The empire strikes back

Fujitsu boasts a reach that Darth Vader's Galactic Empire would be proud of, but it still trails competitors in many sectors. The vendor is now talking up its plans for an enterprise assault, Jack Gilbert reports

Since it was founded in 1935 Fujitsu has amassed a vast empire that spans more than 100 countries and employs 159,000 people. Despite the sheer size of the Japanese firm, now in its 80th year, it still lags behind competitors in many sectors, such as the server market. But at its recent Fujitsu Forum in Munich, the company made it clear it is intent on changing this.

During the conference, Fujitsu declared there will be a big push with the cloud and a focus on its enterprise products, such as converged infrastructure. To help accommodate this move to the high end, the vendor also announced a restructure of its EMEIA operations, which will see it change from its regional model to four business units that cover the whole region. "Let's be clear: the big money is in the big companies and the big economies," said Duncan Tait, head of EMEIA. "One of the reasons Fujitsu globalises is it gives us the ability to take on that very big market which for us is largely untapped."

The global rollout of its new public cloud platform, MetaArc, was also announced, and Tait claimed this will help it "take significant market share". Earlier this month, Kevin Matthews was announced as its new UK sales director, and he said Fujitsu is on the march in the UK, looking to "reinvigorate" its channel and "disrupt" a market dominated by Dell and HP. In other words, Fujitsu is seeking to expand its empire, and channel figures suggest there is a feeling the time could be right for this expansion.

The opening day of the event in Munich coincided with the announcement of a deal for cloud player UShareSoft, which is already part built into the MetaArc platform. Tait said the deal reinforces Fujitsu's cloud play, and also indicated that this would not be the last acquisition we see from the Japanese vendor.

"We have to acquire more software assets [which are] vertically orientated in the way they deploy solutions and bring them inside Fujitsu," he said.

Andrew Griffiths, director of Fujitsu partner Q Associates, welcomed this increased focus on the cloud.

"I'd be interested to see how their cloud announcement around MetaArc plays out with the channel because the market and therefore the channel has to be moving to a hybrid model," he said. "I think Fujitsu's announcement around MetaArc keeps them relevant to the customer because they now have a cloud play. Whereas if Fujitsu didn't have a cloud play you could see customers maybe discontinuing them, because they might not see them
as relevant."

Enterprise drive

Matthews (pictured below), a former HP exec, is charged with leading Fujitsu's UK push, and he said there is going to be a drive with its enterprise offering and particularly highlighted storage and converged infrastructure with its Primeflex product.

"Everyone has heard about Fujitsu, but perhaps sometimes not enough people know exactly what we do," he said. "So [there will be] more customer engagement with partners focused on disruptive areas such as Primeflex. The channel programme is there; we need to get on and do the basics and out-execute the competition."

Peter Stroud, managing director at VAR Future Generation Solutions, said the very fact of Matthews' appointment demonstrates Fujitsu's ambition.

"They have such a small reach at the moment and do such a small amount through the channel," he said. "But their bringing in people like Kevin shows they are serious about it, and that's a statement in itself because he is such a big player."

But not everyone is convinced that Matthews and Fujitsu will be able to take on the industry leaders.

One partner, who did not wish to be named, said Fujitsu may find it hard to seize territory from the biggest players in the server/storage world.

"The challenge Fujitsu has is that the kit is OK, but they are trying to get into a space that is dominated by Dell, HP and to a lesser extent Lenovo," he said. "If you buy client devices from outside the top three, it's not the end of the world because you buy 10 laptops, they either work or they don't. But if you buy a whole datacentre full of servers [that do not work], the IT manager loses his job.

"They have a huge task in convincing people to move away because servers and storage are all about keeping the lights on. People know how to set up a Dell server, so why would they want to take on a new learning path when they have so many other things to do?"

Different channel thinking

Fujitsu is unique, Matthews said, in its ability to attract partners who have been left out in the cold by the big vendors which are distracted by their own restructuring.

"The whole vendor consolidation piece drives the largest vendors to work with a smaller number of partners that deliver scale for them," he said. "Which by default leaves a whole segment of partners left in the lurch by those guys. That's where we have a real opportunity to work with them in a different way."

He said this "different" approach will involve incentives such as lead generation to create customer opportunity, rather than just dishing out rebates.
Justin Harling, managing director of reseller CAE, felt the vendor is showing commitment to its partners.

"We are seeing a drive to do business from that channel," he said. "From a reseller perspective, market share is not important. But we are seeing a willingness to partner and I think that will make a difference.

"From our point of view, looking at [getting] specific technologies into specific verticals, that's how we think we can win business with them."
Griffiths at Q Associates said the company is in a strong position which will hopefully breed growth.

"At an enterprise level, I think Fujitsu has a very credible compute platform. They have invested a lot in storage, then you look at converged tech and then the cloud products they are launching.

"If they can overlay that with a channel proposition that puts great value into the channel, it's a great recipe.

"I think they see it as a new era and I would like to see them succeed. From the appointments they have made, they are clearly serious about taking market share through the channel," he added.

Dave Stevinson (pictured below), commercial director at Fujitsu distributor Entatech, also was ebullient about the noises from the vendor's camp.

"It is absolutely the right direction," he said. "As a business you want to choose the battles where you can compete, and they have certainly lined up all their resources behind this strategy and clear vision.

"They definitely will take some share; how much they can take is what remains to be seen. But there probably has never been a better time to do it, as one company splits in half and one comes together. The time is right."