Syquest pulls plug on worldwide operations

Storage Decision by storage vendor to halt global trading leaves UK partners in the dark.

Syquest's channel has been left in the lurch following the vendor's partners in the dark. decision to suspend global operations.

The long-suffering removable storage firm stated it would 'maintain limited support to its customers' when it ceased trading on 2 November.

However, Syquest's UK distributors claimed they have been left in the dark by the move. Ed Bateman, Syquest product manager at Ideal Hardware, said: 'We have had no clear support from the vendor, even though we have to support our own customers. But I don't want to panic anyone until I know what's going on myself.'

He added he was not surprised by the decision: 'Things have not been going well for a while for Syquest. It was no longer in a position where the business was viable. In the long run, it just didn't look like a profit-making organisation.'

The decision to cease trading follows a bad year for Syquest - it was forced to cut nearly half its staff worldwide three months ago.

Syquest's credit facility has now been sharply reduced while its shares on Nasdaq were suspended at 34 cents, down sharply from a year ago, when they were trading around the $4 mark.

Neville Wheeler, general manager at Fujitsu Europe, said: 'Syquest and Iomega have been locked in a price war for so long that it was clear one of them was going to go out of business.'

He added it was 'unlikely' that Fujitsu would be interested in making a bid for Syquest: 'It does have a large installed base of users and its own technology, but it comes down to how well it was managed and it wasn't good enough.'

Ron Golan, general manager at Karma UK, said he was 'sad' Syquest had ceased operating. The distributor dropped the vendor last December in favour of Iomega (PC Dealer, 17 December 1997).