IBM closes OpenPSL deal

Distributor pledges to run two separate teams as Big Blue revises channel

IBM has signed a standard distribution agreement with OpenPSL to boost its Unix and storage business.

Big Blue first told CRN that it was reorganising its distribution channel early last year, and said it hoped to appoint a new distributor by the end of the first quarter of 2002.

Although the vendor was close to signing a deal with Sun partner tplc, talks subsequently collapsed amid rumours that the distributor was to be sold (CRN, 1 July 2002).

IBM then revised its strategy and considered appointing four distributors with extended VAR contracts (CRN, 16 September).

However, at the end of last year Big Blue said it was on the verge of signing a standard distribution contract with OpenPSL.

Since then, the two firms have been ironing out the deal, which has now been signed, according to IBM UK channel sales manager Graeme Anderson.

"The time is immaterial. It's about finding the right partner. We were not looking for a distributor who does what we already have," he said.

He added that IBM is looking for OpenPSL to bring it incremental business.

Some channel players have suggested that the deal was struck after Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced it had appointed another distributor last year.

Sources claimed that, as a traditional HP distributor, OpenPSL needed to protect its business.

However, John Toal, sales and marketing director at OpenPSL, said that, although HP did express some concerns over the IBM deal, it understood the reasons for the move.

"We are venture capital funded, so we've had high growth rates," he said. "To continue with this [in these market conditions] we needed another vendor partner."

But Tony Stirrup, managing director of IBM distributor Magirus, said: "I'm sure we'll see OpenPSL pushing IBM into the HP space and OpenPSL taking some of the existing IBM market share."

John Young, Unix and storage channel manager at HP, said: "OpenPSL has assured us it will be running two separate teams. That was a prerequisite for our continued relationship."