Tech Data Corp. has signed an alliance agreement with Panduit Corp., of Tinley Park, Ill., to distribute Panduit’s portfolio of Internet of Things solutions and partner enablement tools.
Panduit’s offerings, which are designed for use by companies in the manufacturing industry, will be available to partners in the U.S. via the Smart IoT Solutions practice that Clearwater, Fla.-based Tech Data launched earlier this week, as well as Momentum, the distributor’s education and training program for resellers of products from San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco Systems Inc.
The new alliance was announced at the 2016 Cisco Live user conference, which wraps up in Las Vegas today. Both Tech Data and Panduit partner extensively with that event’s host. Tech Data offers a broad portfolio of Cisco networking, security, collaboration, and data center solutions. Panduit works with both Cisco and Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc. to deliver an array of data center and industrial automation solutions.
“This agreement enables Tech Data to bring complete industrial IoT solutions to market in the manufacturing space, which is a key vertical for our new Smart IoT Solutions business practice,” said Cisco Solutions Group vice president Angie Beltz in a press statement. “Tech Data has the distribution power and portfolio to complement all the elements of Panduit’s solutions, including device activation, sensor, data, power, server, storage, cloud and accessories, and we’re excited to help our partners operate in this space.”
Manufacturing is one of four industries the new Smart IoT Solutions organization focuses on, along with transportation and logistics, retail, and “smart spaces,” a category encompassing building safety and security, smart parking, and energy optimization systems. The new group develops and delivers pre-validated IoT solution reference architectures that resellers can customize and implement using hardware, software, and connectivity from Tech Data suppliers.
