Hammer flies to FalconStor
V2 arm reinvigorated by partnership
Storage distributor Hammer’s little known OEM arm, V2 Electronics, has been reborn following a deal with virtualisation vendor FalconStor.
V2 combines storage components and creates complex environments such as SANs that are then sold through Hammer to its resellers.
The latest deal with FalconStor will see V2 bundle all the hardware needed with FalconStor’s virtual tape library software, continuous data protection and network storage system software. This OEM bundle will then be offered by Hammer and FalconStor to VARs across Europe.
Paul Hickingbotham, solutions manager at V2, told CRN: “In effect this will be a white box solution for our resellers to go to market with. With the FalconStor deal Hammer is putting renewed focus on our V2 arm, which means we can support resellers with a solution they may not otherwise have been able to support in such a complex technology environment.
“With V2 we want to create a storage boutique for our VARs,” he added.
ReiJane Huai, chief executive of FalconStor, said: “We will market these appliances to ours and Hammer’s resellers in Europe. We will then target more specific resellers; we want to identify focus group of partners to sell into the SME sector.”
Jason Rabbetts, managing director at storage VAR StorPoint, said: “There is a market opportunity for this kind of bundled OEM offering. VTL is in the right economic bell curve to start bundled solutions and past the early adopter stage, so it still holds margin.”
FalconStor has also unveiled an aggressive recruitment drive and is attempting to woo resellers with a new partner programme. “Now our products are proven, we are known in the industry and have good end-user traction, we want to be aggressive in engaging resellers,” Huai said.
FalconStor’s Solutions Provider programme will tier resellers into three levels; Elite, where partners must commit to $750,000 of business; Premier, $350,000 of sales and Associates, which will include partners with up to $350,000 worth of FalconStor sales.