Arrow Aligns With IBM For A Piece Of The Midmarket

Arrow's Enterprise Computing Solutions division launched a midmarket initiative this month that offers its solution provider customers product sets in the security, storage and computing spaces in conjunction with IBM.

The solutions will leverage software relationships Arrow ECS gained through its acquisition of Alternative Technology, namely Citrix and VMware products, to enable its reseller partners to target midmarket accounts across a variety of vertical markets with products tailored to midmarket customers' needs. Solutions will also be based around Oracle and Symantec products.

Melville, N.Y.-based Arrow will offer online marketing, financing, engineering and presales support programs. Partners who purchase solutions through Alternative Technology will have access to security assessments, on-site engineering and call support.

The midmarket group's focus on security, storage and computing, which includes virtualization, comes from months of research into what midmarket companies need, said Arrow ECS president Kevin Gilroy.

"We have made these very large investments in understanding this space," Gilroy said. "It's a very different go-to-market model than the enterprise space or the traditional value-distributional space. It's not a share of wallet go-to-market. It's a transactional model. It's one of the reasons I think it's been difficult for major manufacturers, distributors and VARs to tackle it."

The programs educate VARs on how to scale solutions across midmarket segments, how to reach midmarket customers, and how to change their business models to be more successful in the midmarket, said Mark Taylor, vice president of Arrow ECS' midmarket group.

"A lot of our enterprise customers are trying to direct investment into the midmarket and then a lot of our partners who primarily sell into the midmarket are obviously trying to increase their businesses," Taylor said.

To help drive midmarket sales, Arrow has teamed up with IBM and most of the solutions in the midmarket portfolio that run on IBM hardware.

"IBM is one of the foundational players of our midmarket initiative, at least in phase one. We've been working together with IBM for about six to nine months ...," Gilroy said. The Arrow program reflects what IBM has been seeing in the market. "The midmarket is interesting. They buy solutions. They want value for their money. They don't want a solution that was designed for General Motors, and we dumb it down to fit into their space," said Harris Warsaw, vice president for SMB, Americas, IBM, Armonk, N.Y.

Arrow's targeted approach, creating bundles around security, storage and computing, will help both companies penetrate the midmarket. "Arrow gives us a solutions focus that I think right now is very mature, and I think their network of solution providers and their loyalty, dedication and investment is something I haven't seen, quite frankly, from some of the others," Warsaw said.

For Vince DeRose, president of PEAK Resources, Denver, Arrow's midmarket initiative is a step in the right direction. Anybody who is a solution provider is seeing a lot of excitement and talk going on around selling to the midmarket, he said. "What we're seeing from Arrow, however, is great in that they've really put together a focused list of solutions that they've done some pretty extensive research on ...," he said.

"We think it's going to help our business," DeRose added.