2006 VARs of the Year

Rhett Daniel talks softly, but his message comes through loud and clear: "With IBM at our side, we're unstoppable." The president of Daniel IT Services has been familiar with Big Blue for some time now, but only in the past several years has he leveraged the vendor's full complement of resources and evolved into a full-blown, give-and-take ally.

In 2001, when Daniel IT was a fledgling 1-year-old VAR, the company's annual revenue was a mere $92,000. The projection for 2006 is $2 million. That might still sound like small potatoes considering the vast smorgasbord of VARs out there, but with such an impressive growth record--more than 2,000 percent over five years--Daniel IT has certainly earned bragging rights.

The solution provider, which specializes in IBM's WebSphere Commerce offering, relies on IBM PartnerWorld for training, certification and support. In turn, IBM relies on Daniel IT, which writes and teaches software courses for WebSphere Commerce. The Athens, Ala.-based solution provider also co-authored Big Blue's redbook on migrating from version 5.1 of the application to version 5.6.

"Our practical implementation experience with WebSphere Commerce provides great benefits to the students," Daniel says. "We teach from real-world experience, not just out of the book. And we should know the book pretty well."

IBM's solutions comprise about 85 percent of Daniel IT's total revenue, and the partnership has allowed Daniel IT to penetrate high-profile accounts--Panasonic and Coca-Cola, for instance--that otherwise would have been inaccessible to a small-town VAR.

"At first, we were focused on the technical, or 'enablement,' benefits that IBM could provide us. They want their VARs to be as self-sufficient as possible," Daniel says. "But then we started exploring the sales and marketing aspects of a partnership."

Now Daniel IT is taking on the government space--and taking advantage of IBM PartnerWorld Industry Networks Public Sector Edge to market its solutions.

"We've been working with the State of Oregon E-Government Program, providing e-commerce expertise and applications that help the state provide Web-based services to residents and businesses," Daniel says. "IBM is giving us guidance so we can position our solution, GovernmentDirect, and go after the other 49 states."

--Michele Pepe

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