Azlan confirms its place on EMC distie line-up

Distributor to focus on recruiting lower mid-market resellers as it joins Arrow and Avnet on pan-European distributor list

Azlan has confirmed that it is set to join Arrow and Avnet on EMC's distribution line up.

The Tech Data-owned firm is set to launch with the storage giant today and will focus on recruiting resellers in the lower mid-market.

An Azlan representative first told CRN at EMC World in Las Vegas last week that it was looking to sign up around 120 reseller partners that have either never worked with EMC before or that have done but only on a very small scale.

The EMC division will be closely aligned to Azlan's Cisco business and will operate from its Basingstoke base.

Azlan will have access to EMC's full product portfolio for the pan-European agreement and its director Nigel Dunn said that Arrow and Avnet need not worry about having to share the market with a new face.

He told CRN: "By and large, Arrow plays in the top of the second-tier of EMC's resellers, that's their sweet spot. Avnet is more into the traditional EMC tier 2 mid-market. It would be [foolish] to say some wouldn't want to buy from us because we have such strong relationships with them already but that is not our focus; it's not why we have come into the market.

"We are looking to grow this market. The growth rates in EMC means there is capacity for someone else to play. For all the fears distributors might have about another player in the market place, actually if this was a vendor not growing so well they would have justifiable cause but right now there is such a growth in this marketplace. The cope is endless."

Dunn added that the lion's share of EMC's business goes through its top 80 Velocity partners, but said that opening up the vendor's wares to other players coincides with the vendor's growth plans.

EMC's UK channel director told CRN that the Azlan appointment coincides with its range of new products aimed at the lower end of the market and added that Arrow and Avnet are still crucial to the vendor.

He said: "The plan is to ensure [Azlan business] is incremental; it will have no impact on existing distributors [as] they are all critical for our success."

Avnet boss Sukh Rayat said that his firm would still be able to drive growth for both EMC and its resellers, and added that there is strong demand in the storage market.