Ingram Micro has confirmed what CDN first reported back in October that the VentureTech Network would open a chapter in the U.K., a first of its kind for any solution provider community group.
VTN was first launched in 1999 as an exclusive network of independent resellers to share ideas, resources, technologies and best practices in a non-competitive environment. What the VTN program accomplished was to create an easier path for its members to partner with one another and to turn a local or regional business into a nationwide or multi-regional operation. Now VTN will be an option for solution providers outside of Canada and the U.S.
CDN spoke with John Fago, Ingram’s senior director of North America channel marketing and account management about VTN’s global pursuits late last year.
“This is really exciting and it’s on our 15th anniversary,” Fago said. Some of the leg work has been done by Canadian-born U.K.-based Ingram vice president Brent McCarty along with Jason Beal and Mark Chlebek. Those three executives have been working with the three U.K. partners to show them the value of Ingram Micro VTN. The timeline for establishing a VTN U.K. chapter is slated for the fourth quarter and the U.K. chapter leader will also get a seat on the VTN council.”
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McCarty, Ingram Micro’s managing director and VP for U.K. and Ireland, said he’s seen first-hand how committed the partners are and how important VTN has been to helping build their businesses. Participation is the key to maximizing the many benefits the VTN model presents.
Mark Williams, client services director of Wavex, will serve as VTN U.K.’s first council president. Williams will also have a position on the VTN North America advisory council.
Williams said that after returning from the last VTN event in October he had a brand new perspective on how to analyze growth within managed services providers and a better understanding of how resellers are performing against the market in the U.S., which was something he was unable to get anywhere else.
The new community’s first chapter meeting will take place this month in Surrey and will be hosted by Ingram Micro’s North America vice president of marketing, Jennifer Anaya and Fago.
The recruitment process for VTN U.K. started in 2013, according to Ingram with three reseller partners attending the North America VTN Invitational in Palm Springs, Calif. These three partners, Lan2Lan, Symitry, and Wavex, are now the founding members of the VTN U.K. community group.