Bell Micro Names New Head Of North American Distribution

Kostalnick previously served as senior vice president for Bell Micro's Technology Solutions Group, and he replaces Jerry Kagele, who left earlier this month to pursue other opportunities, according to the company.

Kostalnick will report to Graeme Watt, president of worldwide distribution for Bell Microproducts, and will be responsible for all sales and marketing business units for North America, as well as continuing his leadership role within the Technology Solutions Group.

Kostalnick hopes to help Bell Micro regain momentum in North America. The San Jose, Calif.-based distributor reported a 23 percent decline in fourth-quarter sales in North America and has been delisted by Nasdaq while it completes an audit of previous years' financial results.

"Overall, we've had a great growth trajectory for the last 11 or 12 years. We want to get back on track with that," Kostalnick said. "From a vision perspective, the goal is to grow our market share, every quarter, and the breadth of customers. The only way to do that is with the highest level of service to our customers."

Bell Micro intends to target more solution providers selling midrange and enterprise solutions, particularly around key vertical markets such as surveillance and health care, Kostalnick said.

"Our target enterprise VAR is in that $5 million to $50 million in revenue range. Our estimates are there are 3,000 to 5,000 that fit that category. Today, we're engaged with 900. There's opportunity for great expansion there," Kostalnick said.

Bell Microproducts also is looking to bolster its line card on the technology side, such as its recent moves in the 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) side, including Blade Network Technologies, Chelsio Communications, Fujitsu, NetXen and SMC Networks.