Tech Data & NetApp unveil AI Test Drive hub in India

Tech Data has teamed up with NetApp to launch an AI Test Drive Centre in India, giving channel partners and their customers a pre-built environment to try AI projects before wider rollouts.

Called the Tech Data India Experience Centre | NetApp Enabled, the facility is positioned as an AI-focused centre of excellence. It provides partners with ready-made infrastructure and reference architectures for AI proof-of-concepts.

The model is designed to reduce operational and technology complexity for organisations assessing AI applications. It targets partners that need a place to validate feasibility and reliability before committing to production deployments.

Partner-led model

The initiative sits within Tech Data's channel business in India and is part of TD SYNNEX's broader distribution relationship with NetApp. The two companies have worked together for 20 years across more than 100 countries.

The launch also extends Tech Data's Destination AI framework in India, which it positions as a guide for partners through stages of AI adoption, from early awareness to post-sales activity.

NetApp is supplying the technology for the environment through its hardware-and-software portfolio. It describes itself as an "Intelligent Data Infrastructure" provider and positions data management as central to AI deployments.

The centre also incorporates Tech Data's Digital Practise Builder, which supports partner training and development. The programme focuses on building AI-related skills within channel businesses that sell and implement technology for end customers.

Focus on proof-of-concept

AI proof-of-concepts often fail to progress beyond pilots because teams struggle to align data, infrastructure and specialist skills at the same time. Distributors and vendors have responded by creating test environments and packaged reference designs that reduce upfront work for partners.

Interest in applied AI has been rising in India across sectors including financial services, retail, manufacturing and IT services. Buyers are also scrutinising return on investment and operational readiness more closely as they move from experimentation to deployment.

The facility is designed to let partners test specific use cases with ready-built components, so partners and customers can trial AI applications without building environments from scratch.

NetApp's involvement highlights the importance of storage and data management choices in AI projects, where performance, governance and security requirements can shift quickly between pilot and production. NetApp says its platform and data management tools are used by organisations looking to optimise AI workloads.

Channel opportunity

The collaboration reflects a broader shift in the IT channel, with distributors moving beyond logistics into technical enablement and solution packaging. As more customers adopt AI, partners need access to skills, repeatable architectures and vendor-backed support for early-stage projects.

Tech Data says the new centre is part of an end-to-end approach that combines frameworks, infrastructure access and practice development. It also plans to align its existing AI portfolio in India with the work carried out in the centre.

NetApp, which works with a large partner ecosystem, has used distributor alliances to widen its reach in markets where local delivery capacity can determine how quickly customers move from pilot to deployment. In India, competition for AI and data talent has also made packaged services and pre-configured environments more attractive for partners that need to scale delivery.

Tech Data Advanced Private Limited operates in India as part of TD SYNNEX, a global IT distributor headquartered in the US. TD SYNNEX employs about 23,000 people and works with more than 150,000 customers across over 100 countries, according to the company. It also has relationships with more than 2,500 technology vendors.

Tech Data's services and programmes sit within a wider distribution strategy spanning cloud, cybersecurity, analytics and AI. The strategy has increasingly focused on partner enablement and repeatable solution models as customers adopt hybrid and multi-cloud architectures alongside AI workloads.

Sundaresan K., Senior Vice President and Country General Manager, Tech Data Advanced Private Limited, said the market is starting to shift from pilots to outcome-focused deployments.

"Enterprises in India are rapidly moving from experimentation to real-world AI adoption, where the focus is on measurable business outcomes. Together with NetApp, we are committed to helping partners in India leverage this Test Drive Centre and our extensive AI portfolio to translate potential across operations into tangible value."

Jordan Felts, Global Alliance Director - Distribution at NetApp, said the centre will broaden access to AI testing through the channel.

"Our new Test Drive Centre will not just simplify AI journeys, it will put the power of AI where it belongs: in the hands of the businesses, teams, and individuals who need it most. We are thrilled to tap into Tech Data's immense partner network and deep market expertise in India and deliver the modernization the country needs to fast-track its AI growth story," Felts said.