Ingram Kicks Off GovEd Alliance With Promise of New Services

"Ingram will bid [large state and local government] contracts direct, then drive the revenue to [our customers]," with members of the GovEd Alliance program acting as the sales and services team that works the opportunity, said Bob Laclede, president and general manager of Ingram Micro's government and education sales, during a morning session. "We know this will be controversial with some [that ask], 'If Ingram bids, why wouldn't they go direct?' We'd never do that. We will hold contracts to help [customers] fulfill through that contract."

In addition, the distributor will drive usage of its GovEd Alliance Partner Locator -- a portal that helps public-sector VARs share certifications and contract information. By fleshing out the information maintained in that portal, Ingram will be able to filter opportunities from manufacturers to solution providers that possess required skill sets.

Ingram hopes these initiatives will continue a trend of growth. In the third quarter of this year, Ingram Micro grew an average of 15 percent in all segments of its GovEd Alliance program, which includes federal, state and local government and education, as well as nonprofits and the college campus community.

More specifically, federal business grew 19 percent in the first three quarters of 2006 compared to the previous year, with noticeable pickup in CPU sales and server consolidation solutions, compared to a slight slowdown in networking technology. Security continues to be a hot area of business, and sexier technologies like biometrics and RFID are gaining momentum.

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In addition, state and local government business ended a streak of hard times, growing 13 percent in the first three quarters, driven primarily by homeland security and mobility solutions by local agencies, as well as growing adoption of VoIP. Higher education business grew 11 percent, compared to 12 percent for the K-12 market.

"Higher education is in a bit of a stall, waiting to figure out the next hot application," Laclede said. "There's also a decline in margin because of campus-wide software agreements."

In contrast, K-12 is finally implementing some more advanced applications that encourage collaboration. "The classroom of the future is [emerging in] the K-12 world, and students are responding," Laclede said.

In addition to government and education, health care grew a whopping 81 percent in the first few quarters, driven by pressure to reduce administrative costs and implement wireless and networking solutions for improved productivity.