APC to make massive investment in the UK

Vendor is increasingly pushing its demand generation, reseller training and cross-selling opportunities

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) vendor APC will make its largest-ever investment in the UK channel, according to Aaron Davis, who has been newly appointed to APC’s executive board.

Davis told CRN that the vendor is increasingly pushing its demand generation, reseller training and cross-selling opportunities, as well as the marketing, support and online tools that it offers VARs.

“We are always looking for more resellers,” he said. “Our message to VARs is that there is a market just starting to take shape and it is worth getting in on it.”

Davis added that the firm is trying to encourage its resellers to see it as more than just a UPS vendor.

“As applications become ever more demanding, more and more data-centre customers require a full cooling system alongside their UPS, and we can offer this,” he said.

“We want resellers to understand that this is something customers have to have, and if they don’t buy it from an APC VAR, they will just buy it elsewhere. There is massive opportunity for resellers here.”

Des Lekerman, managing director of reseller Eurodata Systems, said UPS systems were more of a specialised area.

“In terms of building a data centre, power is a very important area,” he said. “But so is having a disaster recovery system, even for things such as the air conditioning, because if the power is cut and the servers keep going, you don’t want them to overheat and fail.

“These days, everyone has to have a UPS system. It is now so much of a given from the end-user that it is already part of the solution. This will not open doors to new clients for resellers.”

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