Behind The Scenes at Tech Data

ChannelWeb recently visited Tech Data's Clearwater, Fla., headquarters for a strategy update and was given a behind-the-scenes tour of how the distributor operates.

Here's Tech Data's sales floor. If you call a Tech Data sales rep, there's a good chance you'll get somebody here. During the middle of the day, this area is buzzing with activity taking in millions of dollars of orders. Plus there's candy. Score.

Jim Cooper is manager of Tech Data's TDOncall support team, which offers services staff augmentation, asset disposal, help desk support, replacement parts and managed services VARs can purchase and resell to end users. This area has grown significantly over the last couple of years.

With demand for highly skilled technicians at an all-time high, Tech Data has turned to the animal kingdom to find adequate help. Just kidding. Actually, this little guy -- common in Central Florida -- snuck his way into Tech Data's ground-floor lobby before being escorted out. At least it wasn't an alligator, which employees said occupied a nearby pond for a stretch last year.

One of the highlights of a Tech Data tour is a visit to the distributor's solutions center, where VARs can build solutions for a hands-on demonstration for customers. Here, John Moegling, a Microsoft senior systems engineer at Tech Data talks about the new Intel Modular Server, which has been popular with VARs, Moegling said.

Chris Dagney, a Nortel Networks systems engineer with Tech Data, shows off Nortel's CS1000 solution, which a solution provider just utilized to win an opportunity with the city of Dunedin, Fla. Dagney said Tech Data is in the process of "going green" in the solutions center, consolidating from 20 servers down to four so it can better teach resellers on how to sell similar solutions.

Tech Data has two portable virtualization solutions that it can ship to solution providers, who can in turn demonstrate the technology to customers. This one is based on a Hewlett-Packard platform, and there's another from IBM. The distributor expects demand for both of the units to increase this summer.

A couple of months ago, ChannelWeb profiled a case study with solution provider La Salle Solutions, which won a big deal with a national hotel chain to provide in-room entertainment solutions. The distributor fixed up a "hotel room" in the solutions center, complete with a bed and curtains to demonstrate how the solution would look in the customer's rooms. Here, the solution is still up and running. In-room pizza, anyone?

This empty room will soon feature a permanent Cisco Systems solutions showcase, featuring a multitude of products from that vendor. Cisco is the first vendor to be granted its own space in the solutions center. Cisco hired an outside design firm who will come in and dress up the room for visiting solution providers and customers.

David Bradley, manager of technical services, and Barb Miller, vice president of government, technical and integration services, stand with some of the products available for demonstration in the center. In all, solution providers have access to products from 35 infrastructure vendors and 135 vendors overall.