Synnex (SNX) recently hosted its Inspire North American Conference in Greenville, South Carolina, where the distributor announced several new partnerships and solutions for its channel partners. Read on for a roundup off all the hottest news coming out of this year’s event, and be sure to check out our gallery of speakers as well.

Synnex Nabs Exclusive Access to StorageCraft BRD Solutions:  Synnex expanded its relationship with StorageCraft with the addition of exclusive MSP licensing for the company’s ShadowProtect and ShadowProtect SPX backup and disaster recovery solutions. Both services are only available through Synnex and are expected to help the distributor offer a wider swath of value-added services to help build recurring revenue models for resellers.

“Synnex and StorageCraft have had a longstanding and successful relationship, so when we wanted to push our new MSP licensing model to the channel, it was an easy decision to exclusively choose them,” said Brandon Nordquist, StorageCraft’s vice president of Product Management, in a statement. “Synnex’s professional services offered through its SERVICESolv group helps resellers implement StorageCraft MSP licensing solutions with ease, immediately, enhancing their managed services offerings and increasing profitability potential.”

ECExpress Portal Simplifies Customer Bid Management: Synnex announced the addition of Bid Portal feature in its ECExpress 7 eCommerce tool, which is expected to help resellers to view and manage their active bid opportunities in a single location.

The redesigned Bid Portal combines all of a partner’s active deal opportunities in a single pane of glass, with resellers able to see which manufacturers it is working with as well as information regarding parts, pricing and bid start and end dates. Partners can also view available bids and place orders through the portal, according to the announcement.

“Synnex enhanced its new ECExpress 7 online ordering tool so our customers can view and act on all their outstanding bid opportunities,” said Peter Larocque, president of North American Technology Solutions at Synnex. “Our new Bid Portal gives them one-click access to their vendor and end-customer bid information, so they can pursue and close those bids much faster.”

The Bid Portal will be available via Synnex’s recently launched ECExpress 7 platform. Synnex expects the portal to launch later this month.

Synnex Teams with Microsoft, Lightspeed Systems for K-12 Education Solutions: Synnex is working with Microsoft (MSFT) and Lightspeed Systems on a joint mobile device management system for Windows specifically for K-12 education solution providers. The Lightspeed Systems solution was designed to bring resellers a unified solution for partners selling into the education vertical with access to Synnex’s white glove integration services. 

“Whether teachers and students are purchasing new devices or upgrading existing devices to Windows 10, the package of Lightspeed device management and SYNNEX services is a cost-effective way to simplify device management and classroom management, enabling them to achieve more,” said Tony Prophet, corporate vice president of Education Marketing at Microsoft.

The three new management solutions include a web filter to protect devices and meet compliance requirements, a mobile manager to deploy and oversee devices and a classroom orchestrator tool to help teachers monitor multiple devices.

Synnex’s white glove integration solutions include pre-sales consultation, a full Lightspeed Systems Management Bundle for Windows and pre-flight readiness support to help schools set up and integrate devices into their management consoles. Synnex is also providing scheduled mobile device usage reviews and consultation to help customers deploy their assets, according to the announcement.

The Lightspeed Systems Management Bundle is compatible for Windows devices using Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. Synnex is currently offering a bundled solution with Lightspeed and Windows-enabled Acer Cloudbooks.