Micro Warehouse Splits Off Public-Sector Business

The unit, based here and known as Micro Warehouse Gov/Ed, is aimed at growing the solution provider's presence in the federal government, according to executives.

Bill Shafley, former vice president of CDW-G, will serve as president and COO of Micro Warehouse Gov/Ed.

"We're hiring people right now," Shafley said, adding that some 30 field sales reps are already on board. He hopes to bring another 30 employees on board soon.

"We have to be able to offer both products and services," he said. "We are not the organization that is going to take over your help desk or write code for you. But if you need presales technical consultation or [consulting on enterprise solutions or storage or security, we can help."

Shafley said Micro Warehouse, whose headquarters is in Norwalk, Conn., has added 32 more IT vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, NEC Technologies and Xerox, to its GSA schedule, which solution providers must procure before they can sell into the federal government.

Previously, Micro Warehouse had nine vendors whose products it could sell to clients such as the State Department and the Air Force.

Finally, Micro Warehouse said it has won a one-year contract valued at about $4 million to supply schools and government entities in the state of Virginia with IT products.

Of Micro Warehouse's annual sales of $1.9 billion, approximately $440 million in 2001 were generated through engagements with public-sector clients.