Fountain Valley-based D-Link Systems Inc., a maker of networking gear for consumers and businesses, scored a five-year contract to sell its products to the federal government.
Last month, D-Link was awarded a General Services Administration contract, which makes the company eligible to sell its gear to resellers and distributors that in turn sell to the government’s buying arm.
D-Link already landed an order for stackable switches from the Army, according to Keith Karlsen, executive vice president.
“They have bought hundreds of our switches for a number of different deployments,” Karlsen said. “The Army is dropping them from airplanes and placing them into their (networking) infrastructure. We are just working to keep up with the demand.”
Switches are metal boxes full of ports that connect networking devices, such as servers and routers, to each other and to the Internet.
“It really isn’t just the ability to take one switch and stack it on top of another but to provide connectivity so that the two switches act as one,” Karlsen said.
The stackable switches sold to the Army are the same as the ones D-Link sells to businesses,with one exception.
The ones sent to the Army are made in the U.S., Karlsen said, while the ones for businesses are made in Taiwan.
|
|
Across the pond: Local.com expands into Britain |
D-Link teamed up with Santa Ana contract electronics maker Express Manufacturing Inc. to have the switches made locally.
D-Link charges the government a bit more for them.
“It’s really just enough to cover the additional cost to manufacture it here,” Karlsen said. “There’s a whole push for ‘made in America’ items, so the (government) actually carves out a significant part of their purchasing for that.”
The contract is part of D-Link’s bid to diversify its customer base.
Earlier this year, the company,whose products are big in home offices,said it’s going after sales at big corporations.
The move steps up its competition with rival networking gear kingpin Cisco Systems Inc.
“We’ve done a good job of having double-digit growth and we want to continue to sustain that momentum,” Karlsen said.
Next on deck is adding more products to the mix, he said.
Adding “products is a key factor for us in expanding into our business market,” he said. “Our channels are another. We are really aggressively going after large resellers and integrators that are servicing the government, and we hadn’t targeted those guys before.”
The products include computer surveillance software, network cards, routers, Internet-based cameras and storage devices, Karlsen said.
The company declined to say how much the contracts will contribute to D-Link’s sales.
“We do expect significant revenue from the government in the coming years,” Karlsen said. “We think we’ll have the right products and the right partners to go after deals really aggressively. If our past success with just the one account is any indication, (then) we are on the right track.”
A Helping Hand
Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., a top distributor of electronics and other tech gear, is lending a helping hand to neighborhood kids.
The company, which is big on giving, recently unveiled a computer center and library at Hands Together, a Santa Ana nonprofit that runs an early childhood development program for poor families.
The center is set to be used by more than 75 children,ages 2 to 5,the company said.
Ingram donated 10 computer work stations that are outfitted for pint-size hands and equipped with children’s software programs. Each has flat-panel monitors and small keyboards, mice and chairs.
The company also helped upgrade a separate office at the facility with two computers, a printer and furniture for the grown-ups.
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony that kicked off the opening of the computer center a few weeks ago.
Ingram emphasizes using technology to advance education.
The company donated more than $2 million in 2006 through a combination of fundraisers, tournaments and campaigns.
In past years, Ingram has donated to other Santa Ana groups, including the Discovery Science Center, the Orange County High School of Arts and Wiseplace, a transitional housing center for women.
Not Just Local
Irvine’s Local.com Corp. isn’t so local anymore.
The company, which hosts a Web site for searching local businesses, launched a British site last week.
The site has much of the same features as its U.S. counterpart, including the ability to sort results by distance, business name, category and customer ratings. It has new user-friendly navigation panels and design, the company said.
The site also can be searched by landmarks, cross streets, area codes, postal codes and towns.
For example, people can search for “ice cream” near “Piccadilly Circus.”
