Acer to clamp down on grey

Acer has assured its partners in Saudi Arabia that it is taking all the steps it can to protect their profitability following concerns that price-cutting among some players is harming the authorised channel, says itp.net.

Local resellers in the kingdom have urged Acer to clamp down on signs of grey market activity and irregular pricing behaviour that impact their ability to operate profitably.

One Riyadh-based commercial reseller said it was frustrated at buying in bulk through the vendor's official distribution channel, only to see competitors in the same district selling Acer products for identical or lower prices.

Symantec, in the US, plans to drop distributors from its largest partner transactions and send the business through its largest resellers called platinum partners, writes eWeek.com.

Symantec expects dropping distributors from the engagements will improve its margin, company executives told Wall Street analysts in a session on the channel changes, according to a transcript of the meeting.

"If you're a platinum partner, you'll have the opportunity to buy direct from Symantec, because if the distribution channel is not adding value there's no reason to keep them in that part of the equation," said Enrique Salem, Symantec's chief operating officer.

Microsoft reseller Synergy Corporate Technologies has opened a Sydney office and is looking to expand its presence through local resellers, reports CRN Australia.

Synergy focuses on providing additional services around Microsoft's SharePoint offering and the firm has an ongoing relationship on local shores with Dimension Data Learning Solutions.

Milan Gross, principal for Asia Pacific at Synergy Corporate Technologies, told CRN: "We have got some tremendous plans here in Australia."