VARs unsettled in wake of FSC deal

Uncertainty around joint venture

Despite Fujitsu buying out Siemens’ share of the joint venture between the two firms, uncertainty still surrounds the vendor and VARs have claimed further consolidation could be good news for the channel.

Rumours that Siemens was getting cold feet about the Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) partnership surfaced over the summer. The Japanese firm has paid €450m (£360m) to buy out its German partner and chief executive Bernd Bischoff has stepped aside. He has been replaced by Kai Flore.

Fujitsu president Kuniaki Nozoe said: “Fully integrating FSC into the Fujitsu Group fits perfectly into our global growth strategy. We are inheriting a strong customer base in EMEA and have a research and development capability that can support our global products.”

FSC has about 10,000 employees and it is not yet known how the deal will affect them.

Rumours also abound that Fujitsu will still look to offload FSC’s PC business and focus on the higher margin storage and server area.

Lenovo, which was touted as a possible outright buyer of FSC, is rumoured to be linked with a deal.

VAR Hemini sells both Lenovo and FSC offerings and marketing manager Barry Dodhia claimed a deal could be good news for resellers.

“The market is oversaturated and it is very difficult for resellers to have the necessary expertise and resources to keep accreditations.

“I think most of the large vendors have too many products and if there were fewer players, it would be easier from our point of view.”