Intel To Beef Up 'Intel Inside'

Intel expects to have about 5,000 channel partners,double the current number,involved in the Intel Inside program by year's end, said Carol Barrett, director of the Intel Inside Program.

Under the program, solution providers who obtain Intel products through authorized channels accrue credits that can be used for their own marketing programs. In addition to local print advertising, the program will enable solution providers to advertise on billboards, buses and the Web, according to Intel.

Barrett said Intel is seeking to help channel partners construct more focused marketing campaigns,specifically targeting small business.

"Small business is the largest segment of the overall market," Barrett said, calling it "the backbone" of high-growth, emerging markets.

Ray Peltzman, owner of Memory Plus, a Westborough, Mass.-based solution provider, said he has not joined the Intel Inside program to date,but with Intel's gradual expansion and increased focus on the channel, "eventually I might."

Peltzman, whose company serves primarily small and midsize businesses, said sales in those segments have been steady.

Intel has made an increased effort to assist his company and maintain direct contact, even though he acquires Intel products through distributors including Tech Data, RLM Group and D&H Distributing, Peltzman said.

"[Intel has been keeping tabs on us," he said. "They call on a regular basis. They share information readily."

The solution provider channel accounts for about one-third of Intel's annual sales of more than $26 billion.