Big Blue steps up Euro offensive

IBM PC Company seeks multinationals for product assembly and sale.

IBM PC company is seeking multinational distributors to assemble and sell its products in Europe.

But it will not preclude successful single-country distributors from continuing to be IBM business partners, the company stressed.

Speaking at the introduction of an expanded European reseller scheme, director of marketing for IBM's EMEA region Roland Hagan said: 'Both local and multicountry channels will continue. At the same time, we have to recognise that people like Ingram Micro are important as well. We'll see scale becoming increasingly important in Europe.'

He said the company, which is now headed in Europe by Douglas LeGrande following the move of David Winn to VP of marketing, had taken 150 channel partners to Lisbon, Portugal to spell out the future of its Advanced Fulfilment Initiative (AFI), which aims to build products and fulfil orders to customer demand.

Hagan predicted that larger companies' consolidation of the smaller firms in the channel will continue.

He also agreed that Northamber was IBM's most successful distributor in the UK and stressed that it had a continued role as a channel player.

David Phillips, chief executive of Northamber, said the distributor had a fully collaborative model with IBM and was positive about AFI. 'We have no more warehousing today than in 1992/93, but our revenues have risen three or four fold and the price of PCs has gone down, meaning we have a seven times throughput.'

AFI appealed to Northamber because, along with IBM, it is now creating products against requirements. 'It makes it possible for resellers to beat the direct PC vendors,' Phillips said.