Tech Data Adds Advantech to Expand Push into IoT

Tech Data this week announced it has added Advantech, a provider of embedded systems employed to build Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, to the distributor’s line card.

The Advantech offering is part of a growing portfolio of IoT offerings that are based on the Microsoft Azure cloud, says Michelle Curtis, director of IoT solutions for North America at Tech Data.

The Advantech portfolio includes both a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environment for building IoT application as well as a set of pre-configured integrated servers.

IoT opportunities involving the Microsoft Azure cloud are starting to accelerate rapidly as organization move past the trial and error era of IoT, says Curtis.

Curtis also credits Microsoft with committing to invest $5 billion on IoT technologies that will help to drive the market.

Tech Data view IoT as a strategic opportunity to evolve into becoming an aggregator of IoT products and services, says Curtis. To achieve that goal Tech Data is investing in everything from engineering expertise to sales enablement tools that are all intended to help partners take advantage of IoT solution opportunities, says Curtis.

In fact, Curtis notes industry research suggests that every $1 spent on IoT technologies generates as much as $20 in services opportunities.
In some cases, Curtis says those partners already have operation technology (OT) expertise. In other cases, Tech Data is working to educate traditional IT solution providers to recognize IoT opportunities involving, for example, predictive maintenance applications. Additionally, Tech Data is bringing together partners that have complementary areas of expertise, says Curtis.

Given the nascent nature of IoT, however, Curtis says Tech Data is also working with partners to recognize opportunities that will go beyond merely being a pilot project. That’s critical in terms of not only generating revenue from that customer engagement but also creating a practice around a repeatable solution, says Curtis.

Tech Data is also teaching partners to be able to identify all the relevant stakeholders in IoT projects that typically involve line of business executives.

“We’re teaching partners how to sell,” says Curtis.

It’s unclear precisely when IoT solutions will generate millions of dollars of revenue for partners. But at this juncture, it’s now more a question of how and when than it is if.