Arrow Enterprise Computing Solution, a business segment of Arrow Electronics Inc. [NYSE: ARW], has extended its certified BlueTouch support for Blue Coat Systems solutions beyond North America and Israel to its U.K. operations.
“Arrow ECS is pleased to be one of the few distributors providing intercontinental certified customer support for Blue Coat resellers and their customers,” said Andy Bryant, president, Arrow ECS. “This service offering underscores our commitment to supporting our suppliers with managing the channel. Providing services that complement our technology offerings is one way that Arrow ECS is helping suppliers manage their distribution network and helping resellers capture more revenue. This program is an example of how Arrow ECS is increasing its depth in services.”
Any reseller or end user who has resold Blue Coat technology from Arrow ECS’ DNS Arrow group in the U.K. can also resell Arrow ECS’ certified BlueTouch technical hardware and software support on Blue Coat products. Arrow ECS’ BlueTouch support is available any hour of the day, any day of the week.
“Resellers now can offer Blue Coat hardware, software and services as one complete solution for their customers,” said James Pattinson, divisional director for security at DNS Arrow. “This increases the likelihood that customers will purchase BlueTouch services since it is presented as one bundled solution. Also, resellers can mark up the service when they resell it, thereby increasing their revenue potential.”
Arrow ECS also offers certified BlueTouch support in North America through its Alternative Technology Group and Israel through its REL group. It resells standard BlueTouch support from Blue Coat in Denmark, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“By expanding its BlueTouch support to the U.K., Arrow ECS is extending the reach of Blue Coat’s high-quality service program to support a growing base of channel partners and their customers,” said Marcel Barat, director of support, EMEA, Blue Coat.
Blue Coat requires that its certified BlueTouch partners meet a stringent set of support readiness and training requirements to ensure that their support is of the highest quality. These requirements include certifying their team as technical experts on Blue Coat products, with advanced configuration, installation, operation and troubleshooting capabilities; installing a support center lab that is capable of replicating technical problems; and establishing a service delivery infrastructure that provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Arrow ECS DNS Arrow group in the U.K. is a specialist information technology distributor providing enterprise-class solutions and services focused on data storage, network security, enterprise software, virtualization and access infrastructure. DNS Arrow supports resellers from initial consultation, planning and design through engineering to implementation so they can deliver greater value and increase their customers’ competitive edge. Visit www.dnsarrow.co.uk for more information.
ABOUT BLUE COAT
Blue Coat secures Web communications and accelerates business applications across the distributed enterprise. Blue Coat’s family of appliances and client-based solutions – deployed in branch offices, Internet gateways, end points, and data centers – provide intelligent points of policy-based control enabling IT organisations to optimise security and accelerate performance between users and applications. Blue Coat has installed more than 40,000 appliances worldwide. Blue Coat is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and can be reached at 408-220-2200 or www.bluecoat.com .
ABOUT ARROW ENTERPRISE COMPUTING SOLUTIONS
Arrow ECS, a business segment of Arrow Electronics Inc. [NYSE: ARW], provides enterprise and midrange computing products, services and solutions to value-added resellers, system integrators, and independent software vendors. Based in Englewood, Colo., and with offices in 26 countries, Arrow ECS connects its customers to the world’s foremost technology suppliers, including HP, IBM, Sun Microsystems, EMC, NetApp, Hitachi Data Systems, and other leading storage networking, software, and security suppliers. Arrow ECS reported $5.4 billion in global enterprise computing solution sales in 2008. Subsidiaries include Asplenium, DNS, FINOVIA, Internet Security, IPvista, ITL, LOGIX, REL and Soft-Tronik. Visit www.arrowecs.com for more information.