Avere amorous for adventurous VARs

NAS optimisation vendor plots European expansion after establishing its UK channel

NAS optimisation vendor Avere Systems is on the hunt for "risk-taking" storage VARs as part of its European expansion plans.

The US-based vendor claims its FXT Series appliances allow end users to get the performance from smaller storage devices that would normally only be seen in larger pieces of NAS kit.

Speaking to ChannelWeb, Ron Bianchini, chief executive and co-founder of Avere, explained: "Typically, NAS vendors will tell you to buy a small box if your needs are moderate. Then, when you need more, they will tell you to throw it out and buy another one, which is hardly cost-effective."

Back in February, the vendor appointed VADition to help build its UK channel and tasked it with recruiting vertically focused partners.

"Enterprises in the oil and gas, media and entertainment, life sciences and financial services are a good fit for our products," said Bianchini. "Anywhere that is doing analysis on data or any enterprise that wants to save money should also take a look."

The products also provide partners with an excuse to revisit old customers, as well as attract new business, he said: "They can approach customers and say that you're doing things this way, but I can give you an optimisation tool that will save you 60 to 70 per cent cost. That is a powerful sales message."

Avere has set its sights on winning over the rest of Europe on a country-by-country basis. "We are doing it systematically and making sure we have the infrastructure to support the partners we take on," said Bianchini.

Barrie Desmond, business development manager at VADition, said his firm is actively recruiting Avere channel partners in the UK.

"We are doing what we do best, which is recruiting risk-takers who appreciate that this is a technology that will change the status quo, and those that get in early will be the ones that make the most money," said Desmond.

"There are a lot of vendors out there claiming to be working on technology like this, but no one else is yet."