RLX lies back and lets the channel do it

Vendor revises business model to push 80 per cent of its business through the channel

Former direct-selling-only vendor RLX has revised its business model and is now looking to push 80 per cent of its business through the channel.

RLX was the first vendor to sell high-density blade servers to the ISP market, but it is now targeting the enterprise space using UK VARs.

Paul Barker, vice-president of marketing at RLX, said: "We went direct because blades were a new technology, but now they are more accepted. We are looking for resellers that sell to vertical markets and aim to get at least one in each market."

He said RLX is strong in the life sciences and government research markets but is keen to break into new areas. "Blades do anything a regular server can do as long as the applications scale out," he said.

Daniel Fleischer, analyst at IDC, said RLX recently received a second round of funding.

"RLX needs someone to push it. Although its technology is good, it is hard to compete with the likes of Hewlett-Packard and IBM. The only way it can break into the enterprise market is through the channel. It does not have the resources to push its own products," he said.