Hyperchannel to open online hub

Hyporium will put Hyperchannel, its trading hub for vendors, distributors and resellers, online this week.

Hyporium will put Hyperchannel, its trading hub for vendors, distributors and resellers, online this week.

In a direct challenge to distributors now establishing ecommerce sites, Hyperchannel, which already has 700 VARs signed up, will be launched in 10 European countries.

The system will offer VARs a chance to check stock, compare latest pricing, source product ranges and spread credit.

In addition, for 12 months, VARs signed up before 31 March will be able to freely offer their own ecommerce site by branding the front end of the Hyperchannel system. After the year, VARs will have to pay a £200 monthly fee.

Hyperchannel already has six manufacturer product catalogues, including 3Com, IBM and Compaq, hooked into the system, along with information from five distributors including Logitek and Computacenter. Hyporium expects to have more than $10 billion (£6.3 billion) worth of IT stock moving through the hub within the next two years.

Chris Matthews, technical director at VAR Summit Computer Services, said: "If it saves us the hassle of ringing around for products, then it has to be a good idea. You can spend a whole afternoon chasing one component, so this will save a lot of time."