Gateway Taps DLT Solutions In Channel Pact

Plans call for DLT Solutions to bring Gateway products into federal, state and local government accounts and some commercial accounts. The solution provider, based in Herndon, Va., will market Gateway desktops, notebooks, servers and services exclusively, the companies said.

Rick Marcotte, president and CEO of DLT, said his company has primarily focused on software, with partners such as Oracle and Autodesk, but was seeking a server component for its solutions. At the same time, Gateway was seeking a channel partner with broad reach in the government space. Marcotte also was looking for a vendor that would consider DLT, a $300 million company, as a major player.

"We're going to be a very relevant piece of their government strategy," Marcotte said. "My estimation was they were sincere in their moves to make it a channel-centric model." Specifically, Gateway is providing a deal registration and protection plan, which provided a level of comfort, he said.

"In the government sector, everything is public and everything gets poached," Marcotte said. "So their ability to protect us and register deals is important."

San Diego-based Gateway has been working to reshape identity after its 2004 acquisition of eMachines and a major executive overhaul that installed Wayne Inouye, eMachines' founder, as CEO of the combined companies. Gateway founder Ted Waitt retired earlier this year.

Tom Salmon, Gateway's director of federal sales, said in a statement that the DLT agreement is a "strategic win" and demonstrates that Gateway is serious in its bid to win government and enterprise accounts. "It is further proof of our ability to support federal customers across the enterprise," Salmon said.