MOCA Set To Launch Engineer Exchange Pilot

The distributor currently is recruiting partners to serve in a pilot program for the network, referred to as Engineer Exchange, which is slated to begin in the next 30 days. Once the pilot is completed, MOCA, the Sun Microsystems-focused division of Arrow, will roll the program out to all of its partners.

Under the program, solution providers will use a Web-based tool, which also should be completed in the next 30 days, to list their engineers& expertise for use by other companies, as well as to find other engineers to help with their own projects, said Jeff Lampe, director of marketing at MOCA, El Segundo, Calif.

“The future of the [IT] industry will be about collaboration and leveraging resources. We want to give MOCA partners opportunities to partner for success and give them the ability to capture revenue maybe today they are not able to realize,” he said.

MOCA is finalizing details of the program, but it expects that solution providers can set their own hourly rates for technicians. MOCA plans to take about a 10 percent fee and will charge $11 per work order for administrative and insurance costs, the company said.

The program is similar to Ingram Micro&s successful Ingram Micro Service Network, but MOCA&s Engineer Exchange is solely focused on enterprise opportunities that require high-end skills for projects that could last several months. MOCA expected to sign several solution providers for the program at its Net@Work conference last week in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

“This is an awesome idea. I have engineers sometimes sitting on the bench. We have expertise in disaster recovery. If I can find a partner to keep them going, that is great,” said Brent Hartsfield, president of External Technologies.

The McKinney, Texas-based software solution provider, foresees offering work to other partners, too. “We have Sun [hardware] opportunities all the time. We don&t have that technical ability,” he said.

External Technologies has tried to partner with other VARs before without success. Hartsfield feels MOCA can serve as a conduit for successful ventures.

Initially, VARs whose engineers are utilized will get paid when the work order is finished. However, because some projects could be lengthy, MOCA expects to have alternative financing options, such as leasing, so the reseller providing the technician can get paid along the way, the company said.

Once the pilot program is completed, MOCA plans to open up Engineer Exchange to its entire membership with later plans of making the participating companies& engineers available to Arrow&s SBM and Support Net divisions, Lampe said. He said a later goal is to allow SBM and Support Net solution providers to rent out their engineers to any reseller, even those not doing business with Arrow.