NetApp launches UK SME storage division
Storage vendor dips toes into lucrative SME sector, by signing new distributor
Network Appliance (NetApp) will launch an SME storage division – StoreVault – in the UK today and appointed Hammer as its sole UK distributor for the StoreVault range.
Traditionally, NetApp has always focused on the enterprise space, but in June it unveiled StoreVault in the US to bring enterprise-class network storage to SMEs.
John Rollason, EMEA product marketing manager at NetApp, told CRN: “A couple of years ago NetApp decided it would launch a separate division to focus on SMEs, and StoreVault is the result. The US launch of StoreVault has been successful – we have signed 250 resellers to date – so we felt that the timing was right to begin rolling it out in other countries.
“We selected Hammer as the sole UK distributor for StoreVault because we felt that Hammer’s expertise in the SME storage market was a great fit for us.”
Currently, just one product is on offer from StoreVault – the S500 – which according to NetApp is the industry’s first scalable all-in-one network storage appliance for SMEs that supports NAS, iSCSI SAN and Fibre Channel SAN.
Jason Beeson, storage solutions sales director at Hammer, said: “We want to take StoreVault to our existing database of resellers, but we also want to find new resellers.
“The SME market continues to experience solid growth and, as a market we know very well, we expect StoreVault to be well received. Our resellers will have access to a dedicated sales team and technical specialists who can share best practices for meeting SME customers’ storage needs.”
NetApp has also created the StoreVault Partner Programme, tailored to meet the needs of qualified SME VARs in the UK.
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