Avnet Partner Solutions is to distribute NEC’s Express Itanium 2 servers, Xeon-powered Fault Tolerant Servers, storage and ExpressCluster software, the company said.Dave Ochser, director of business development for Avent’s enterprise storage software division, said the number of VARs the company is aiming to recruit here is “in the two-dozen, three-dozen range.”
The candidates won’t be restricted to partners who are already in the Avnet stable, he added. “Our goal is to talk to the top resellers in Canada,” he said.
In picking partners, Avenet wants to avoid concentrating NEC resellers in regions to avoid conflict. Conflicts will also be avoided through a deal registration program. It is also looking for solution providers who have expertise in industry verticals.
It’s one of two distributors the manufacturer has chosen to carry its line as it abandons direct sales of hardware in favour of the channel. The other, chosen several months ago, is Pittsburgh-based Team 1 Systems Inc.
Three-tier program
As part of its strategy NEC revealed a three-tier partner program for those chosen by Avnet and Team 1. According to Mike Mitsch, NEC’s director of alliance and system integrators, the company wants to encourage and reward VARs for offering integration and installation services of its products. However, it or Avnet will offer some professional services for resellers who can’t or don’t want to provide them.
The Express Partner Program starts with Authorized partners, who sell hardware, software and NEC services.