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On the premise that buyers are more likely to spend on something they can see and touch–even if it’s virtual–Tech Data is offering two mobile virtualization labs available to ship to resellers or their customer sites for demonstration purposes.

The labs are 25U racks configured with IBM and HP servers and storage running virtualization solutions from such vendors as VMware, Virtual Iron and Citrix. Tech Data created the labs so that VARs could take them to customer sites to show customers how virtualization can save time and money. A short video created by Tech Data is available to view here and will give you a good idea of the size of the lab.

The idea is to enable VARs to take the data center on the road for hands-on demonstrations of how server and desktop virtualization can save client time and money, according to Amy Belcher, director of product marketing for the Advanced Infrastructure Solutions division at Tech Data.

“We created this mobilization lab so VARs could take virtualization to SMBs,” Belcher tells Channel Insider. While Tech Data offers these kinds of virtualization labs at its headquarters in Clearwater, Fla., it’s not always an option for busy executives to make such a trip.

Tech Data already has an order for the mobile lab from a large reseller in the northeastern United States, Belcher says. To help VARs understand how they can use the mobile lab, Tech Data will offer further training to 35 to 40 partners at its AIS (Advanced Infrastructure Solutions) partner summit at the Clearwater headquarters July 17 and 18.