Storm in bid to fight direct sales

Storm has committed £2.6m of funds in an attempt to help resellers fight off the threat from direct vendors in the currently expanding storage area network market.

Storm has committed £2.6m of funds in an attempt to help resellers fight off the threat from direct vendors in the currently expanding storage area network (SAN) market.

The specialist storage distributor has recently relocated its head office and warehouse to purpose-built premises in Harrogate. It will open a technology showroom in London in the next few weeks which will be available for resellers to showcase SANs to their customers.

Storm will also employ six additional technical consultants to help resellers with implementations and testing.

Bryn Sage, sales director at Storm, said: "Previously, it was only cost-effective for vendors to go direct at the highest end of the market. But with the coming of SAN and fibre channel, it can now address a much wider part of the market which would traditionally have belonged to the reseller."

Despite the financial problems many distributors faced this year, Storm has managed to steer clear of trouble because of its specialisation.

It recently signed up to carry StorageTek products, has expanded its staff from 82 to 95 and said it expects to surpass £100m turnover for the financial year ending 31 March 2000.