Arrow, Avnet Play Matchmaker With VARs, ISVs Via New Initiatives

Arrow&'s Support Net division for IBM-focused solution providers has put in motion its new Smart Shuffle effort, which offers strategic planning sessions and demand-generation programs to iSeries VARs that work with ISVs, said Mike Nowlan, director of product marketing for Support Net.

Support Net also is paying $2,250 for the first 15 ISV-related value-added enhancements (VAEs) with IBM and an additional $1,500 for joint marketing in a new ISV relationship, according to Arrow.

“Our primary role is to take the manufacturer&'s vendor strategies and turn them into tangible programs that resellers can leverage in the marketplace. This is strategic to the iSeries brand, and given the brand sells so much through the channel, it&'s imperative we take it and make a success,” Nowlan said.

The aim of the initiative is to help return the iSeries to the applications-driven platform it was from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. “IBM has done some self inspection of [how] to invigorate the series,” Nowlan said. “They want to drive it into new accounts, to get back to the application focus.”

Support Net has relationships with about 30 ISVs on the iSeries platform and is expanding that core group as its solution providers also seek new applications, Nowlan said.

In most cases, he said, Arrow will not sell the ISVs&' applications, but instead will play matchmaker with VARs and hope the solutions lead to increased hardware sales.

Support Net&'s iSeries business has increased about 10 percent over the past year, and Nowlan believes more ISV focus will spur further growth.

Meanwhile, the Hewlett-Packard business unit of Avnet Partner Solutions (APS) Americas last week rolled out a program to help ISVs team with HP hardware VARs to better implement vertical solutions.

The program, unveiled at the distributor&'s HP partner conference in Phoenix, will help ISVs that team with Avnet and its HP VARs deploy solutions faster and, in turn, slash sales-cycle times, said Jim Custer, director of business development for the APS HP unit.

“We currently have eight active ISVs in the program, and we are looking to extend that to somewhere between 12 and 15 over the next six months,” Custer said.

The ISVs include software makers specializing in server consolidation, ERP, health care, business intelligence and manufacturing. Under the plan, APS is approaching the ISVs through HP to leverage the IT giant&'s current relationships, Custer said.

Steve Reese, vice president of solutions at Premier Systems, a Blue Bell, Pa.-based solution provider, said the new APS program will help his company extend its reach within its geography.

The program is part of APS&' Market Connection network, which provides HP solution providers with tools for expanding business opportunities. Under the program, APS teams VARs with ISVs in a given geography.

To participate, VARs must establish training programs for sales and technical support of the ISVs&' applications, as well as have executive sponsorship within the solution provider organization and assign a program manager for the ISV relationship. Also, solution providers must have an existing practice for specific vertical applications, Custer said.

“Part of the value that we are providing the ISV is that there is potential to expand their reach in the market by leveraging the installed base using our resellers [in specific verticals],” he said.

ISVs often are hardware-agnostic, and after they sell their applications, they leave it to the customer to select the hardware platform, Custer said. By teaming ISVs with HP hardware integrators, the software vendors can deploy their applications more rapidly, he said.

APS also wants to give solution providers in the program some degree of exclusivity, Custer added. Initially, APS plans to partner each ISV with only one solution provider for each of HP&'s 11 sales regions, he said.