GE Access intends to reduce its dose of Sun
Distributor on look-out for more vendors following restructure
Distributor GE Access is looking for additional vendors, following its restructure and its acquisition of tplc last year.
The firm has signed with software vendor High Availability Solutions and is finalising deals with other vendors. It intends to cut the percentage of revenue from Sun sales from more than 90 per cent to about 60 per cent in the next few years.
But one Sun reseller, who requested anonymity, was unconvinced. "It can take a long time to send orders to the Netherlands and the volume of paperwork is tremendous," said the reseller.
As part of the restructure, GE Access moved its logistics business to the Netherlands, along with some staff. It will appoint a new country manager for the UK next week. The firm declined to give further details of its restructure, citing the US Sarbanes-Oxley legislation on accounting.
However, David Kehoe, GE Access's UK head of channel development, said: "The restructure looked at the core of the company. We're a Sun CDP [channel development partner] first and foremost. We have split our go-to-market teams into existing accounts and new business."
Last week, the distributor told its annual conference in the US that it will "turn up the volume" on low-end Sun kit.
Steve Brazier, president of research firm Canalys, said: "If Sun goes down the volume path in the UK, is GE Access the right partner? Sun would need a distributor able to run on a lower cost base."