Ingram Launches Services Offerings

Ingram Micro is expanding its services business with offerings around remote support, network security and compliance management through its Seismic portfolio. The company also secured an agreement with a virtualization specialist to provide assessment and delivery services.

Solution providers and MSPs can add any of the services a la carte to combine with a current offering or use them as a foundation to enter managed services, said Justin Crotty, vice president of Ingram Micro's services division.

"The value proposition is if they want to provide a full MSP portfolio, Seismic can be their MSP play," Crotty said. "Or if they already have MSP capabilities and want to plug gaps, we can do that. It's platform independent."

The remote support offering is powered by LogMeIn and allows VARs to deliver on-demand support remotely, Crotty said. "It's more service to the customer. It allows you to be more of a resource and drive more profitability and efficiency," Crotty said.

The network security offering is powered by Alert Logic and includes intrusion detection and vulnerability management in a single, integrated solution. "It's our first offering in the security space and gives VARs a good application and tool for their MSP strategy," Crotty said.

The compliance solution, Seismic Log Manager, also is powered by Alert Logic and manages data to help comply with policies such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA and GLBA, which mandate that log data be collected, reviewed and securely archived.

Like other Seismic offerings, users can customize the offering to market them under their own brand, Crotty said.

"We feel we have the most robust portfolio in the business. We're always looking for new capabilities, new offerings. If we find there's a gap, we'll figure out how to deliver it," Crotty said.

Ingram Micro chose one of its own Ingram Micro Service Network (IMSN), Longview Systems, to provide virtualization assessments and delivery services. The initiative will help VARs not selling virtualization solutions now without having to make an investment, Crotty said.

"If I'm a VAR without a virtualization practice, do I not participate? No, but do I invest vs. a partnering scenario. That's true in any technology. What's core to my business and what can I use partners to deliver? This is a high-quality, high capability offering for anything from SMB to the enterprise. You can also use it to augment what you have on staff," Crotty said.

The virtualization offering through Longview will be available through IMSN and supported by the distributor's new Infrastructure Technology Solutions division, Crotty said. Rates will be akin to what IMSN members charge for other services, a discounted rate to allow solution providers to provide virtualization at a competitive price, Crotty said.

By 2011, more than 20 percent of new servers will be virtualized, representing a market opportunity of almost $22 billion annually, according to IDC.

"Guys are going out and selling the technology solution, now they can offer formal virtualization capabilities, services to be bundled and packaged with it," Crotty said.

In the future, Ingram Micro is now exploring services initiatives around managed voice services, as well as hosted CRM and Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint offerings, Crotty said.

"Our roadmap includes those things and a couple additional things," he said. "We're looking at disaster recovery."