Lifeboat Distribution

Lifeboat Distribution
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: WSTG
Industry Software distribution
Headquarters Eatontown, New Jersey, United States
Number of locations
 4
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Computer Software, Information Technology
Revenue Increase $339.7 million (2015)
Number of employees
 120
Website lifeboatdistribution.com

Lifeboat Distribution is a multinational value added distributor based in Eatontown, New Jersey and has locations in Mesa, Arizona, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and Almere near Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company has its roots in Lifeboat Associates, a company founded in 1976 by Larry Alkoff and Tony Gold.[1][2] Lifeboat today is an international specialty software distributor for virtualization/cloud computing, security, application and network infrastructure, business continuity/disaster recovery, database infrastructure and management, application lifecycle management, science/engineering, and other technically sophisticated products. The company has a worldwide network of solution providers, VARs, systems integrators, corporate resellers, and consultants, and helps them drive business opportunities, expand their services revenues, and build profitable product and service businesses.

Lifeboat Distribution is a subsidiary of Wayside Technology Group. Total sales for Lifeboat Distribution in 2015 were $339.7 million compared to $290.4 million in 2014.

Lifeboat Distribution represents over 250 software vendors worldwide, and works with over 7,000 resellers/solution providers in more than 120 countries. Lifeboat distributes software from leading publishers including Corel, Dell Software, Flexera Software (publishers of InstallShield), GFI Software, Infragistics, Intel Software, MindJet, SAP BusinessObjects, SolarWinds, Sophos, StarWind Software, StorageCraft, TechSmith, Unitrends, and Veeam Software.

History

Early Years

In June 1986, Lifeboat Associates was acquired by Voyager Software Corp. By 1988, Voyager was a three-division company; Lifeboat was the software distributor, Corsoft the corporate reseller, and Programmer's Paradise a mail-order operation.[3]

The 1990s and 2000s

In May 1995, Voyager Software Corp changed its name to Programmer's Paradise, Inc. and at that time, changed Lifeboat Associates' name to Lifeboat Distribution. In July 1995, Programmer's Paradise completed an initial public offering of its common stock.[1]

On January 9, 2001, Lifeboat's European operations were sold along with all other Programmer's Paradise European operations to PC-Ware (now known as the Comparex Group).[4]

Through the 2000s, Lifeboat expanded its vendor line card with established and emerging vendors such as InstallShield[5] (later to become Flexera Software), Intel Software,[6] TechSmith,[7] GFI,[8] and VMware.

Lifeboat developed a reputation for helping companies enter the two-tier (vendor-distributor-reseller) distribution model. For example, Lifeboat was VMware's first U.S. software distributor helping introduce that company’s nascent virtualization software to the channel.[9]

In 2004, Lifeboat Distribution was appointed as Intel's Software Authorized Distributor in order to make that company's internally developed high-performance software development tools available to customers worldwide.[6]

Present Day

Lifeboat specializes in sophisticated technology domains that include not only virtualization/cloud computing, but also security, application and network infrastructure, database modeling, application lifecycle management, and business productivity.

Lifeboat recently added companies like Veeam Software,[10] SolarWinds,[11] and StorageCraft[12] to its line card. The company now represents an extensive set of software for the now mainstream virtualization space – products that are marketed to resellers through Lifeboat’s Virtualization World View portfolio.[13]

In 2010, Lifeboat opened an office in Almere, Netherlands in order to better serve the company’s European resellers.[14]

Today Lifeboat’s value-proposition revolves around software, backed-up by "extraordinary customer service" provided to reseller and vendor partners.

Lifeboat competes against much larger “broad line” distributors and must provide service differentiators to both its software vendors and its reseller customers. One way it has done this is through the deployment of innovative technologies, such as an electronic license key stocking system, EDI–based (Electronic Data Interchange) order processing, and data warehousing systems.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Programmers Paradise Inc., Form 10-K, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1996
  2. ↑ Lifeboat Associates Rescues Alien Hardware, Intelligent Machines Journal, December 11, 1978
  3. ↑ (2006). "Programmer's Paradise Inc.". Reference for Business. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  4. ↑ http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/945983/000089457902000025/ppi10k-0321.txt, Programmer's Paradise Form 10-K, for fiscal year ended December 31, 2001
  5. ↑ (Press Release) (2001-12-21). "Programmer's Paradise Announces Distribution Agreement With InstallShield". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  6. 1 2 (Press Release) Willet, Bill. (2004-02-23). "Lifeboat Distribution is Appointed Intel's Software Authorized Distributor". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  7. ↑ (Press Release) (2003-01-14). "Programmer's Paradise Announces Distribution Agreement With TechSmith Corporation". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  8. ↑ (Press Release) "GFI Software Christens Lifeboat as its Channel Distributor". The Free Library. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  9. ↑ Clancy, Heather. (2007-02-20). "Lifeboat's Ship about to Sail?". CRN. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  10. ↑ (Press Release) Marshall, David. (2007-12-03). "Veeam Software Partners With Lifeboat Distribution". VMblog. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  11. ↑ O'Hanlon, Charlene. (2009-01-13). "SolarWinds Re-Ups Its Channel Commitment". Channel Insider. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  12. ↑ (Press Release) Goulding, Laura. (2007-02-20). "StorageCraft Partners with Lifeboat Distribution". Storagecraft Press Release. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  13. ↑ "Virtualization World View Products". Lifeboat Distribution. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  14. ↑ (2012-03-07). "Amsterdam Area welcomes Lifeboat Distribution". I amsterdam. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  15. ↑ Thakkar, Pooja. (2010). "Navigating Distribution Channels Within The Software Solutions Market". Technology Digital. Retrieved 2013-08-27
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