VARs key to high Chaparral Raid sales
Vendor to treble sales of Raid storage products through resellers
Network storage vendor Chaparral is aiming to treble sales of its Raid storage products through resellers this year.
Chaparral has been an OEM for developers such as Nexam, with Hammer as its main UK distributor, but launched its own products last year.
The company is targeting SMEs, especially in markets such as video and post-film production, education, and oil and gas exploration.
Ron Macleod, Chaparral's UK manager, said: "[Our products] are easy to install, and provide the performance and features needed to serve mid-range enterprises and applications."
The company has already signed up a few partners, although servicing and support training does not officially start until the second quarter of 2004.
Cooper Cowart, marketing vice-president at Chaparral, said: "This is an opportunity for our partners to offer the entire solution, including intelligence, disk drives and software."
Hamish McArthur, managing director of storage analyst McArthur Stroud, said: "Resellers would be Chaparral's prime route to market because it doesn't have a strong established salesforce.
"But it will be a challenge to get its products accepted. The support offered by channel partners will be a key differentiator."