Components distributor eSys is ready to resume expansion after reeling from the loss last year of its Seagate contract, according to its new EMEA boss.
Nigel Edwards, who was previously senior EMEA distribution sales director for hard drive giant Western Digital, has replaced stand-in boss Pavan Gupta as the eSys EMEA vice-president.
Seagate dumped eSys in November after the distributor denied the vendor access to its accounts (CRN, 13 November). But the firm claims it is back on track after recently receiving a $100m cash injection from Indian software outfit Teledata Informatics.
Edwards told CRN: “My first priority is to get the business back on its feet. When that’s done we can begin breaking into new markets. There are a lot of regions we don’t play in so we can expand either organically or through acquisition.”
Edwards also intends to expand eSys’s vendor franchises, particularly in the memory, CPU and software arenas, as well as strengthening its hard drive business with Western Digital and Samsung.
He added that he plans to lavish more attention on the UK business, which he admitted is currently “too reliant” on hard drives.
“We have done OK in the UK historically, but there is a lot of potential to branch out beyond hard drives,” Edwards said.
James Ward, managing director at storage distributor Hammer, said: “If a distributor loses its biggest vendor, that is bound to affect its business. ESys has gone through some hard times, but it is a good logistics business that can offer components at a good price.”
Les Billing, managing director of components distributor Microtronica, said: “I haven’t come across eSys since it lost the Seagate contract.”
Despite having been Seagate’s biggest EMEA distributor before the contract was terminated, eSys is confident it can reach $1bn sales in the region in 2007, the goal it had set for itself last year.
“It has been a difficult time for the company, but all of our vendors have stayed loyal and we have had no problem with credit lines,” said Edwards.
“Sales have been down but in this quarter they should be back up to previous levels.”
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