Fujitsu keeps enterprise business in-house

Fujitsu Siemens has revealed that a lot of its high-end enterprise businesses is through its own integrators.

Fujitsu Siemens has revealed that a lot of its high-end enterprise businesses is through its own integrators.

The company suggested a full switch from direct to indirect sales earlier this month, but the decision to move stock through Fujitsu-owned businesses Amdahl and ICL changes this.

Ian Snaddon, director of channel sales at the company, defended the move, saying there was little difference between using Amdahl or ICL rather than independent businesses. "They just share the same shareholders," he said.

However, he did confirm that the major projects were likely to be taken up by these two companies. Snaddon had previously talked about resellers' chances of landing its biggest clients.

Tomy Whalley, European marketing manager at Amdahl, defended Fujitsu Siemens' stance. "I would not strictly call this in-house. Amdahl is half way between direct and indirect. Amdahl is an integrator, but the owner is Fujitsu. But it would be misleading to say Fujitsu Siemens is 100 per cent channel-based," he said.

He added that Fujitsu Siemens' 1000 and 2000 range of Sparc-based Primepower servers were the most likely models to be taken up by Amdahl. Snaddon reiterated that ICL would be taking on Primepower after extended talks, but he declined to comment on how the company would incorporate the product without clashing with its Sun Microsystems-only reseller division, TPLC.