Tech Data Launches Wireless Business Unit

wireless

The wireless SBU will provide sales, technical and product resources to VARs as they build wireless networks and Wi-Fi hotspots for business, medical and university campuses and municipalities. In addition to the networking hardware needed to build these networks, the SBU will sell applications designed to work over wireless networks.

The market is expected to grow to about $10 billion by 2010, according to Chuck Bartlett, vice president of networking for Tech Data, Clearwater, Fla. "Lots of partners we're working with say this is a market that's going to triple to quadruple over the next three years," he said.

With the creation of the wireless SBU, the distributor "saw an opportunity to not only continue our focus on wireless LAN but really take a step into the outdoor wireless market and provide a differentiated approach from what we see out in the market today," said Bartlett.

Vendors with products being sold by the SBU include: Cisco, D-Link, Linksys, Nortel, Sonic Wall and Proxim. "We'll offer a broad line card of products across the entire solution. It's one place where we believe with our size and scale we bring a unique offering to our business," said Bartlett. "Other divisions offer handhelds and notebooks and things for accessing networks Hopefully we can pull additional business to Tech Data."

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Tech Data will be targeting resellers that aren't in "NFL or MLB cities," he said, and will instead focus on smaller cities, towns and universities. "The big systems integrators and service providers are the ones going after the New Yorks and Chicagos. We see explosive growth at the small university level, at the school system level. Not the really small towns, but even medium-size towns in a lot of areas of the US."

Steve Robb, president of LaSalle Solutions, a solution provider based in Rosemont, Ill., said the wireless business unit is emblematic of the ways in which Tech Data is distinguishing itself from the competition by helping his company create solutions.

"What I've started to see Tech Data do as a company is that they've started to focus their attention on not only a product offering but specific solutions wrapped around these product offerings, these special business units. We had some starts and stops actually throughout the last couple of years with some of their other practices related to a specific manufacturer and then when they pulled it all together as part of a SBU practice, we've had great success," said Robb.

In the past, with business more distributed in different groups around the company, Robb said it was sometimes "very painful" to put together solutions with products from different companies and to keep track of warranties and renewal, but now his company is having more success with those sales, especially with hardware and contract sales of Hewlett Packard products.

"We're seeing a lot better communication between ourselves and in this case Tech Data," he said. "Having partners that are focusing their attention on the uniqueness of the expanded wireless world is going to be a good thing."

Robb also sources products from distributors Ingram Micro and Comstor, and said that he's seen more activity coming out of Tech Data than the others when it comes to organizing business around solutions.

"Not to say they're not good, but I've seen a clear focus on building these practices. I think it gives [Tech Data] a differentiator to their market," he said. "What I see happening in the distribution arena is the companies that can build more value to bring to us in the field are getting a higher percentage of our mind share and our revenue going towards them. I would tend to believe that as our projects start to mature and we see the opportunities in wireless continue to grow, that companies like Tech Data will gather more of our attention."