In the first quarter of 2008, the storage specialist embarked on a recruitment drive, continued its programme of expansion in Europe and increased both its vendor portfolio and customer numbers.

Last month, Hammer signed Emulex, the fibre-channel vendor that accounts for 43 per cent of all SAN sales, according to IDC. Together with its rival QLogic, which is also signed to Hammer, the two vendors account for 88 per cent of the SAN market.

“This is great for resellers as it gives them more choice. It is fantastic for us because it gives us a lot more credibility in the market,” said Jason Beeson, Hammer’s solutions sales director.

“We now have a fully comprehensive offering of the highest-standard solutions in the fibre channel HBA market,” he added.

Hammer was targeted by Emulex because of its penetration of the SME market, according to director of channel sales at Emulex, Craig Skelton.

“We are excited about the incremental markets that Hammer can offer. Its focus on the server virtualisation market is complementary to ours,” he said.

James Ward, managing director of Hammer, claimed that the firm had its most successful year in its 17 years of operation. Turnover last year was £73m.

The Basingstoke-based distributor is also managing a new partner programme for another of its suppliers, Sepaton, maker of virtual tape libraries for backup.

The Catalyst partner programme offers co-operative marketing, training, pre-sales support and demo products.

Sales of this type of backup have shot up, claimed Christo Conida, Sepaton’s EMEA sales manager.

“Demand for VTL solutions and other advanced data protection applications has grown significantly,
creating good opportunities for well-qualified VARs and systems integrators to meet market requirements,” he said.

“We have crafted a partner programme that offers financial and technical advantages for the channel and a growing base of data protection expertise for our customers.”