Fujitsu eyes 'nervous' IBM and HP server resellers

Fujitsu claims UK server business has grown by almost a quarter this year but it is hoping for further channel expansion

Fujitsu is eyeing up "nervous" HP server resellers according to Tom Roche, head of technology and products for UK and Ireland at the Japanese firm.

Roche also indicated that the firm is hoping to take on IBM server partners who are worried about their future following the Lenovo acquisition of IBM's x86 server business in September.

"We have seen a flurry of activity and more so than ever before, because of the announcements," Roche said.

"In the old days you could never get fired for buying IBM, but you could get fired for buying stuff that is made in China or Taiwan so that has made them [the server resellers] nervous. This has of course been followed by the HP announcement and we know Dell is constantly changing its mind."

"What these two recent changes have caused is long-established resellers who have built their businesses on the back of HP and IBM to be very concerned whether their business needs to dramatically change in order to survive. And as a challenger in this market we have been looking to persuade more of them to come to us."

Simon Worsfold, channel sales director at Fujitsu, would not confirm how many IBM and HP server resellers have moved to the Japanese firm, but he said "less than five" IBM server resellers have already switched to Fujitsu.

Worsfold indicated that more IBM resellers could soon make the transition and commented "there have been a lot of conversations" with IBM server partners. Roche commented that Fujitsu has also been approached by a "number of HP resellers".

"Our server market has already grown by 23 per year on year for the first six months of our calendar year, which runs from April to March, through normal activity, and following the HP announcement we are expecting more growth," Worsfold added.

Fujitsu is not the only firm looking to benefit from Lenovo's acquisition of IBM, as Oracle's UK channel chief, Will O'Brien told CRN in October, "there are a lot of IBM partners that are feeling the stress of what is happening in the IBM server business that are maybe looking to Oracle as an alternative".

Worsfold commented however that Oracle and Fujitsu would not be in competition for these partners as their technology operates in different areas.

When asked if Fujitsu had made a bid for IBM's server business, both Roche and Worsfold declined to comment.