Ingram Micro Files Suit Against i2 Technologies

The distributor has filed a lawsuit against i2 Technologies for allegedly failing to integrate solution provider Web storefronts into Ingram Micro's back office.

Previously, Ingram Micro partnered with pcOrder.com to develop storefronts, but the storefronts never worked properly and resulted in a $7.4 million lawsuit between the two companies. The lawsuit was settled confidentially in August 2001.

In the suit against i2, filed in the Supreme Court for the State of New York, Ingram Micro seeks restitution of the $2.3 million it paid i2.

"[i2's solution lacked at least three critical areas of functionality: order management, content management and discontinued SKU support," the suit alleges.

I2 has until Oct. 28 to respond to the lawsuit.

Each phase of the project met with delays, according to the suit.

i2 was forced to add additional software, which i2's own team had to learn to use, according to the distributor.

"I2's proposed hardware infrastructure would not support the application, the application did not meet necessary security requirements . . . [and testing revealed numerous fatal flaws preventing Ingram Micro's use of the software," the suit alleges.

The project was expected to take 28 weeks before being available to solution providers, but it was not ready almost a year later, according to the suit.

Ken Kaplan, president and owner of Kaplan Computer, told CRN that the Manchester, Conn.-based solution provider invested more than $100,000 to build a storefront through Ingram Micro that never worked.

"That's just money, not to mention the six months of our time," Kaplan said.

Kaplan Computers has little interest in opening a Web storefront now, Kaplan said.

"We've changed directions to become more services oriented. We had best year yet. Revenue is up 50 percent, profits are up an equal amount.

Ingram Micro and i2 executives declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The companies are attempting to settle the lawsuit, said an i2 spokeswoman, who noted that Ingram Micro's IM-Logistics division uses i2's supply chain software.

Ingram Micro still intends to develop a Web storefront solution for solution providers, according to the company.

"There is work to be done with our storefront offerings. We are committed to finding the right solution, rather than a hasty one," said Ingram Micro in a statement. "Our marketing team is carefully proceeding with an approach that combines the functionality of our previous customer-facing e-commerce Web sites to create a functional storefront to serve customer needs.

"Our goal is to offer complete connectivity with a number of the industry standard storefront solutions to ensure that customers can engage with other customers online as easily as they can offline."

The initiative is now under the direction of Bob Stegner, vice president of U.S. marketing and channel development, according to Ingram Micro.

"There is work to be done with our storefront offerings. We are committed to finding the right solution, rather than a hasty one," Ingram Micro said in a statement.