Infortrend signs CCI Distribution for NAS storage

Distributor signed one month after Avnet's departure

Storage vendor Infortrend has signed up VAD CCI Distribution, following the departure of Avnet from the vendor's line up last month.

The distributor, which joins its parent company CMS Peripherals, Hypertec and Hammer in the vendor's distribution line up, will punt Infortrend's new EonNAS unified storage product to its SME reseller base.

The vendor, which worked with Avnet following its 2010 acquisition of then-partner Bell Micro, insisted that the distributor's departure was amicable.

Rick Dudson, director of sales at Infortrend, said the company had been in talks with CCI well before Avnet parted company with the vendor.

He said: "CCI is not an Avnet replacement; we had been in discussions for a while.

"Avnet is a multi-million dollar operation and operated differently to how Bell Micro did; they were no longer the perfect match we had with Bell Micro, and we both had to focus on where we are strongest."

CCI will sell the vendor's NAS array alongside Hammer, an Infortrend partner of ten years. Despite the overlap in the product distribution lines, Dudson said that rewarding long-term partners is important.

He said: "Hammer will have access to NAS products as they have been a long-term partner for us; you do not reward loyal partners by not supporting them with products, but we do try to do our best with the old and new partners.

"I do not think there will be a problem with the overlap, but it will be down to us to manage any problems that do arise."

CCI, which has between 700 and 1,000 active VAR partners, hopes Infortrend's NAS array will help its partners drive new revenue.

Simon Atkinson, business development manager at CCI, said: "NAS solutions allow us to give the reseller additional technology in the sorts of markets where it is usually dominated by the likes of EMC and NetApp.

"We really want to give our VARs a chance to play in that space."