D&H Distributing is expanding its enterprise infrastructure push with Dell Technologies, adding the vendor’s full storage portfolio to its offerings. The move will give solution providers a new sourcing option for Dell’s full portfolio following the vendor’s decision last month to wind down its relationship with Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions.
D&H Distributing is continuing its expansion into the enterprise IT infrastructure business with a new strategic relationship with Dell Technologies under which it will now add Dell enterprise storage to its offerings.
Harrisburg, Pa.-based IT distributor D&H, which historically has built a reputation for distributing products and services aimed at the SMB market, is now bringing Dell’s advanced infrastructure technology, including its flagship Dell Apex as-a-service and subscription-based technologies, to solution providers via its Advanced Solutions+ business unit.
D&H’s Advanced Solutions+ business unit focuses on delivering higher-end infrastructure, services, and enablement aimed at enterprise and mid-market business requirements. The unit includes dedicated teams spanning pre- and post-sales and expanded capabilities and coverage across the U.S. and Canada.
Dell’s embrace of D&H as a key distribution partner for its entire infrastructure portfolio comes after the vendor conducted a review of its distribution strategy through a request for proposal process.
As CRN reported in June, that process resulted in Round Rock, Texas-based Dell ending its long-term relationship with Arrow Electronics’ Enterprise Computing Solutions distribution unit. Centennial, Colo.-based Arrow ECS is focused on higher value-add solution offerings in cloud, hybrid cloud, AI, cybersecurity and services but not hardware, Arrow Interim CEO Bill Austen told CRN.
Arrow did not carry Dell’s PC or mobile PC product lines and did not stock Dell hardware in its warehouses, two things which counted against it in Dell’s eyes, CRN reported.
Marty Bauerlein, D&H’s chief commercial and consumer officer, told CRN that he thinks Dell became familiar with the strength of the distributor’s offerings after Dell signed D&H on for its server line last fall.
“Dell sees that success at D&H is measured by our partner success,” Bauerlein said. “They’ve seen our execution capabilities. We’ve consistently delivered on operational excellence and I’d say reliable service as well. They’re hearing from customers that we’re reliable and we’re helping our customers be more successful. And I think they’ve also seen the growth mindset we have, the investments we’re making in U.S.-based resources, our field organization programs, and the capabilities needed to support Dell’s continued growth. You put all those ingredients in the bowl, and it all comes down to execution, and we’ve been executing for all of our partners, whether they’re customers or vendors, and I think the industry is taking notice.”
Advanced Solutions Now 25 Percent Of D&H’s Business
In addition to Dell Technologies, D&H carries other notable enterprise storage brands including HPE storage and HPE’s GreenLake hybrid cloud platform, Bauerlein said.
The distributor also picked up multiple advanced technology vendors in the last year or two including Cisco and other enterprise networking vendors such as Fortinet, he said.
“We try to and do deliver on our promises and commitments to the vendors that we carry for specific product categories and lines,” he said. “Our strategy has been that we don’t have a line card of 5,000 vendors like some of our competitors do. We’re very strategic in who we select, and we build skills and capabilities around those vendors we think are market leaders and help them generate demand and enable our customers. We really understand their products, their strategies, the solutions they deliver to the market. And we’re an extension of their field and technical organizations.”
While better known for its SMB-focused portfolio, D&H about five years ago put a stake in the enterprise market and started building out its advanced solutions operations, Bauerlein said.
“To be successful in this market or any market, you have to be operationally solid,” he said. “D&H spent a couple years focusing on the advanced solutions market and really taking on one vendor at a time, and then the last three years we declared we have a strategy over three pillars: performance, diversification and innovation. Under the diversification pillar, we showed the world that we can operationalize and sell solutions in the data center and cloud. We built it, and they’ve come, and now a substantial percentage of our business is in the advanced solutions market. It’s above 25 percent of our business now.”
Dell declined to comment.
Partners: D&H Is ‘Collaborative,’ ‘Communicative’
D&H has been an amazing company to work with, said Anthony Iovino, CRO at Precision Computer Services, a Shelton, Conn.-based solution provider and longtime Dell channel partner that has been moving its Dell business to the distributor.
“Our current distributor has been very challenging to work with,” Iovino told CRN. “It has a very low turnaround time and is very uncommunicative on really anything. Our experience with D&H has been the complete opposite on every piece of the business that we’ve moved over to them so far. They’ve been super collaborative. They’ve been communicative. They’ve been very fast. We pride ourselves on speed. So something like that’s super important to us.”
Precision Computer Services, which has a major focus on financial services, health care, and media and entertainment customers, has found D&H to have the scale to support its Dell infrastructure business, Iovino said.
“We have the escalation channels that we need if anything does go off the rails, which they very rarely do,” he said. “They’ve been really great in helping us with a lot of complex things, and we’re actually leaning on their team more to help us. They’ve basically become an extension of our team in a lot of those areas that we’ve never gotten before from any of the big distributors. I definitely think they’re ready to move up to the next level and start supporting much larger enterprises from a distribution standpoint.”
D&H over the years has moved from being a logistics end-user retail organization into a true provider of solutions that helps CompuCom win and manage its business, said Scott Ward, chief business officer for the Fort Mill, S.C.-based solution provider and Dell channel partner, which is ranked No. 37 on CRN’s 2026 Solution Provider 500.
“They’ve probably been one of our most important partners in our business, and our business and the technology side has grown an average of about 25 percent per year over the last three years,” Ward told CRN. “It’s healthy, it’s growing, and a big part of that is because of the relationship with D&H. They’ve come a long way, and I am happy to see them getting a chance to go after the infrastructure side of this industry.”
D&H has proven that it is not afraid to make investments to get into a new market space, Ward said.
“We all talk about automation and AI and self-serve and marketplaces and all this other stuff,” he said. “What differentiates D&H is their willingness to pick up the phone. I mean, I can call [D&H Co-president] Dan Schwab right now, and if I don’t get him, he’ll call me back in an hour. That sense of urgency to take care of a customer, we’ve lost some of that in this industry. The feeling my team has working with [Bauerlein] and Dan [Schwab] and Michael [Schwab, D&H co-president] is that if we have a challenge, if something’s going on, we have the ‘Bat Phone’ into all three of those guys, and that makes a big difference.”
That kind of response is what the industry looks for, Ward said.
“Our customers are putting pressure on us to get them an answer, and if I’m using distribution to help me with those answers, I need them to have the same sense of urgency that I have,” he said. “I think that’s their biggest differentiator, and that’s what I think this whole move into the infrastructure side is going to be. They’re going to take the same vigor and rigor they did with the end user stuff.”
