HDS parts company with Zycko in distie shake-up

Avnet is now storage giant's sole distribution partner

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has struck Zycko off its distie line-up and looks set to move forward with Avnet as its sole distributor.

HDS and Zycko have worked together since 2005 but their distribution agreement will halt in September, CRN has learned.

The duo put the changes down to them going off in different market directions.

"Zycko and HDS have worked together successfully for many years, and during that time there have been many changes within the industry," said HDS' UK chief operating officer Lynn Collier and Zycko's chief executive David Galton-Fenzi in a joint statement.

"The strategy and focus of each company now reflects particular market directions, which capitalise on the strengths of each company. For Zycko, this focus is driving new emerging vendors and services within the channel. Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the social innovation business."

Zycko's vendor line-up is home to a number of emerging vendors such as Tintri, LifeSize, Aptare and Virtual Instruments, along with a handful of more established firms such as Huawei and Riverbed.

HDS and Zycko will maintain a trading relationship for specialist services but Avnet will be the only distie with full access to the vendor's portfolio.

Avnet said it is well positioned to support HDS.

"Avnet and HDS have a longstanding strategic relationship and well-aligned go-to-market strategies that focus on driving solutions," said Mike Fearon, Avnet's divisional leader for storage solutions.

"With our strength of portfolio and SolutionsPath methodology, Avnet is perfectly positioned to support HDS in creating cross-vendor solution stacks with key technical alliance vendors."