IM Ingram Micro Inc. (delisted)

New Business Unit and SMARTnet Solution Team Enable Channel Partners to Easily Manage and Grow Their Cisco Business SANTA ANA, Calif., March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating 10 years as a premier Cisco value-added distribution partner, Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM) today announced a new business unit dedicated to further enabling the success of channel partners who team with networking powerhouse Cisco. http://www.cisco.com/ Simultaneously, the distributor announced the Ingram Micro Cisco SMARTnet Solution Team, which is designed to make it easy for channel partners to manage and grow their Cisco services and SMARTnet business. Led by Holly Garcia, senior director, vendor management, the new Ingram Micro Cisco Business Unit offers Cisco channel partners in the U.S. access to dedicated resources across all areas of the business including sales, vendor management, marketing, credit and technical support. Focused on partner enablement, the highly trained team of Ingram Micro Cisco experts delivers the industry's best and most comprehensive training, education, field sales and engineering support across all Cisco technologies, including unified communications/collaboration and wireless, as well as traditional network infrastructure and security solutions. The new business unit also offers channel partners a number of specialized services and proven enablement tools including the Ingram Micro Configuration Support Center, Solution Center and new SMARTnet Solution Team. The new SMARTnet Solution Team helps minimize operational costs and simplifies the quoting process and ongoing management of SMARTnet renewals. According to Garcia, the combination of Ingram Micro's new Cisco Business Unit and SMARTnet Solution Team will "enable both new and existing Cisco channel partners to more easily establish a services practice and grow their Cisco business without making significant investment in back-office infrastructure and training." Strategic Allied Technologies, a fast growing solution provider headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., offers a great example. "Working with Ingram Micro takes all the pain out of the backend of our operations, which is very valuable and saves us a lot of time and expense," says Strategic's president, Bill Valentz, who credits the Ingram Micro Cisco team with helping double his SMARTnet business year-over-year. "Ingram Micro's Configuration Support Center has enabled us to compete against virtually anyone and provide exceptional service to our enterprise and public sector clients." Ingram Micro partner CRT Group Inc., a seasoned IT service provider based in Manalapan, N.J., has been selling Cisco SMARTnet for more than 12 years and also sees tremendous value in the personalized service and back-office support it has received from Ingram Micro and Cisco over the past 15 years. "We rely heavily on the Ingram Micro Cisco team to manage our SMARTnet database and assist us in forecasting for renewals and modifications," says Anthony Siriani, president of CRT Group Inc. "With Ingram Micro as a part of our team, we've successfully grown our SMARTnet business by 30 percent annually and have been able to keep the focus internally on helping our corporate clients use IT to achieve their business goals. It is great to know that whenever we need help, the Ingram Micro Cisco sales team is just a phone call or email away." "Ingram Micro is a valued Cisco distribution partner with a proven track record for enabling small and mid-size channel partners to successfully sell more Cisco technologies," says Julie Hens, vice president, channels, Cisco. "Ingram Micro's new Cisco Business Unit and SMARTnet Solutions Team are working together to build upon our mutual success and provide our channel partners with more resources and support across an even wider array of Cisco technologies." For more information on Ingram Micro's New Cisco Business Unit or how to utilize the new SMARTnet Solution Team, solution providers should contact the Ingram Micro Cisco Team at (800) 456-8000 ext. 76471. 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 150 countries and is the only broad-based global IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit http://www.ingrammicro.com/ . DATASOURCE: Ingram Micro CONTACT: Marie Meoli of WhiteFox Marketing & Communications, +1-714-680-0335, , for Ingram Micro Web Site: http://www.ingrammicro.com/

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