Intel sets new direction for its partners

In order to rescue the system integrators and resellers who have been going through a rough period due to foreign exchange and hard drive crisis, Intel India has given directions to its 20,000 channel partners for the emerging areas. The company believes that all-in-ones (AIOs), solid state drives and PC like embedded products are the fast growing areas where channel should start focusing for better growth.

In an exclusive interaction with Steven J Dallman, VP, sales and marketing group, GM, worldwide reseller channel organization, Intel said, "We are aware of the fact that hard drive costs and foreign exchange fluctuation have impacted a lot of channel players in India. Having said that, the situation has started getting better. Meanwhile we are in the process of rolling out programs around AIOs as we are seeing great momentum in our partners and customers. Currently the AIOs business has been growing at 30% per year and we are expecting couple of units to be shipped in next one year."

The company is also working with international ODMs for the AIOs chassis and matchmaking them with the local partners. The company is helping them along with some of its key programs that will help growth moving into third and fourth quarters. With the launch of Ivy Bridge Intel feels partners is in transition phase and soon partners will turn their gears to new products. It is also extending its original equipment manufacturer starter program from notebooks to AIOs. The program will outline the go-to-market segments for all-in-one computers and servers.

Another area Intel is upbeat about is PC like embedded products-taking PC components, moving them into embedded markets such as digital signage where there is margin opportunity for its partners through the Intel Architecture program. This area provides not only better integration of hardware and software even partners can earn healthy margins by offering attached services.

As the holiday period is around the corner Dallman feels, Q3 looks good for IT industry as consumers will start investing on IT products. He expects the popularity of these product lines to increase even further after October's projected launch of Windows 8. Intel anticipates that the combination of Windows 8 with the ultrabook specifications will provide great synergy, yielding crisper visuals, increased responsiveness and tighter integration with applications.