Computer Wholesaler Ingram Micro Reinvents Itself on the Web; Full CommunicationsWeek News Report Posted at http://www.commweek.com.

MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 1997--Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM), the world's largest wholesale distributor of microcomputer products, sees electronic commerce as central to the future of its business, according to a CommunicationsWeek Interactive (http://www.commweek.com) reported by Editor-at-Large John Evan Frook.

While other companies are still trying to decide if the time is right to move to a Web-based business model, the Santa Ana, Calif. based distributor is aggressively moving beyond electronic commerce transactions to a full-blown collaborative network that brings suppliers, distributors and customers together to achieve common goals via the Web.

"Ingram's move to make maximum use of the Web is a bid to ensure its survival as computer industry middleman," Jerry Michalski, an analyst and Managing Editor of Release 1.0, a computer industry newsletter, told CommunicationsWeek.

Content is driving the project. The distributor leveraged its dominant position in computer software and hardware wholesaling -- it posted $12 billion in sales last year -- to convince a staggering number of suppliers to cooperate in making its extranet fly.

One key component -- the Business Reseller Center -- is a secure Web site that includes applications for real-time price quotes on more than 36,000 active products.

To extend its reach, Ingram has started pilot programs with a dozen resellers under which the company delivers Web site applications and content -- including the latest pricing and product specifications in a consistent format -- to customer sites. Resellers purchase products from Ingram and sell them to corporate customers.

Launched six weeks ago, the Business Reseller Center has advanced like a juggernaut. Ingram's Center now has 75,000 registered users of which approximately 7,500 are authorized to place orders. The Business Reseller Center averages two million hits per day, ranking it among the most heavily trafficked sites on the Web.

Although Ingram has begun taking orders via the site, the company declined to provide online sales figures. However, CommunicationsWeek reports that 2,000 orders were placed last month alone.

CommunicationsWeek Interactive is the online arm of CMP's CommunicationsWeek. CommunicationsWeek, "The Networking Newspaper," delivers news and analysis to help Network IT Management translate evolving advances in communications and computing technology directly into business advantage. In addition, the newspaper features Web Commerce, a biweekly section that provides in-depth features and analysis of electronic commerce products, technologies and case studies. Telepath, a monthly supplement to CommunicationsWeek, is directed to the innovators behind converging networks.

CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the broad high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb(R) site on the Web at http://www.techweb.com. Print titles include EE Times, Computer Reseller News, InformationWeek and WINDOWS MAGAZINE. -0-

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