Tech Data Unveils New Group To Capitalize On Being Only Distributor Carrying Dell, EMC And VMware

Tech Data has brought its Dell, EMC and VMware businesses together and hired a longtime VMware and EMC leader to spearhead the practice.

Sid Earley, vice president of Tech Data's brand new Dell Solutions Group, told CRN that a top priority of the Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor is training partners that carry two of the three vendors on "the third leg of the tripod," so they can offer complete, end-to-end solutions after the closing of Dell’s proposed acquisition of VMware parent EMC.

Ingram Micro and Synnex helped Dell grow the amount of sales going through distribution by more than 50 percent in 2015, and Arrow and Avnet have been longtime EMC partners. But Tech Data is the only distributor working with Dell, EMC and VMware.

[Related: Ingram Micro SVP: We'd be 'Thrilled' If Dell Allows Us to Carry EMC Again]

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

’We have a window here,’ Earley said Thursday during Tech Data’s TechSelect Spring Partner Conference in Tucson, Ariz. ’[Dell and EMC] are going to be the significant player in the marketplace, and we’re well-positioned right now to take advantage of it.’

Earley joined Tech Data last month after spending six years as VMware’s director of global partner solutions and seven years at EMC that culminated in being a divisional practice manager. Dell, EMC and VMware were previously part of three separate teams within Tech Data’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) division. Earley’s hire coincided with bringing all three groups together.

’When you look at the marketplace, the Dell-EMC combination is going to be one of the greatest and largest forces,’ Earley said. ’It’s what brought me to [Tech Data].’

Earley anticipates that Tech Data will offer a portfolio of comprehensive offerings that incorporate technology from Dell, EMC and VMware, putting solution providers in a position where they can pick and choose the bundles that make the most sense for their business.

’This puts us in a unique position to offer an end-to-end solution across all three of those vendors,’ Earley said.

The availability of the offerings is expected to align with the closing of the acquisition, though Tech Data hasn’t figured out the bundle specifics yet as it’s still unclear what the product rationalization will look like between Dell and EMC.

Earley found that a significant number of TechSelect attendees already carry Dell, EMC and VMware, and an even larger group carries two of those three vendors today. However, some channel partners source their Dell purchases directly from the vendor and use Tech Data only to procure EMC and VMware products, Earley said.

’Our partners are excited that Tech Data is the only distributor in a position to do that [support Dell, EMC and VMware],’ Earley said. ’Every single one of them is excited about the opportunity.’

Other distributors, however, are also interested in offering the complete Dell-EMC product suite once the acquisition closes.

’I would hope that, like the other enterprise products Dell has, that we would be able to represent those [EMC products] too,’ Synnex CEO Kevin Murai told CRN in January.

Ingram Micro carried EMC products for more than a decade before being dropped by the vendor in January 2015. Kirk Robinson, Ingram’s senior vice president of commercial markets and global accounts, told CRN in November that he hopes Dell’s proposed acquisition will enable the distributor to rekindle its relationship with the storage giant.

’We’ve made very clear our desire to resell EMC to the Dell executives,’ Robinson said. ’We'd be thrilled to have the opportunity to bring EMC back on the line card."

Halski Systems, Gainesville, Ga., sources its VMware business and nearly half of its $7 million of annual sales through Tech Data, according to Eric Sharpe, director of marketing.

Although Halski will likely continue purchasing $1 million of hardware each year directly from Dell, Sharpe said Halski hopes to leverage Tech Data to get into additional areas of the VMware business such as providing the AirWatch enterprise mobility management offering to school systems and health-care organizations.

’Tech Data really has their ear to the ground,’ Sharpe said. ’They’re the left or right arm of any business in the technology field.’