Avnet ups virtualisation game with Lanamark

Partnership will flip traditional channel sales model on its head, pledges distributor

Avnet’s software division is delving deeper into the virtualisation space after signing a pioneering deal with software vendor Lanamark.

The distributor claims the deal will flip the traditional channel sales model on its head and change the way resellers offer virtualisation to their customers.

Mickey Bharat, EMEA product business group director at Avnet Technology Solutions, said: “What vendors want is the channel generating opportunity for them rather than the other way round -­ this deal will see us own-brand Lanamark’s procurement tool for resellers to use through Avnet’s portal to generate new opportunities. We are, in essence, creating the vendor a new market.

“This is the start of our virtualisation strategy. We have to come up with something that is different to go to market that will benefit both vendors and resellers.

Bharat added: “Everything that we bring into the business is vendor and per-
formance agnostic, and enables a single partner to offer end users the ability to collect information that they need, without having to engage with several resellers at once.”

Sukh Rayat, EMEA vice president of sales at Avnet, said: “Lanamark’s offering allows us to lay out the different options available to end users and enables partners to add value to their customers by providing them with the choice across many platforms in multiple applications.”

Mark Angelo, chief executive of Lanamark, said Avnet has brought it focus.

“The reason we partnered with Avnet is because it invests in its software practice and can help us reach a worldwide market,” he said. “We can help resellers reduce the sales cycle and deliver end-to-end virtualisation to their customers."