Ingram Micro Gives Packaged Services, XSP Plan A Lift

The distributor is enhancing its packaged professional communication and xSP offerings to help solution providers boost their margins, said Jodi Honore, vice president and general manager of software and services at Ingram Micro.

On the xSP side, Ingram Micro added two partners: Data Systems Worldwide, Woodland Hills, Calif., which specializes in application development, infrastructure and managed hosting services, and OnSystems, Los Angeles, which focuses on secure peer-to-peer networking.

Following an eight-month pilot that included 38 service providers and xSP partners Exenet and NetLedger, Ingram Micro said the xSP program is ready for general use. The distributor also added managed services from McAfee and plans to add more xSP vendor partners within the next month.

"We really recognize how important the services business is," Honore said.

Denise Arboleda, vice president of sales at Compulink, said Ingram Micro's xSP program allows the New York-based solution provider to sell managed security services and small-business applications without having to invest in its own network operations center.

"We now have the advantage of getting into the market at a very early stage," Arboleda said.

Ingram Micro draws on its product management, marketing, sales and technical support divisions to back the xSP program. It also has a Technical Solution Help Desk, which offers dispatch services that solution providers can resell.

Packaged services make up Ingram Micro's largest services offering and include training and warranty services from Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer and Hewlett-Packard, Honore said.

A stronger professional services offering is still in development, but Ingram Micro plans to use its 400-member National Service Network (NSN) to serve that area, she said. The NSN is developing vendor-specific practice groups to offer high-end professional service delivery in areas such as networking and convergence.

Ingram Micro also is negotiating with carriers for its communication services offering, Honore said. More details will be announced soon, she added.