The Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA) is a California-based non-profit organization of

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

(IT) companies that works to educate and raise awareness on counterfeiting; digital IP protection; service and warranty abuse; and the

gray market A grey market or dark market (sometimes confused with the similar term " parallel market") is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are not authorized by the original manufacturer or trade mark proprietor. Grey market pr ...

. The term grey market refers to the sale of branded goods by unauthorized third parties. The organization was founded in 2001 by companies including

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

. Its efforts include preventing unauthorized online sales of billions of dollars worth of technology products produced by its members.

History

AGMA was founded in September 2001 by several technology companies including Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard (HP),

Nortel Networks Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Queb ...

, and

Xerox Corporation Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Stam ...

. Its charter was to educate consumers of the risks of purchasing products from unauthorized channels. Marie Myers from HP served as the group's first President. In 2002, the group broadened its charter to address counterfeit issues in the technology industry, and additional members joined. In 2003, AGMA released its first gray market study, commissioned in conjunction with professional services company

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

. The report indicated that two-thirds of the products most often purchased from gray market sources were enterprise related, such as servers, hard drives and memory. Network products were 11 percent of the problem, and printer cartridges were about 6 percent of the items found on the gray secondary market. In 2004, the group expanded its focus from North America to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region, with the addition of regional councils. In November 2007, Ram Manchi, Cisco's director of global business controls became AGMA's second President. In 2008, a follow up study commissioned by the group indicated that gray market activity was increasing, but not at the same rate of authorized technology sales increases. The study also reported incentives and reporting policies to reduce gray market activity. In 2009, power and cooling equipment provider

APC by Schneider Electric APC by Schneider Electric (formerly American Power Conversion Corporation) is a manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies, electronics peripherals, and data center products. In 2007, Schneider Electric acquired APC and combined it with MG ...

joined the group. In 2010, accounting firm

Deloitte and Touche Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

joined AGMA, reportedly due to concerns about counterfeit warranty and service abuse. In October 2017, the group reported that its members were continuing to see negative revenue effects from warranty fraud and service abuse, as much as five per cent.

Activities

The group's activities focus on raising awareness in four areas: counterfeiting; digital IP protection; service and warranty abuse; and the gray market. Service abuse is the unauthorized use of services and support, and warranty abuse occurs when a partner provides service on out of warranty products. The group has recommended partner service audits every other year to prevent these types of abuse.

Membership

The organization listed 15 members as of April 2018. Members share collaborative strategies, programs and effective practices to address counterfeiting, gray marketing and service abuse in the IT sector.

Organizational structure

AGMA has a board of directors and each member serves as a director. The group is led by a President. Microsoft's Sally Nguyen was the President as of April 2018.

Notes

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External links

Official website
Professional associations based in the United States Organizations established in 2001