INGRAM MICRO CLOUD SUMMIT — “I only see positive changes,” said Alain Monié, CEO of Ingram Micro, on stage at the company’s Cloud Summit Tuesday in Phoenix, Arizona.

Monié was referring to the February announcement that HNA Group, the Chinese aviation and shipping conglomerate, would buy Ingram for $6 billion.

Keeping the tech distributor’s top leadership intact was a critical part of the negotiation process, Monié said. As a result, he doesn’t expect Ingram’s relationship with partners will change.

It’s his company’s evolution in cloud and other new technologies, including its recent acquisition of the Odin Service Automation platform from Parallels, that the Ingram boss said made it so attractive to HNA.{ad}

“These are the things that have attracted our new owners,” said Monié. “They see that we’re evolving … Being part of this group that has decided to invest in these technologies, and allowing us to operate in a more private environment means we will be able to accelerate our investment in these technologies.”

Cloud no doubt provides continuing huge opportunities for Ingram’s partners, whether it be in security, collaboration, infrastructure or the Internet of Things. Researchers at IDC say the indirect cloud business is now larger that direct, with 55 percent (U.S.) going through partners. That percentage is even higher in emerging markets.

“You either jump on [the cloud] train or you don’t. I would recommend you do,” Monié said as advice to partners. “There will be several winners in these technologies. We don’t pretend to be the only ones to create an ecosystem that works, but we will be among the top three or four winners. We will provide you with the tools; it will be a reciprocal [relationship].

Monié’s words come on the same day that the company launched its Ecosystem of Cloud strategy, which includes new cloud service-delivery options for partners.

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