Cibecs signs Sentryst and unveils UK plans

South African vendor wants three distributors by the end of the year

South African automated backup vendor Cibecs is unveiling an aggressive UK channel strategy with plans to get three distributors on board within the year.

The software vendor, which has three core products offering desktop, notebook and server data backup for firms ranging from SME to the enterprise level, has signed specialist distributor Sentryst as its first partner.

Richard Dewing, managing director of Cibecs, said: “The benefit of a partner such as Sentryst is that it can offer a more focused approach to the market because it is a specialist in its field. From a customer point of view, we can take the hassle away from becoming compliant.”

Dewing added that Cibecs is in talks with two broadline distributors, but he declined to name them. He said Cibecs’ aim is to task each of its three distributors with recruiting 10 VARs.

“We don’t want to flood the market,” he said. “We want to be able to add value to both our partners’ business and our own.”

Alan Reid, managing director of Sentryst, traditionally a security-focused distributor, said Cibecs would appeal to both storage and security resellers.

“Cibecs’ technology is unusual because it has both a security and a storage angle, which gives it a wider appeal,” he said. “The real selling point in our opinion is the fact that most companies tend to save data on the server, but most employees leave information on their hard drive and forget to save to the server. Cibecs’ technology automates this process and takes the hassle away.

“We have just started to talk to our resellers and are planning a roadshow in the next couple of weeks.”

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