Ideal confirms deal with Veritas

Distributor Ideal Hardware has signed a deal with back-up software vendor Veritas Software, to be its exclusive UK distributor in Europe. Ideal will stack the entire Veritas range, including volume and enterprise segments.

Distributor Ideal Hardware has signed a deal with back-up software vendor Veritas Software, to be its exclusive UK distributor in Europe. Ideal will stack the entire Veritas range, including volume and enterprise segments.

Mark Walker, systems and enterprises director at Ideal, said: "This extends a partnership we have had for a long time. This beefs up our portfolio and makes us a one-stop shop for all things storage."

Walker added that Ideal already sells Veritas' volume products, but needed certification in Veritas-specific sales and technology to be enterprise storage accredited. "You need quite serious capabilities to sell that," he said.

Jason Rabbetts, commerce director at reseller Source Consulting, said his company was already certified in Veritas technology, but added: "This is another channel for procurement of the product. Hopefully, the addition of high-end Veritas software and Ideal's wide range of hardware is going to make a good combination."

Resellers not yet certified in Veritas technology will need training and accreditation in the software company's enterprise storage management products and services before they can suggest it to customers.

"The training we do at the moment is vendor-specific," said Walker. "We are working on vendor-neutral training on storage area network management and infrastructure. Our role is as an educator as well as a supplier of storage."

Ideal was recently acquired by US-based storage distributor Bell MicroProducts, but Walker said that this had not affected its channel strategy. "The Bell acquisition brings us a parent group with aspirations in line with ours," he said.

Rabbetts, a former Ideal sales director, echoed this sentiment. "It's a great move for Ideal, and good for the channel as a whole. I wasn't worried [about the purchase] at all. I'd be more worried if Ideal didn't get bought," he said.