Two units of the Ingram Content Group are teaming up to add an element of old-school publishing to e-book and multimedia venture Open Road. Ingram Publisher Services and Lightning Source will manage the printed editions of a number of Open Road's titles, including a biography of Bob Marley.

Ingram Content Group said it has signed distribution deals with SAGE Publications, a publisher of academic and professional journals, as well as Bilbary, which will launch next month with a catalog of more than 750,000 e-book titles.

Ingram Content says a number of large-university press operations have chosen its CoreSource platform to manage their digital works. Signing on for CoreSource and its Plus option, which links the schools with resellers, are the University of New Mexico, the University of South Carolina and Indiana University. In addition, existing customers The University Press of Florida, University of Virginia Press and Wesleyan University Press have added on the CoreSource Plus services.

Ingram Content has snagged a contract from a big-name publisher looking to develop its Christian bookstore business. HarperCollins Publishers says Nashville-based Ingram will bring a strong network for its titles, which includes works by Desmond Tutu, the late Peter Gomes and Margaret Wise Brown.

Ingram Content Group has expanded its international reach after linking up with Books on Demand, a German digital book publisher with a catalog of 300,000 titles. The deal, signed under Ingram's Global Connect program, likely won't be the last this year: Ingram execs say they're working on an East Asian equivalent.

SEE ALSO: Ingram launches South American partnership

Ingram Content Group has signed a contract to have its CoreSource software platform support the back end of the e-commerce sites run by Cincinnati-based specialty publisher F+W Media. The two companies already work together on print-on-demand products.

Vital Source, a unit of Ingram Content Group, has signed a contract to power the back end of the new digital options launched by Silicon Valley-based textbook rental company Chegg. Ingram Content boss Skip Prichard says the deal builds on the company's acquisition two months ago of VPG Integrated Media.

SEE ALSO: HuffPo's take on the news from Chegg's point of view

Well-known private sector university DeVry, which boasts some 90,000 enrolled students, has selected Ingram Content Group's VitalSource to provide e-textbook management and distribution.

The VitalSource platform, with 1.6 million registered users and a presence on 6,000 campuses in 180 countries, will provide comprehensive content distribution for all textbooks used by DeVry University online students. The VitalSource solution will be integrated with the university’s learning management system, eCollege, for its global community. Using the platform, students and faculty will be able to easily access content via download, online or mobile options including popular iPad™, iPhone®, and iPod Touch® devices.

VitalSource Technologies, a unit of Nashville-based Ingram Content Group, has secured the contract to manage the e-textbook operations for a consortium of Brazilian scientific, medical and technical publishers. The venture will launch with a catalog of 4,000 titles.