Ingram Micro Inc., the biggest distributor of technology products, software and consumer electronics, bought a small distributor in Belgium earlier this month.
Ingram bought InterAct BVBA, which is based in Aartselaar, south of Antwerp.
Terms of the deal, presumably small, weren’t disclosed.
InterAct specializes in reselling software and providing services to companies looking to set up a cloud computing network, which essentially outsources large database programs and other applications to outside servers.
The company has 15 workers and sees yearly sales of roughly $13 million, according to a report on technology news website TMCnet.com, run by Technology Marketing Corp.
InterAct has some 500 customers in the area it covers, primarily Belgium and Luxembourg.
Ingram Micro’s Belgium operations have 200 workers and saw about $654 million in revenue last year.
InterAct Chief Executive Rudi Lenaerts is set to take the title of director, value division, and report to Ingram Micro Belgium’s managing director Steve Meynen.
Ingram Chief Executive Greg Spierkel told Reuters last month that the company was “considering a range of acquisitions.”
It’s part of a larger effort by Ingram Micro in the past few years to offer more services to its customers, technology consultants known as value added resellers.
In other Ingram news, the company recently appointed a new cloud computing executive in North America.
Ingram tapped Renee Bergeron, a 25-year technology veteran, as vice president of managed services and cloud computing.
She is set to report to Paul Bay, executive vice president of Ingram Micro North America.
Bergeron spent nine years at Fujitsu America, part of Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd., where she led a $300 million information technology services division.
Board Moves
Irvine-based Newport Corp., a maker of lasers, filters, scientific instruments and gear used in research, added Oleg Khaykin to its board.
Khaykin is chief executive of El Segundo-based International Rectifier Corp., a publicly traded maker of power management chips with a recent market value of $1.4 billion.
Before that, Khaykin was chief executive at Arizona’s Amkor Technology Inc., a contract chipmaker.
From 1999 to 2003, he was vice president of strategy and business development at chipmakers Conexant Systems Inc. and its spinoff Mindspeed Technologies Inc., both of Newport Beach.
Khaykin also is a grad of Northwestern University’s business school (go ’Cats!).
Aliso Viejo’s QLogic Corp. also got two new directors this month.
The maker of electronics for speeding up the flow of data on storage named Bill Zeitler and Scott Mercer to its board.
Zeitler most recently was at IBM Corp., where he was senior vice president and group executive of the servers, storage and semiconductor groups.
Mercer is chairman and chief executive of Conexant. Mercer also serves on the boards of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd. and Polycom Inc.
Chile Deal
Aliso Viejo’s Telogis Inc., a maker of global positioning systems and traffic software for delivery fleets, struck a deal with Tastets Systems SA for the distribution of Telogis’ data-gathering GPS technology in Chile. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Telogis uses GPS software to help companies with large fleets of delivery trucks create better routes, track shipments and deliveries and cut costs.
The Chile deal builds on Telogis’ recent growth in Central and South America, including in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.
Tastets’ customers are in a variety of industries, including mining, utilities and construction.
Telogis recently was named to its fourth-consecutive Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Inc. magazine ranked Telogis No. 761 based on its 400% sales growth from 2006 through 2009.
Bits and Pieces
Aliso Viejo’s Smith Micro Software Inc., a maker of compression and connectivity software for cell phones, laptops and other mobile devices, is set to build a research and development office in Pittsburgh. Workers at the new office are set to do engineering, development and testing. The nearly 50,000 square feet of space also will house data servers and an East Coast customer support center … Cypress-based Christie Digital Systems Inc., a maker of high-performance digital projectors, landed a contract to design simulation projection systems for a multimillion dollar program that will upgrade flying simulators for the military. Christie’s projectors help create the “out the window” cockpit view for training soldiers to fly Apache Longbow helicopters … Another local company is throwing its hat into the ring to make an electronic reader. Foothill Ranch-based Merch-Source LLC is set to debut the Literati, an e-reader that’s one of the few out there with a color screen. It’s set to be sold starting next month at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, JC Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s and online.
