News | April 11, 2011

Preview: Ingram Micro VentureTech Network

SANTA ANA, Calif., April 10, 2011 – Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) today welcomed more than 640 IT channel partners and industry influencers to the Spring 2011 North American VentureTech Network (VTN) Invitational. Taking place in Chicago, April 10 – 13, the Spring 2011 VTN Invitational is themed "The Future is Ours" to highlight the community's game plan to build upon its strengths, further enable its industry leadership and spur organic growth by taking VTN deeper within member and sponsoring vendor organizations.

"The VTN community continues to yield tremendous influence within the IT industry, serving as an advocate for North America's channel partners and a strategic advisory council to Ingram Micro and VTN manufacturer partners," says John Fago, Ingram Micro's senior director of channel marketing for North America. "In 2011, we're putting the pedal to the metal – driving the power of VTN deeper into our members' organizations to generate greater business value, thought leadership and collaboration throughout the entire community."

To accelerate these efforts, Ingram Micro is providing all invitational attendees with a Spotme handheld device to use throughout the event. Dubbed the "Swiss Army Knife" of interactive meeting tools, Spotme offers participant management tools and promotes networking and audience response polling all from a single hand-held device. During the event, Ingram Micro will survey the VTN community on various topics including the business climate, market trends and new technologies. Results will be posted to Ingram Micro's Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/IngramMicroInc.

Best-Selling Author and Top Executives Address VTN Community
Known for attracting the industry's top speakers and manufacturer executives, the Spring 2011 VTN Invitational keynote speaker is New York Times best-selling author Marcus Buckingham. Additional guest speakers include Ingram Micro CEO Greg Spierkel, Gartner Vice President Tiffani Bova and Ingram Micro Vice President of Cloud Computing and Managed Services North America Renée Bergeron. Executive speakers from Cisco, HP, IBM and Microsoft will also take main stage throughout the Invitational.

Targeted breakout sessions, presentations and member-led roundtables focused on business best practices, sales and services methodologies, market trending and technology will be held throughout the event. A number of VTN Mastermind meetings, as well as a new series of VTN Connect sales training and Citrix technical training sessions, will also be underway. In addition, attendees will take part in the 2011 "VTN Gives Back Charity" event sponsoring the American / Canadian Cancer Society.

"The ingenuity, professionalism and thought leadership this community possesses goes unrivaled in the industry and remains core to the unique business value VTN brings to its members and sponsoring manufacturer partners," says Fago. "The VTN community is thriving and our membership has never been stronger. This will be a breakout year for VTN and the future is definitely ours."

The Ingram Micro VTN community is represented by 400 members throughout North America. In 2010, the VTN community's buying power grew by 20 percent to $1.3 billion. Ingram Micro VTN members are recognized among the IT industry's best, brightest and most successful solution providers and MSPs throughout North America.

For more information on VTN, solution providers and manufacturers should contact their Ingram Micro sales or marketing representative and visit www.im-vtn.com. VTN is also active on Twitter. Follow the VTN Community at www.twitter.com/VTNcommunity. The 2011 VTN Invitational Twitter hash tag is # VTN2011.

bout Ingram Micro Inc.
As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics, technical and financial support, managed and cloud-based services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company is the only global broad-based IT distributor, serving more than 150 countries on six continents with the world's most comprehensive portfolio of IT products and services. Visit www.ingrammicro.com.