Microsoft makes Ideal choice

Ideal Hardware is preparing to go head-to-head with rival Computer 2000 after it was appointed Microsoft's fourth distributor on Monday.

Ideal Hardware is preparing to go head-to-head with rival Computer 2000 (C2000) after it was appointed Microsoft's fourth distributor on Monday.

Ending a two-year courtship with the software giant, Ideal is the first Microsoft distributor appointed in the UK for eight years. Ideal and C2000 will be the only two distributors in the UK to offer Microsoft's full range, including original equipment manufacturer, full-packaged product and licensing.

Alex Tatham, commercial director at Ideal, said the company is also gearing up to become an application service provider (ASP) for hosted Microsoft applications. Speaking exclusively to Computer Reseller News, Tatham said he felt that distributors were the "ASPs of the future".

Simplifying software licensing is also a major goal for Ideal and resellers, Tatham said. Ideal has already adapted its Quick Quote licence software tool that ensures resellers automatically know the cheapest way to buy software licences for Microsoft's products.

"The problem with licensing is its complexity. Many companies steer clear of it because they don't understand it. What we hope to do at Ideal is break it all down, make it electronic and make it easy," said Tatham.

Adele Knox-Roberts, channel manager at Microsoft, said: "We looked at the channel and what resellers wanted, looked at Ideal and decided the time was right."

Knox-Roberts said Microsoft liked Ideal's experienced staff and the company's ideas about the role of distribution in the future around ecommerce and ASPs.

Julian Klein, managing director at C2000, said: "It's not a decision we greet with enthusiasm. We were running away with business, particularly on licensing. Perhaps Microsoft appointed Ideal because they didn't want us to get too big."

First published in Computer Reseller News