Ingram Micro Invests in Computing Infrastructure

Grazed from Channelnomics. Author: Dave Courbanou.

It’s all about infrastructure. Whether it’s metal inside a skyscraper or ‘metal’ inside a data center, you can’t touch the clouds without it. But sometimes the channel is so caught up in the cloud that it can forget there’s a foundation of hardware behind those nebulous services.

Ingram Micro hasn’t forgotten, which is why it’s rolling out a brand new high-performance computing program, set to be exclusively delivered by the enterprise-focused community of channel partners.

In particular, Ingram Micro is looking to entice system builders and VARs to jump aboard. The program has been meticulously designed in partnership with PSSC Labs, a member of Ingram Micro’s System ArchiTECHs program. The new portfolio of computing solutions goes beyond servers, covering computing workstations, “supercomputing clusters” and high-end software installation services to go along with that high-end hardware…

To make these solutions as attractive as possible, Ingram has taken an active interest in their accessibility to the community. Resellers don’t have to worry about “added infrastructure, certifications and personnel” to sell and support these solutions, because the Artizen High Performance Computing systems are designed to be validated, pre-packaged turnkey solutions that allow almost any channel partner to understand, deploy and detect where super-charged computing solutions can be used. The Artizen portfolio is an Ingram Micro-exclusive solution set aimed at the enterprise, where Big Data crunching – or private (and hybrid) cloud computing needs – must be built or expanded. Each solution package comes equipped with additional partner services to help partners grow and uncover new opportunities inside this advanced computing space.

PSSC Labs worked closely with Ingram Micro to cultivate the partner program and develop the hardware packages so partners can be well equipped with a go-to-market solution that’s both cost-effective to deploy and margin-rich with services and hardware.

Unfortunately, Ingram has yet to launch a landing page for the nitty-gritty details on the Artizen computing line, but it has actively encouraged interested parties – like solution providers and large VARs – to check in with a company sales representative.

Although Ingram’s moves are hardly glamorous, they are needed. The influx of cloud computing will necessitate a growing base of specialized system builders and technicians that understand the “welding” of bare metal hardware. This helps facilitate a quality scaffolding for the cloud services to live on. What’s more, cloud and Big Data are quickly becoming complementary services. As enterprises seek to squeeze valuable information from the company infrastructure, more sophisticated hardware will be needed to make this a reality.

In short, it’s important not to underestimate the need for a solid foundation of hardware. And although a sudden surge in VARs specialization in infrastructure deployment isn’t likely, the slow and steady reliance on computing clusters will maintain the relevancy of system builders in the channel.