Intel Everywhere | CRN Magazine

By Steven Burke

Every few months, eMazzanti Technologies, a three-year-old security solution provider based in Hoboken, N.J., holds what it calls a BYON (build your own notebook) session in which it trains clients to build their own Intel Centrino notebooks.

Jennifer Shine, director of marketing and business development at eMazzanti, came up with the idea after going through an Intel channel-training session on how to build Centrino notebooks.

She said that for every dollar a client spends on a Centrino notebook, an estimated $3 is generated for eMazzanti in services such as WLANs and mobile solutions. Intel is one of the solution provider’s top vendor partners besides Microsoft and WatchGuard, Shine said.

eMazzanti’s experience with Intel is a powerful example of the chip giant’s channel muscle.

In our cover story this week, CRN Industry Editor Craig Zarley and CRN Senior Editor Edward F. Moltzen report on Intel President and COO Paul Otellini’s charge to double Intel’s North American channel sales over three years to $3 billion by 2007. This at a time when Intel is facing more pressure than ever from rival AMD’s 64-bit offensive.

What’s interesting about eMazzanti is that it is a relatively new Intel partner that got into building servers and notebooks as a way to drive its services revenue. In fact, eMazzanti, founded as an IT services provider, did not sell or resell hardware or software in its first year. The company, however, found that its clients wanted a one-stop shop for all of their IT needs.

“For us it became a necessity,” said Shine of the company’s hardware and software sales. There was just too much hassle tracking the buying process when clients were ordering products from a vendor like Dell or another supplier, she said. Furthermore, if a client had a hardware problem it was a lot easier to bring it to resolution with eMazzanti in control of the complete solution, she said. Reselling hardware and software also provides eMazzanti with critical technical, sales and channel support from vendors.

If Intel plans to hit its $3 billion channel sales goal, it is going to need to continue to nurture relationships with partners like eMazzanti. That means bringing more training, support and communication to the channel party.