Distribution

Value-added distributor Avnet saw strong sales of storage, software and industry-standard servers during the second quarter of its fiscal 2012, driven by vertical solutions and customers looking to leverage IT to be better businesses.

Tech Data's StreamOne Solutions Store is a one-stop platform designed to help solution providers quickly sell, support and manage applications sales and cloud services sales. The distributor also promises a white label version of the offering due this summer as well as providing customers with a single bill for all services.

Technology distribution giant Ingram Micro will have a new captain at the helm starting on January 20 as CEO Greg Speirkel steps down.

New CEO Thomas Richards unveils aggressive plans to push into IT services.

The strengthening of certain foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar positively impacted year-over-year net sales.

Tech Data's accessTD, an app for iPhone, iPad and iTouch, was just one innovation unveiled at the distributor's TechSelect partner convention in Orlando. Tech Data also used the event to announce new and expanded initiatives for partners in cloud computing and mobility.

Companies are still investing in the data center, despite a weak economy, and that's good news for distributor Avnet and its partners. Revenue was up 3.9% for the first quarter of the company's fiscal 2012.

HP's channel sales grew in the most recent quarter, in spite of the uncertainty around the future path of the HP Personal Systems Group which includes the company's PC business. But that uncertainty will end soon, promised top executive and former Channel Chief Stephen DiFranco.

IT distributor Synnex is getting into the cloud computing space with CloudSolv, a portal designed to simplify and streamline IT solution providers' efforts to create, build and grow their cloud businesses.

At the Oracle Open World conference in San Francisco, distributor Avnet launched new sales tools for partners selling the Oracle Exadata Database Machine and other Oracle data center hardware and software.

Distributor Avnet's Data Center Lifecycle Services portfolio seeks to enable solution providers to make more data-center focused services sales.

D&H Distributing is offering new resources to help VARs target niche markets with high revenue potential, such as education, government and health care.

Value-added distributor Arrow ECS is launching a new partner-enablement program to help solution providers develop data center technology practices, beginning with a program focused on IBM's Congnos technology.

The Ingram Micro Health Care Partner Network will leverage the distributor's services network to bring together VARs working in the health care industry.

Distributor SED International will offer its channel partners a selection of Lenovo's desktop and notebook computers targeted at small and midsize businesses.