Ingram gets Creative

Ingram Micro has tuned in a new distribution deal with digital entertainment vendor, Creative Labs.

Ingram consumer home and office solutions (CHOS) business manager, Jacqueline Bergin, said it had been in discussions with Creative for a number of months to bring its digital hardware product range into the CHOS division. Ingram has a standing partnership with Creative in the US.

"As a part of the CHOS strategy, we're looking for new vendors," she said. "Their MP3 players, sound cards, Web cams and speakers complement the CHOS strategy."

Target markets include SMB, OEM and AV consumers, Bergin said. The distributor would be signing up more vendors in the next month to evolve the CHOS offering, she added.

Ingram's CHOS division was launched in February. Last month the business unit signed an agreement with Canon.

Ingram will sit alongside Altech Computers, Achieva Technology and Multimedia Technology. Creative Labs country manager, Bernard Koh, said both companies saw synergies with the other.

"We both have similar goals, so this is a good pairing up," he said. "We're happy with the partners that we have on-board at the moment, each of them has their own niche customer base and they all service them differently. It's a good fit."