Ingram Micro Expands Data Center Solutions Portfolio, Announces Support for Cisco UCS

November 3, 2009

World's Top IT Distributor Sees Data Center and IT Infrastructure Solutions as a High Growth Category Expanding the Addressable Market For Channel Partners

SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding its value-added IT solutions portfolio, Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) today announced its ongoing global support of Cisco's data center strategy, which includes the recent launch of its Cisco UCS (Unified Computing System) portfolio.

The new Cisco UCS portfolio which consists of the B-series blade servers and C-series rack-mount servers, as well as, additional storage, networking and virtualization products are available to qualified Cisco channel partners worldwide from Ingram Micro. In support of the new technologies, Ingram Micro's technical support teams have begun a targeted education and enablement series tailored to its solution provider partners on Cisco's UCS Portfolio and the importance of the data center.

"Data center infrastructure is a sizable market opportunity for our channel partners now that the technologies extend from the enterprise all the way down to address the business needs of small-to-mid-sized businesses," says Ken Bast, Vice President, Vendor Management, Ingram Micro. "With the addition of Cisco's new UCS portfolio, Ingram Micro is expanding the addressable market for our channel partners and enabling them to build scalable, cost-effective data center solutions that fit the unique needs of their clients."

"When it comes to building and supporting the core IT infrastructure for a business, the size of the business is just one of the points channel partners take into consideration," says Bill Brooks, Director, Technical Support, Ingram Micro.

"Our channel partners' real business challenge and service opportunity is in finding the right technology to support the data their customers produce and consume, and ensure the right levels of security, manageability and flexibility are built into their clients' networks," continues Brooks. "Cisco's new UCS Portfolio gives channel partners access to a cohesive system that unites the core network infrastructure into a single, manageable solution, which in turn works to maximize network performance while reducing the total cost of ownership for any size business."

Within the U.S. and Canada, Cisco's new UCS portfolio will be supported by a dedicated team of highly-skilled data center personnel inside Ingram Micro's Cisco Business Units. Established earlier this year, the Ingram Micro Cisco Business Units are comprised of dedicated sales, marketing and technical staff to cater expressly to Cisco channel partners. Cisco's UCS portfolio will also be featured within the distributor's two U.S.-based Solution Centers. Live and online Cisco data center training and education seminars are available now to channel partners.

"Over the past several months, Ingram Micro has cross-trained and certified a growing number of Ingram Micro technical support and field sales engineers on Cisco data center solutions," says Holly Garcia, Senior Director, Ingram Micro's Cisco Business Unit. "Our team is readily available to help channel partners take advantage of these high growth opportunities."

For more information on Ingram Micro's Cisco Business Unit visit www.ingrammicro.com/cisco or call 800-456-8000 ext.7647.

About Ingram Micro

As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves approximately 150 countries and is the only global broad-based IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.

SOURCE Ingram Micro Inc.