Gateway forges alliance with Computacenter

Computacenter has signed a multimillion pound deal with Gateway to distribute and offer services around the direct vendor's PCs in the government and corporate sector.

Computacenter has signed a multimillion pound deal with Gateway to distribute and offer services around the direct vendor's PCs in the government and corporate sector.

The joint operation will be called Service Direct with the initial deal running for two years. It will pilot in the UK before launching in the rest of Europe.

Phil Williams, corporate development manager at Computacenter, told CRN: "This is an exclusive deal for both of us, so that we can develop our relationship."

Williams stressed the deal would not affect the reseller's business with other vendors. "It won't affect our relationship with Compaq or any other vendor. We will not substitute Gateway for another tier-one vendor," he said.

Gateway has been building its channel to allow it to target SMEs and corporates. Analysts said the move would allow Gateway to compete on a level footing with Dell.

Richard Millar, UK director of field sales at Gateway, said: "We accept that to approach the corporate environment, we need VARs. Computacenter has increasingly become a services organisation, which is its strength. Our strength is to turn out the latest build-to-order boxes and deliver them."

Millar added the vendor will look at a similar deal for the retail sector.

Robin Bloor, chief executive of Bloor Research, said: "The industry knows services are where the money is. It makes sense to partner with someone who is good at that. This deal will give Gateway a lot of sales and Computacenter a strong build-to-order brand."