Altaro Software plots indirect move

Backup and recovery vendor plans to go 100 per cent indirect next year

Change of track: Altaro plans to switch from direct to indirect in the UK next year

Data recovery vendor Altaro Software has launched a partner recruitment drive to support plans to ditch its direct sales arm in the new year.

The vendor aims to recruit 250 VARs in the UK over the next 12 months to push its PC and server backup products – Oops!BackUp and BackUP FS – to the SMB market.
Currently, Altaro has 60 partners worldwide signed up to its channel programme.

The firm’s chief executive David Vella estimates that just 10 to 15 per cent of these are UK based.

He said: “We are looking for smaller VARs and IT consultancies that can offer services on top of the product.”

Vella said VARs that sign up will receive 40 percentage points of margin on each product they sell.

“We operate a single-tier channel model because we are fiercely protective of our partners’ margins, which would be eroded if we added a distributor into the mix,” he explained.