Smart Storage launches UK VAR charm offensive

US SSD vendor says resellers are essential for success in Europe and has doubled channel staff in the region

US-based enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) vendor Smart Storage is targeting UK VARs with its offerings as it launches in Europe.

The California-headquartered firm, which primarily sells direct in the US, is hoping to attract UK VARs to sell its SSD offering, which it claims is both high endurance and low cost, and is planning a partner programme launch in 2013.

Smart Storage, whose US distributor is Avnet, has already appointed Hammer as its pan-European distributor and has doubled its European staff to help lead its channel focus.

The company, which employs around half of its staff in research and development, claims it has "altered the DNA of flash" by isolating and experimenting on the technology, meaning 15 times better endurance can be extracted on the flash as a result.

Esther Spanjer, director for SSD technical marketing, claimed that establishing a reseller channel is a primary focus in the UK.

She said: "We want to understand what it takes to get into the [UK] VAR channel. You need to get into the VAR business if you want to be successful in Europe, so that is definitely part of our strategy."

She added that the company's main competitors in the high-end SSD market are Hitachi, Stec and SANDisk's Pliant, but said that the vendor occasionally locks horns with Seagate too.

"Seagate are yet to enter the SSD market properly, but we are at the Hammer trade show, Storage Focus, soon to demo our drive against Seagate's," she added.