Tech Data Teams With Advantech To Offer Repeatable Azure-Based IoT Solutions

Tech Data is expanding its Internet of Things offerings with a new slate of repeatable Microsoft Azure-based solutions, thanks to a new distribution agreement with Advantech.

The Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor announced the deal Wednesday, saying it will give resellers new business opportunities around Advantech's full portfolio of embedded and automation products and IoT solutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Michelle Curtis, Tech Data's director of IoT Solutions in North America, told CRN that the distributor is using the Advantech deal to provide channel partners with repeatable, end-to-end solutions preconfigured for Microsoft Azure and related Microsoft services, extending the capabilities of Tech Data's IoT solutions practice that started two years ago.

Curtis said Tech Data is pushing to provide channel partners more repeatable solutions for customers that gives them a base platform to provide advanced customization based on customers' needs.

"It gives partners an easy way to configure advanced solutions," she said, adding that it will also help them accelerate deployments with customers.

The Taipei-based IoT vendor's pre-configured solutions include Advantech Edge Intelligence Servers, which gives channel partners a "simple industrial solution" for building edge-to-cloud applications with integrated hardware, according to Tech Data. The distributor said its Tech Data IoT arm has already found success with the Advantech deal, allowing it to streamline a partner's services and optimize recurring revenue while utilizing the Advantech WIDE-PaaS solution, which includes IoT security and remote monitoring and management services, for a national car wash provider.

Curtis said Advantech's solutions can address everything from how data is collected and how sensors are leveraged to how that data is used for business insights.

"It's truly an end-to-end solution," she said.

With the Advantech deal, Tech Data's IoT solutions practice is going deeper into the industrial space, Curtis said. The practice also focuses on retail, hospital, public sector and logistics, among other verticals.

At the company's Tech Data Channel Link conference in Austin last month, the company said solution providers will need to be less broad technology-focused and become more specialized, which will allow them to hold a longer-term view and develop business based on long-term relationships rather than single deals.