Dane-Elec gears up for the supermarket

Memory manufacturer starts selling through UK retail chains.

French memory maker Dane-Elec has become the latest company to jump on the supermarket bandwagon and will begin to sell its products through retail chains in the UK.

As part of a rebranding exercise, the manufacturer has changed its name to Dane-Elec Manufacturing. Dave Lalor, managing director of Dane-Elec Manufacturing, said the company aimed to increase its sales of memory modules through the retail market, particularly supermarkets.

The company already produces packaged systems in French supermarkets and is actively investigating a similar route in both the US and the UK.

'We can increase our margins by selling through supermarkets but it needs a different approach,' Lalor said. 'In time, supermarkets will sell memory upgrades off the shelf.' He refused to give details of which supermarkets the company would be targeting.

Dane-Elec also plans to expand its output and has struck a deal with Hyundai to subcontract the production of modules. A similar deal with Samsung is likely to follow at the beginning of next year.

Lalor said the company would increase production of memory modules at its factory in Galway, Ireland and would also begin production at its US site in Irvine, California.

He said: 'We are initially going to produce 20,000 modules a week in the US and, at present, we are producing between 60,000 and 80,000 units in Ireland.'

However, John Holland, European vice president for European sales at Kingston Technology, said: 'I am a little surprised at the decision. The US is currently saturated with memory manufacturers and if anything, I see consolidation taking place in the next few months.'

The company is in the process of licensing the Rambus technology and Lalor said modules using this technology will arrive on the market in volume by 2000. Dane-Elec will look at using local distributors in territories where it currently has no coverage, he added.