Ingram Micro is piloting a free reseller training facility aimed at increasing technical and product knowledge. Known as Orbital, the training centre has already attracted major vendors - including Symantec, IBM, Microsoft, HP, D-Link, CA and Adobe - to sponsor training programs.
Project manager, Rob McPherson, said the idea came from a survey the distributor conducted during the past 12 months.
"Vendors are invited to put forward expertise. They can use Orbital to investigate, redesign and deliver training tools," he said. "Ingram wants to be identified as more than just a distribution company - it wants to be a facilitator, coordinator and developer of knowledge within the channel."
The sales, product and technical training sessions will be designed in collaboration with vendors and resellers. Orbital will also offer business enhancement training for smaller resellers to help them boost their performance.
"It's a melting pot of channel ideas and energies. Existing vendor training programs are not going to be replaced or superseded in anyway," he said. "We can evaluate it based on feedback and will continue to evolve the training sessions."
