Applix signs resellers to reach wider market

Business intelligence software vendor Applix is seeking to expand its UK coverage by signing deals with two VARs.

Applix, which develops single-platform business performance management and business intelligence software known as TM1, will use Ramesys Professional Services, a division of Ramesys, to push the product into the higher education sector and Bakery Computing to push into a vertical market.

Kathy Kelly, marketing manager at Applix, said 70 per cent of its business comes from the channel and that partner expansion is key to its growth.

"One of our key growth strategies is to partner with the leading reseller in a vertical market. This will enable a higher-value sell and add value to resellers' product sets," she said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ramesys will combine TM1 with its management information product Accelerate. Applix claimed this will enable end-users to gain additional performance planning, analysis and reporting.

Bakery Computing will bundle TM1 with its Ceres vertical market software product, which handles all of Bakery's administration and operation.

Ramesys has a well-established presence in the educational sector, having recently been one of sixteen resellers to be awarded rights by government agency Becta to bid for software licence tenders in UK schools (CRN, 18 April).

In 2003, Ramesys secured a three-year contract from the South West Grid for Learning to provide 16 Local Education Authorities with an education portal, including Devon.

Neill Coventry, managing director of Ramesys Professional Services, said: " Where we have a gap in our product portfolio and there's a complementary product that could fill it, a partnership is the logical way to proceed."