Ingram Micro to appoint 1,000 resellers

To tap the fast-growing Indian IT market, Ingram Micro India Limited, a subsidiary of Ingram Micro Inc has announced its plans to add 1,000 resellers to its existing base of 4,000 partners across the country. The company plans to roll out this channel initiative in phases and will complete the recruitment program by the end of FY 2003-04.

According to the company, the new set of channel partners will consist a mix of VARs, business partners and solutions providers. "Our aim is to reach every end-user in the country through the shortest way and the channel appointment initiative will be a move towards this direction," says NY Prasad, CEO, Ingram Micro India. 

According to him, this initiative will also help the company reach out to remote locations like Jammu. "We were the first IT company to reach Jammu through the ´Showcase 2003´ and plan to make many such inroads into deeper geographies through our channel recruitment program," adds
Prasad.

Ingram Micro also plans to roll out special programs for its SI partners. The company intends training the SIs to offer end-to-end integrated solutions, consisting of servers, work stations and power backup solutions. 

According to Prasad, the program would include creating awareness among resellers to move up the ladder to offer solutions instead of boxes, offer training, attractive incentives and hand-holding to help them achieve targets. The company plans to formally announce further details by the AMJ quarter. 

Sunila Paul

Bangalore