Fujitsu lowers channel barriers and seeks tablet partners

Launch of Q550 slate PC sparks reseller hunt

Fujitsu is hunting for resellers to push its new corporate tablet out to market after distributors take stock of it in June.

The vendor, which has also just overhauled its rebate structure to entice new partners, launched its Q550 tablet at yesterday's Partner Connect show.

Simon Worsfold, channel and enterprise sales director for Fujitsu UK and Ireland, confirmed that Ingram Micro, C2000, Micro-P and Northamber will take stock of the product on 1 or 2 June and that orders are already being taken.

Although this is Fujitsu's 26th slate device, the vendor is billing the Q550 as the first one genuinely tailored to corporate users.

"This is the only professional slate device out there," Worsfold told ChannelWeb.

"We are very ambitious as it addresses a different market from the iPad. We are able to target the corporate marketplace with all the versatility, security and connectivity of a corporate laptop platform. We are on the hunt for partners that can take it to their customers and have great business applications that perhaps will not work or are not right for the iPad."

The vendor also used the show to showcase its new cloud platform, which resellers will soon be able to white-label.

Worsfold said Fujitsu had recently re-written its rebate structure, partly to help it recruit new partners for the Q550 and its cloud platform, as well as its server and storage kit.

Lower-level Select partners can now earn rebates without agreeing on a business plan or sales targets. The only requirement is completing a two- to three-hour online training course.

Rebates for Select partners range from one per cent on desktops and two per cent on high-end notebooks, to four per cent on more strategic technology such as external storage. Higher-level Select Expert partners must undergo face-to-face training and invest in pre-sales and installation skills, but in return will earn roughly double those rebates.

Ian Leigh, channel marketing manager at Fujitsu, said: "We have removed the barriers to entry. We are on a recruitment drive and need to make it as easy as possible for partners to do business with us."

At the same time, Fujitsu has launched a Partner Centre at its Bracknell office designed to cater for unmanaged partners who require telephone support. "The criticism in the past was maybe we have been a bit faceless in the channel so we are changing that," said Worsfold.