize Ingram Micro.

"They do a great job with all their other lines, why not this one too? Now they have the whole market of HP," McConnell said.

Par 4 already carries the BCS products, sourced through another distributor but will likely look to source them now through its primary distributor Ingram, McConnell said. HP didn't offer much detail on why it chose Ingram Micro to distribute BCS, which is also carried through Avnet, Arrow Electronics and Synnex, but Tom Cahill, director of distribution channel sales at HP, said in a statement that Ingram is well positioned to drive incremental sales for HP and expand its mission-critical and converged system offerings.

"As enterprises modernize their IT environments, big data and cloud computing presents big opportunities and challenges, particularly for mission-critical workloads," Cahill said in a statement.