Intel's Kilroy: Internal Support For Channel Unprecedented

Intel

This is one of several areas where the vendor plans to invest in 2002, the Intel executives said during the Intel Solution Summit, a conference for the company's premier provider partners, held here. Other key agendas highlighted by the executives include better support for partners selling into government and education markets; a shift in the branding program designed to better highlight the role of systems integrators; and a heightened emphasis on vendor alliances that complement the Intel architecture.

The initiatives reflect an unprecedented support for the channel that reaches up into the highest executive ranks at Intel, said Tom Kilroy, Intel's vice president of sales and marketing and general manager of the Intel reseller channel operation.

"We're in a position like no time before internally," said Kilroy. "If you're not seeing a change, let us know."

Among its top agenda items for 2002, the company is evaluating how to encourage the development of more "white books," which is Intel's internal moniker for notebooks assembled by its systems integration channel, said Kilroy.

Initially, the company will look to larger systems builders that can handle the unique design issues associated with mobile systems, particularly those associated with weight, he said.

On the packaging side, the vendor is also building closer relationships with third-party component vendors that will be key to the development of more interchangeable notebook designs, said Jim Yasso, vice president of the Intel architecture group and general manager of the Reseller Products Group. "This is the same thing we did with servers," he said.

Today, approximately 39 percent of the desktop CPUs shipped by Intel are accounted for by the channel, according to Kilroy. Although 2001 was a "lousy year" for the industry, it was a great year for the channel, he said, because most solution providers have flexible, adaptable business models.

"I think we're going to blow out the numbers looking forward in the next four to five years when it comes to channels," said Kilroy.