Image Gallery: Synnex Inspire 2016

Synnex Inspire 2016, the distributor’s annual conference, held Sept. 28-30, in Greenville, South Carolina, boasted 2,000 attendees including suppliers, partner customers and associates.

The three day “Poised to Go Beyond”-themed event featured leading vendors – Dell, Intel, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), HP Inc., Lenovo and Microsoft – and addressed 2016 opportunities as well as those ahead in 2017.

Top executives included Emilio Ghiladi, president, Lenovo North America; Gary Fowle, vice president U.S. OEM sales and marketing, from Microsoft; Maurits Tichelman, vice president and general manager, distribution and platform sales, Intel; Christopher Schell, president of the Americas, HP Inc.; Scott Dunsire, vice president and general manager, Americas Channels at HPE; and Cheryl Cook, vice president, Global Channels and Alliances at Dell.

Click through our image gallery for highlights of the event.

In his keynote address, Kevin Murai, president and CEO of Synnex Corp., reviewed the company’s 2016 priorities: cloud, enterprise mobility, vertical solutions; and, SMB.

He said the company’s cloud business is a significant growth area, noting that it’s grown by 50 percent year on year and customer count has also grown by 50 percent. The cloud business focuses in on the SMB cloud through the CloudSolv community and platform, and also enables in the enterprise data-center hybrid cloud architecture and the ability to have it coexist seamlessly with public cloud infrastructure via Synnex ConvergeSolv. The second priority, Enterprise Mobility, focuses on growth in machine-to-machine and IoT and is a key enabler of cloud and third platform. Wireless activations are around data, not voice.

Vertical solutions are a strategic focus for Synnex, which has created technology solutions in key industries, as well enablement to assist partners who want to create business practices around these verticals, such as K-12.

Murai called SMB the biggest segment that Synnex and partners service and one of the most stable parts of IT demand. SMB is not homogeneous but instead represents businesses from across industry segments.

Distribution isn’t what it used to be. In the 1990s, Synnex’s business, like that of other technology distributors, was all about pick, pack and ship, i.e. inventory management, logistics and warehouse. Today, Synnex is a systems integrator for its partners. This evolution represents the distributor of the new world of IT.

“We want to be your strategic partner. With the capabilities that we have, think of us as a systems integrator that has the ability to append and fill in any service level or capability gaps that you have,” said Kevin Murai, president and CEO of Synnex.

The Synnex Varnex member lounge was situated in the center of the Hall of Inspiration. Varnex is the Synnex peer-to-peer community of resellers who get to network with peers, vendors and Synnex executives.

Varnex community members share ideas and strategies, are offered exclusive training opportunities including Varnex University, hold two national conferences and six regional events, and participate in business workshops — to name a handful of member benefits.

Sandra Gault, founder and president of True Gault, presented at the Synnex F2F luncheon at Synnex Inspire.

Gault, the “geek in high heels,” uses 3D imaging technology to rethink the way women think about high heels — combining her passion for technology, fashion and business to start her company. F2F (friend to friend, face to face, female to female) is a Synnex community to help advance women in technology.

Solution sessions held inside of the various Solution Areas in the Hall of Inspiration offered dozens topics.

For example, in the SMB solution pod: SMB: Cloud Backup Solutions; SMB: Trends in Small Business; SMB: Security – Not Just a Concern for Enterprise; and, SMB: Importance of the Network.

The Public Safety & Smart City Solution Area featured vendors BAE Systems, Bretford, Christie, Cradlepoint, Dell, D-Link, Fujitsu, Getac, Havis, Panasonic, Red Hat, Seagate and Xplore Technologies.

Attendee sessions focused on Mobility in Patrol Vehicles, The Silent Witness in Smart City Solutions, and Control Room/EOC – The Hub for Data Management, to name a few.