Ingram Micro saw Q3 earnings jump 146 per cent on revenues up 13 per cent, on the same period last year. Not bad at all for an industry where you have to run very fast to stand still.

Ingram, the world's biggest distie, produced net income of $38.9 million, against $15.8 million, for Q3, 1999. The company also pushed up margins by 33 whole basis point to 5.13 per cent of sales for the quarter. In other words, less discounting and fewer fire sales.

It doesn't seem to turned off the customers - worldwide sales in Q3 were $7.56 billion, against $6.71 billion the same time last year.

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IBM has opened a Web store selling direct to the public - in Germany, tech news site Silicon.com reports. However, disties and dealers have little to fear yet - prices on the site are higher, presumably to dampen potential channel conflict, than those quoted by retailers.

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Computer 2000, the UK bit of Tech Data, has won electronic license distribution rights for Microsoft
Open Licensing Programme (MOLP).

The service "cuts out almost all the potential for errors and... speeds up the process of getting a firm, accurate quotation and reduces the time it takes to confirm and issue the license agreement. ®