Digi International opens doors to more dealers

Remote access developer Digi International has embarked on a recruitment drive to boost the number of its resellers as the company sets up a UK office.

European managing director David Allen has moved from the company?s European headquarters in Cologne to head the UK office, based in Bagshot, Surrey. The company has hired some UK staff and is looking to take on more.

But the move to the UK has raised the possibility that Digi is looking to trim the number of distributors that it works with. The vendor sells 90 per cent of its products through Westbase Technology, Persona, Norwood Adam and Interquad, leaving the remainder for six other distributors. Allen refused to be drawn on whether Digi would sever any of its distribution contracts.

Jerry Dusa, Digi?s recently appointed CEO, said Vars could take advantage of selling remote access connectivity systems as they are not yet a commoditised product.

He said: ?We think there?s a win here for Vars. The market has moved to remote access. Resellers don?t need to go and learn a whole new operating system ? they can simply use what they?re already doing.?

According to analyst IDC, server-based remote access communications ? involving technology such as multiport asynchronous and ISDN boards that go into Novell Netware and Microsoft NT servers ? is a niche that is set to grow by 45 per cent this year. It is estimated that Digi has a market share of 46 per cent.