Synnex Looks To Import Technology From Asia

Penetrating the burgeoning Chinese market is the prime objective of Synnex's recent acquisition of HiChina Web Solutions, a provider of domain registration and Web site services, as well as the owner of more than tens of thousands of potential customers.

"HiChina is a well-respected organization and a pioneer in the e-commerce business in China," said Robert Huang, Synnex president and CEO, in a statement. "This acquisition provides Synnex with an effective e-commerce vehicle and a broad customer base to evolve our emerging supply chain services business in China."

HiChina and other strategic overseas investments and acquisitions are part of the third-largest distributor's (VARBusiness Top 25 Distributors) road map to add more capabilities and capacity that will eventually benefit North American solution providers.

In March, Synnex bought the Montreal-based Redmond Group of Companies, which gives it a consumer electronics distribution capacity. In February, it picked up Link2Support, a Philippines-based inbound call center that provides technical support for a broad base of technologies.

Huang says those acquisitions are part of a strategic initiative to diversify Synnex's service offerings and revenue streams. Others at the distributor also see how these companies will enhance existing manufacturing, distribution and support.

For instance, HiChina's content delivery and e-commerce technology and infrastructure could provide the foundation for services that solution providers can leverage, such as automated online product ordering, inventory tracking and self-service account management.

Through its relationship with MiTAC--its former parent company--Synnex has the ability to build, test and private-label custom systems for solution providers. Synnex has the manufacturing capabilities to build chassis and load software. MiTAC can customize the hardware design and stamp it with the solution provider's moniker.

If Synnex can use some of those capabilities for automated services, it could eventually make systems building easier and faster for individual solution providers that need product in small quantities.

"We want to completely eliminate the physical process of the system," says Douglas Bone, Synnex's vice president of enterprise products at the distributor's Systems Integration Division. "Anything that they [systems builders] need to do for the integration of a system, we want to do on their behalf."

At its Fremont, Calif., headquarters, Synnex has two manufacturing plants, one that's exclusively for servers and storage equipment. There, the company assembles the core hardware with validated components for both solution providers and vendors. Each box is tested before being packed for shipment. The facility can turn out 100 servers per shift, on the average, or 1,000 pieces of equipment per day.

Synnex also does mass customization for vendors and systems builders. The distributor is building "recipes" for building systems and testing different hardware and software combinations to identify interoperability conflicts before systems are put into production.

"It's an important service for us to provide customers--to make sure that everything works well," Bone says.

Synnex can fulfill much of its vision today, but working with the disty is more cost-effective for OEMs and large systems builders that deal in volume. Achieving greater automation through the technologies acquired from HiChina and Link2Support will help make it more advantageous and affordable for smaller solution providers to deal in custom systems, Bone says.