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Ingram Micro Building New Northeast Facility

Ingram Micro Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., is expanding its northeast distribution capacity by building a 600,000 square-foot facility in Lickdale, Pa.

The center, which will replace the 230,000 square-foot facility in nearby Harrisburg, is expected to open in late 1999. Construction will begin in October.

The move is part of an overall expansion by Ingram Micro, the world's largest distributor of computer products.

The company is building a 500,000 square-foot plant in Europe to serve the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Last October, Ingram announced plans to build a 600,000 square-foot facility in Millington, Tenn.

Ingram Micro had sales of $16.5 billion last year. The company operates in 31 countries and distributes more than 145,000 products to resellers worldwide.

Alliance Systems Opens Government Sales Unit

Alliance Systems Inc., Dallas, has opened a government sales division aimed at marketing computer telephony products to resellers and systems integrators serving federal, state and local customers.

The division is based in Sterling, Va., and is being headed by Erich Ohngemach, Alliance's new director of federal sales.

Founded in 1992, Alliance specializes in distributing and integrating computer telephony products. Integration services are new to Alliance's portfolio. They have helped push the company's revenues from $16 million last year to an estimated $30 million this year. The company expects this number to triple in 1999.

Applied Cellular Acquires Three

Applied Cellular Technology's Computer Group, Burlington, N.J., has completed the acquisition of three companies as part of its effort to build a nationwide network that sells computer products online.

"Our goal is to be the Amazon.com for personal computers," said Marc Sherman, vice president of the Computer Group.

The Computer Group announced July 20 it had purchased Data Path Technologies Inc., New York; GDB Software Services Inc., Syosset, N.Y.; and Consolidated Micro Components Inc., New York, in stock transactions. Applied Cellular Technology, the Computer Group's parent company, is traded on the Nasdaq National Market.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed, but the three companies will add $22 million in revenue to the Computer Group's estimated revenues of $65 million this year.

Sherman said 10 percent of the Computer Group's business, or $6 million, comes from the federal government.

The Computer Group buys old computers from the government and resells them to businesses and consumers. It also sells the government computer parts for upgrades and repairs.

Tech Data, DecisionOne Offer Services

Tech Data Corp., Clearwater, Fla., has teamed with DecisionOne Corp. to offer customers nationwide maintenance services for desktop systems.

The program, called Techni-Serve, offers resellers and integrators on-site repair, installation services and laptop repair.

It's one of several programs Tech Data has started in the last year to add value to the products it provides resellers. Other programs include leasing services and a program that helps customers use software.

DecisionOne, Frazer, Pa., offers computer maintenance and technology support services throughout North America. The company has more than 6,000 employees and 150 service centers in the United States and Canada.

Tech Data sells more than 45,000 computer products to over 70,000 customers in North America, Latin America and Europe. The company had revenues of $7.1 billion in 1997.

- Richard McCaffery

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