After rolling out as a software licensing tool last year, Tech Data’s StreamOne service is seeing a major update that will see it play a much more strategic role in the software strategy of Tech Data and many of its reseller customers.

Last month, the distributor launched StreamOne 2.0, which expands the site into an enterprise app store, aiming to do for business software in the channel what the iTunes App Store did for consumer software. And according to Tech Data CEO Bob Dutkowsky, that new app store edition is headed for Canada by this summer.

“Software is the glue that ties it all together, but in distribution, it’s a very complex, costly process. That’s why we’ve invested in the tools to make it better,” Dutkowsky said during a visit to Tech Data Canada’s Mississauga, Ont. headquarters last week.

The challenge for distribution has been the fragmented nature of the software market. Sure, a lot of the software in the world is concentrated in the hands of a collection of software companies large enough to work with distribution. Nobody’s doubting that Microsoft can get more than its fair share of attention from any distributor it wants to work with. But beyond that, there’s a long tail of software vendors, a community Dutkowsky said is about 24,000 ISVs big, that are “all looking for a route to market.”

The second version of StreamOne, though, represents more than just a way of expanding Tech Data’s business in the software world and providing a way for new software vendors to reach the channel. By developing the tools and experience to do provisioning and billing, Tech Data is building its engine for deploying software, or most anything else, in the cloud as a service. In other words, StreamOne seems posed to fill the same role for Tech Data that Ingram Micro Cloud has for its biggest competitor.

“[StreamOne] is the engine behind our cloud initiatives,” Dutkowsky confirmed.

In part two of my video interview with Dutkowsky (you can catch part one here), the chief executive addresses the strategy behind StreamOne 2.0, how Tech Data finds app vendors for the site, how VARs find the apps they need or want for their customers, and plans for rolling out StreamOne 2.0 internationally.

httpvh://youtu.be/mixgmkrSdl4

Also, check back in Tuesday for part three of my video interview with Dutkowsky, where the chief executive discusses Tech Data’s mobility strategy, and how it varies on a country-by-country basis.