Eaton has terminated Avnet as one of its Australian distributors and appointed Ingram Micro as the replacement.
Eaton Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) power quality general manager, Michael Mallia, told ARN that the vendor notified Avnet of the termination last week, and will continue working with the distributor until the contract period ends in three months.
Mallia did not comment on the reasons for the decision.
Eaton has been working with Avnet since November 2009.
Ingram Micro has been named Avnet's replacement, and will distribute Eaton’s full portfolio of power management appliances and services in Australia.
The agreement builds on Eaton's existing relationships with Ingram Micro across other geographies including New Zealand.
It also adds to the vendor's existing list of national suppliers which spans Dicker Data, Synnex, Bluechip Infotech and Altech.
While the Australian distributor’s broad market reach is at the forefront of the contract, Eaton claims the companies share operational synergies.
Mallia said the vendor’s VMware and Microsoft virtualisation platform integration and Cisco and EMC converged infrastructure integration will lead to accelerated deployment for Ingram Micro’s partners.
According to Ingram Micro advanced solutions group senior director, David Lenz, the distributor opted for Eaton for its channel approach.
Eaton will support Ingram Micro with dedicated account management for pre- and post-sales engineering, training, inventory and technical support. The distributor’s partners will also have access to Eaton’s training and certification program.
Ingram Micro will also set up an Eaton team which will work with its existing commercial and small to medium business (SMB) sales force to support resellers.
Products included in the deal span interruptible power supply (UPS) technology, enclosures, power distribution units, software, and connectivity hardware.
The nature of Eaton's product set means the relationship does create some overlap with other vendors on Ingram Micro's arsenal, including Schneider Electric, although Eaton's play is within the SMB and SME spaces.
