Adaptec wants VARs for aggressive EMEA push
Storage vendor recruits dedicated reseller manager to lead investment in the region
Storage vendor Adaptec is looking to aggressively recruit VARs and invest in EMEA after signing a dedicated reseller manager for the region.
Mike Collins’ role will include helping Adaptec ramp up sales of its flagship Snap Server hardware and software platform in the region, as well as managing partner needs.
Speaking to CRN, Collins said: “I have worked with Adaptec for about seven years. The first thing I did when I joined the firm was to create a VAR sales team throughout Europe. This is because VARs need help from us with evaluation units and to talk through the solutions with customers. When we arrived on the NAS scene, partners had to explain what NAS was. Now firms want to know what NAS can actually do for their business.”
He added that the vendor, which works through distributors Bell Micro, CMS Peripherals, Micro Peripherals, Computer 2000, Ingram and Hammer in the UK, is not specifying a particular number of partners to recruit to its Advantage reseller programme, but it is not looking to flood the market.
“My main aim is to make it easier for resellers to do business with us,” Collins said.
He added that the firm is offering additional marketing funds and technical support to partners that join the programme.
Tom Ellis, European business manager for storage components at Bell Micro, said: “Adaptec is going to be a massive part of our storage business unit for 2007. It has products that sit unchallenged in its space and we have some aggressive business plans for it.
Ellis added that Collins is a good recruitment for Adaptec.
“He is very well known in the market and knows the NAS industry inside out,” he said.