C&W targets the channel

Distributor Ingram Micro is expecting to sign up to 1000 resellers for Cable & Wireless telecoms products after a link-up between the two companies.

Distributor Ingram Micro is expecting to sign up to 1000 resellers for Cable & Wireless (C&W) telecoms products after a link-up between the two companies.

C&W will offer Ingram resellers wide area networks, dial-up communications, convergence, permanent internet access, and web hosting services which they can install for their customers. End users will be billed directly by C&W, with five per cent of customers' total monthly bills going direct to the reseller.

Ingram will operate on a commission basis for the telco, in return for access to its client base of more than 10,000 resellers. It will also provide resellers with training, sales and marketing support.

Meinie Oldersma, managing director of Ingram Micro UK, said: "Resellers are looking to widen the number of services they can offer customers without financing extensive training or worrying about hardware margins. With this deal, each business installation provides a reseller with regular monthly income, and they only need to leave the office once."

Alan Tyler, C&W European channel development director, said the announcement was just the first step in his company's decision to embrace the indirect market.

"C&W has classically been a direct-centric organisation, but this deal sees us move aggressively into the channel. We were wrongly positioned as an out-and-out telco. The future lies in data communications, and this deal marks our entry point into the UK," he explained.

The deal extends the relationship between telcos and the channel. Last month, reseller-funded purchasing group OCCgo and Vodafone linked up to sell air time, while Computer 2000 has joined forces with Energis to provide ebusiness software.

"These are schemes resellers really want and our take-up has been superb," said Bill Hill, OCCgo managing director. "100 per cent of founder members have adopted the services, and we will be expanding it to resellers outside the group soon."