Three-way link builds NAS array

Intechnology sold distributor

Intechnology has become the sole distributor of a new NAS array created in an alliance between Sun and Veritas.

The association between the three companies will see Intechnology pull together and distribute an "out-of-the-box, plug-and-play-style NAS solution", said Bryn Sage, sales director at Intechnology.

Sage said the technology will be made up of Sun's StorEdge T3 array, with enterprise and workgroup servers running the Solaris 8 operating system and Veritas's ServPoint storage management software.

The NAS system is aimed at the mid range to high end, because it is open architecture and can be scaled from 600Gb to 10Tb.

Richard Ruddlesden, UK enterprise channel manager at Veritas, said: "The platform has been jointly collaborated and the total solution architectured and customised to fit Sun hardware with Veritas software."

Chris Atkins, storage marketing manager at Sun, said both companies engaged in "tight integration techniques".

But both vendors admitted that the customised array will mean resellers will be able to sell only the complete system and not break up the technology.

"That's not what the market is about," said Atkins. "End-users want something that is conceptually on wheels, easy to deploy and comes with integrated support."

Ruddlesden said: "Intechnology will act as our system integrator, and will then sell the entire array onto its resellers."

He added that support will come initially from Intechnology, which will provide first-line support and have direct contact with Veritas and Sun.

"We wanted to make it straightforward for the channel for both integration and support," he said.

The scheme has already been piloted in north America. Although shipping in EMEA does not officially begin until this week, some arrays have already been sold, Sage said.