Ingram Micro signs AMD

AMD added Ingram Micro Australia and New Zealand to its distribution list in an attempt to gain more market share from microprocessor market leader Intel.

The agreement came about following a global contract signed between AMD and Ingram on May 10 last year.

Ingram takes on AMD’s entire desktop, mobile and server microprocessor products.

Tech Pacific — which was acquired by Ingram Micro in mid-2004 — was formerly an AMD distributor so Ingram’s appointment was “not a new launch internally”, said Matt Sanderson, product director at Ingram Micro.

“However to ensure we support our customer base and help them grow in this segment, we need to ensure we can provide them with the terms they required and to do that we need to have a direct relationship,” he told CRN.

Sanderson said Ingram would target AMD’s existing customer base and companies that were looking for another option. “AMD is creating a lot of positive noise in the market at the moment and customers are starting to ask questions,” he said.

Ingram’s components business was growing year-on-year and now contributed to around 10 percent of total sales.

Caleb Leung, national sales manager at AMD’s Australia and New Zealand operation, said the agreement with Ingram would give it access to a large database of customers in all markets.

“[Ingram] reach customers that we may not have had access to before,” Leung said.

Ingram joins Legend Performance Technology and Avnet Applied Computing on AMD’s distribution books.

Rob Kester, director of worldwide sales at Legend told CRN that AMD sales revenue for the distributor had increased by 67 percent in calendar 2005 compared to the previous year.

Sales of desktops and servers with AMD components had been strong with mobile sales lagging but still showing strong signs of growth, he said.

AMD had also lifted its average selling price across the board by 20 percent over that time, he said.

“Now they’re seen as a technology leader, they don’t need to be seen as so much cheaper,” he told CRN.

New 64-bit products and increases in performance over comparable Intel products, value for money and brand equity were helping AMD sales.

“A lot of specs in government and corporate IT departments are open and not written towards Intel anymore. They [AMD] are starting to become a true choice in the market.”