BenQ Sees Home As Future Of IT

That's the vision and strategy BenQ will follow as it rolls out new products and solution provider programs throughout the next year in the United States, said K.Y. Lee, CEO of BenQ here at Computex, one of Taiwan's largest technology shows.

In keeping with that strategy, BenQ is in talks with Tech Data about forming a partnership to work with solution providers in the home networking space.

"In the home market, there are huge opportunities for technology to improve our productivity or personal-life quality," Lee said. "Initially, IT was for work; now it's for play. This working and playing are the two major themes of BenQ's strategy--to provide solutions for both of these worlds. We believe this technology can be based on the one source that BenQ wants to deliver to the market, and we see personal digital devices as the driving force for IT."

BenQ has launched several new notebooks, LCD displays, wireless televisions and mobile phones in Asia and Europe since the spring and has highlighted many of them at this week's show. The manufacturer will feature many of those products in January 2004 at CES, a consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, and then will release those offerings to the U.S. market, Lee said.

Meanwhile, BenQ hopes to become part of Tech Data's new home-networking business unit, which is expected to debut by year's end, said sources close to the deal. That unit will feature training, marketing and other programs to help solution providers tap emerging home opportunities. Over the past year, Tech Data executives have attended several home electronics trade shows to search for the right vendors and product mix for the program.

Elio Levy, senior vice president of marketing at Tech Data, recently told CRN that the distributor would focus on IP-based products but has yet to choose its line card. Tech Data and BenQ executives could not be reached for immediate comment.

Lee did not comment on the deal but did say that solution providers would play an important role in selling and integrating BenQ products, which are popular in Asia but relatively unknown to U.S. consumers, into the home environment.

"Solution providers have a great opportunity to expand their business scope to the home environment, providing it with Internet, networking, wireless and multimedia solutions," Lee said. "And they can apply the multimedia applications to the business users. I think it's a very good opportunity for the systems integrator to work with BenQ to become our loyal partners to develop this market in both the business and home areas."