Intel has officially appointed Rectron as its second value-added distributor in SA for its server range. In terms of its appointment, Rectron will be responsible for driving the market for entry-level servers in the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) arena.
"We see significant market potential in the SME space," says Callum Chisholm, Reseller Channel manager at Intel SA. "We are confident that Rectron will play a vital role in developing this market by building on its expertise in the desktop arena."
Chrisholm says Rectron has been investing heavily over the last few months in skilling up its own and its channel`s resources as well as expanding its footprint nationally.
"We`re already seeing additional interest from integrators operating in the SME market as a result," he says.
Chisholm is referring to recent series of Intel Product Integrator (IPI) events that attracted more partners than equivalent events in Europe. A total of 1 840 partners attended the Intel Channel Conferences held in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
In addition, Intel and Rectron have run intensive training courses in the main centres to fast track the transition of Rectron`s reseller channel from its traditional PC-focus to the new SME server market.
"We see massive growth potential in this area for our resellers and are pleased to be working with Intel in this area," says Mark Lu, CEO of Rectron.
"Companies have limited budgets these days compared with two years ago and are now showing increased interest in Intel`s offerings, particularly its low-end products and white box servers."
Lu sees further growth at the entry-level from small companies, which typically employ old desktop PCs as their print or file servers.
"Even the smallest company has come to rely on their computers and need the performance, reliability and scalability of a purpose-designed server, rather than depend on outdated PCs turned on their sides," says Lu.
"If their make-do system goes down, their business goes with it, so a reliable server becomes a competitive advantage for the smaller concern. Resellers have a strong business case to present."
He says the greater complexity of today`s applications is also driving growth at the entry-level and small companies can no more afford computer downtime as can a larger concern. In fact, their businesses probably depend more on their single server as they often don`t have backup or alternate facilities to fall back on.
"Rectron is giving us a gateway into this entry-level SME market and, in view of the first class commitment it`s made to training and supporting its channel, we`re confident that we will make big inroads. In fact, since February, when we introduced a toll-free telephone number for new dealer registration, we`ve signed up 250 new IPIs," concludes Chisholm.
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