Tech Data In Sync With Wavelink
"It filled a gap in our line card," said Joe Serra, vice president of high-end networking and storage product management at Tech Data, Clearwater, Fla. "This makes it easy for us to give our solution providers a compelling case to sell more wireless."
The ability to manage wireless networks in a more cost-effective and efficient manner should also help solution providers close more wireless opportunities, Serra said.
Tech Data is the first broadline distributor to carry Wavelink's products, though they are sold through speciality distributors Avnet Hall-Mark, Nimax, ScanSource, TerraWave Solutions, WAV and Wincom Technologies.
"Resellers want to go to one place to order the hardware and software to manage that equipment," said Brennon Martin, marketing development manager at Kirkland, Wash.-based Wavelink. In addition, as wireless networks increasingly move from SOHOs and vertical markets to horizontal enterprises, having products available through a broadline distributor will help solution providers sell the technology, Martin said.
TekConnect, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based solution provider, has seen its wireless business with education customers increase from less than $1 million four years ago to $4 million today, said Thomas Grimes, national wireless practice manager. TekConnect has been using multiple suppliers but would prefer to go through a single distributor, Grimes said.
"I've had jobs where I had to pull the cable from one manufacturer, access points from a distributor, antennas from another manufacturer [and] software from another company. It's much more difficult than going through Tech Data."