Acer boxes clever to target schools

Vendor on the hunt for specialist resellers to sell its "classroom in a box"

Acer plans to pick out 50 specialist VARs to help it ramp up its share of the UK education market.

The PC and server vendor has put together a "classroom-in-a-box" package containing products including interactive whiteboards, short-throw projectors, netbooks and classroom management software.

UK coun­try manager Bobby Watkins (pictured) told ChannelWeb that, despite schools' economic restraints, the manufacturer is already stirring up interest in its technology.

"We have invested in seeding 25 schools, which we have equipped free of charge," he explained. "We think we are offering a great solution, which will be priced effectively."

The Taiwanese vendor is now looking to demarcate 50 UK resellers as Acer Education Centres, said Watkins. Training will take place to "sheep dip the partner in all of our competencies", he added, to prepare them for a concerted attack on the education market.

"We will focus on what we are good at and, while we will present ourselves to the customers where appropriate, for the last mile we will rely on the competency of our reseller," said Watkins.

Acer is also looking to ramp up its number of cer­tified Experience Centre re­tailers and adding numbers in London and Birmingham is the top priority. The vendor's original target was to have 10 by this stage and so far only five have been opened. But Watkins claim­ed quality takes precedence over quantity.

"They need to eat, sleep and breathe the Acer technology," he added.

Watkins also denied there is a surfeit of Acer stock currently in the channel, claiming that UK inventory levels are half what they were at this time last year.

He asserted that vendors that focused more on sell-in - rather than sell-out - figures, were liable to be the ones pushing excess kit into
the channel.

"There is significant inventory in the market, but our stock is in line with our sell-out, which is important for us," he added.

Andy Dow, marketing dir­ector at distributor Com­puter 2000, said: "[Stock in] the PC channel as a whole is high at the moment. It is a seasonal thing that is quite consumer-focused; it is not the same in the business space. Christ­mas was not as good as everyone anticipated, which resulted in too much consumer product. But it will flush itself out."

Over the coming year, Acer predicts that it will see market growth coming mainly from the consumer and SMB markets, which will provide 60 and 40 per cent of growth, respectively.

"The dynamic of the PC market is dramatically changing - different operating systems, and different processor manufacturers," said Watkins.

"The PC value-chain structure is changing quite substantially, that is coming from a consumer pull."