Westcon's Fast Track Tour Rolls On

"It has to be in the thousands," said Pitcher, manager of training services at Westcon Group. He added about two dozen more to the total Tuesday, leading a Fast Track conference on network security for a New York crowd of customers.

Westcon Group's FastTrack training sessions predate Pitcher by at least a year. The Tarrytown, N.Y.-based distributor has held free educational sessions for solution providers for at least 10 years to ensure its customers are up to speed on the latest technologies and solutions. In addition to Fast Track classroom seminars, Westcon offers online Web Track classes, Tele Track teleconferences and informal Coffee Club gatherings.

"Our intention is to deliver the right tools to resellers, to understand what's out there in terms of different solution components," Pitcher said. "We're constantly looking for new products to bring to customers. We have new security products today that we've picked up in the last six months."

Pitcher travels the country providing the lessons,New York was about the ninth stop since December,which have changed greatly over the years.

"I remember doing a Nortel sales certification course that was a five-day course. Now that seems totally amazing," Pitcher said. "The reseller is the focus now, and the last two years we've done a lot in security with a mix of networking."

Attendees said the courses help them prepare solutions for customers.

"I've been coming to these FastTracks since 1994, I believe. They help us stay in tune with everything in security," said Joe Camarata, a Metuchen, N.J.-based account executive for computer and network services at Dallas-based BancTec

Solomon Greene, a co-partner at Innovative Solutions Group, Great Neck, N.Y., was attending his first FastTrack session and learned how to frame solutions for SMB customers, he said. "That's still an untapped market. [Westcon] helps you understand what technology can do for their businesses. They are looking for business solutions that are inexpensive and we can bring them back to [end users]," he said.